Pre-orders for Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow, the upcoming tactical counter-timeline RPG from Arc System Works and developer UnitePlus, are now live — and a brand-new gameplay trailer has dropped to show exactly how the game’s unusual battle system works. As we covered when the September 24 release date was confirmed, this is shaping up to be one of the more interesting RPGs of the month, and the new trailer makes a strong case for it.
How the Counter-Timeline Combat Actually Works
The headline mechanic is the Timeline — a scrolling display that shows incoming enemy attacks before they land, colour-coded by type (Red, Blue, Yellow). Your job is to queue up skills of the matching colour on that same timeline slot, converting a hit you’d take into a counter that deals damage back. Land a perfect counter and you launch the enemy into the air; chain a follow-up with your sub-character and the numbers start stacking fast.
You can slow time or pause mid-battle at any moment to plan these stacks — which means the system rewards both on-the-fly reaction and careful setup equally. Protagonist Soma Hoshigami (the courier infected by an Anomaly and left in a “Half-turned” state) and investigator Rena Hizuki can be swapped mid-combo, with Buddy Counters requiring both characters to coordinate their timing for the big payoff. It looks frantic but the pause-anytime design keeps it approachable.
Pre-Order Bonuses and Pricing
Pre-orders and early-purchase copies come with a solid stack of extras: three additional character skins for both Rena and Soma, plus access to Voidfall — a standalone extra battle mode featuring 16 high-difficulty encounters with their own exclusive rewards. Voidfall is described as a brutal endgame challenge layer separate from the main campaign, so if you like pushing builds to their limits after the credits roll, it’s worth grabbing early.
The game is priced at US$24.99 across all platforms — PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Epic Games Store — making it one of the more accessible new releases this month. Singapore players can pick it up through the PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop, or Steam as usual; no region-locking issues have been flagged. Check our game news section for further pricing updates closer to launch.
The Story: Collapsed Tokyo, Two Unlikely Partners
Set in a near-future Tokyo after a catastrophe called the World Collapse, the city is now overrun by grotesque creatures known as Anomalies, and reality itself is fraying. Soma gets attacked on a courier job, survives in a half-human half-Anomaly state, and ends up in the custody of Rena Hizuki from the Metropolitan Police’s Foreign Affairs Fifth Division. Their investigation spirals through a mystery involving a narcotic called “Tiny True” and cursed glyphs called Stigmas — all told through fully voiced dialogue and a cel-shaded aesthetic that leans into the horror of the setting without losing the anime style Arc System Works is known for.
Worth Your September Budget?
At S$30-odd equivalent for a fully original JRPG from the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue publisher — fully voiced, with a genuine mechanical hook and a dark-Tokyo aesthetic that feels distinct from anything else launching this month — Qliphah looks like a solid pickup for fans of character-action-adjacent RPGs. The pre-order bonuses add meaningful extra content rather than cosmetics alone, and the Voidfall mode suggests UnitePlus has designed the combat to hold up beyond the main story.
Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow launches September 24, 2026 on PS5, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Epic Games Store. Pre-orders are live now at Arc System Works’ official page and all major storefronts.