Kid Icarus: The New Era

"O Hirohito, you who bear the blood of Jimmu, yours is the sacred task to guide mankind. God's era is over, and a new era is about to begin. The Rising Sun shall unite the world! Everything will be Japan, and Japan, the Remains of Paganism, the Antichrist, is me!"
-Hades/Pit, to Prince Hirohito, in the ending (Pit's only dialogue line in the game)
Kid Icarus: The New Era is an action RPG in the Kid Icarus series. It was released on Nintendo Switch and Playstation 5.
It takes a much edgier direction, being set during a distorted version of World War 1 (and being inspired by the Book of the Apocalypse) as it involves Pit uniting the Pagan Gods' armies and then fighting against the Four Riders of the Apocalypse to save Japan from YHVH. 
Pit has a new design, older, more muscular, with long hair and wearing a kimono and hakama pants, with his right arm being a weapon called the Burzum Arm. As such, this game is M-Rated and banned in places such as China and South Korea. 
The game introduces a hub world, the City of Dis (Tokyo). 
It's gotten a live action movie sequel, the 2031 movie "Antichrist: Demon of Iwo Jima" by Zack Snyder, a fantasy action movie involving Pit as an antagonist in the Battle of Iwo Jima, only known as The Antichrist. 
This game is part of "Violence Voiding Voices", a darker and edgier Nintendo subseries characterized by extreme metal soundtracks, M-rated games, and the premise that various formerly-speaking Nintendo protagonists turn mute due to extremely violent circumstances (alongside a No More Heroes game called No More Heroes: Silence of the Heroes, where Travis no longer speaks due to a trauma, Yakuza: Urban Dragon Quest, where Ichiban Kasuga gets his tongue sliced as part of a torture that turns him into a distorted copy of a Dragon Quest protagonist, and Xenoblade 4, whose protagonist Hayato is established as also being mute due to having undergone torture). 
== Plot ==
In Skyworld, a mysterious man in black beheads Palutena with his scythe, completely erasing her from existence. Pit can only shout her name as he's drenched in her blood, then he becomes mute due to the trauma. As the man fights, he introduces himself as the Pale Rider, Azrael, AKA the herald of death that obeys the One True God, YHVH. The man wins, attempts to kill Pit, and removes the hood, revealing himself to be an Aurum construct. Just as Pit's memory flashes back to the Aurum invasion, he hears Hades' voice in his head, ordering him to commit harakiri so that Azrael's scythe won't erase him from existence. Pit runs off and then complies, committing suicide before Ezekiel could erase him.
Many, many years later, Hades calls Pit (who is still mute from that trauma), revealing that Pit and Hades are now merged into one single being. Hades tells Pit that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was murdered and the human world is now at war, and the Aurum have risen again, so Pit needs to come back from the Underworld. Hades explains that, as Azrael erased Palutena, Skyworld fell to earth and Hades took control of it: what was once Skyworld is now inhabited by humans and goes by the name of "Japan" (the name Japan comes from "Satan", another name of Hades): Japan is the only part of the world where YHVH and his Aurum cannot reach, due to Hades' curse. 
Pit awakens in the City of Dis, the Capital of Hades, known among its human inhabitants by the name Tokyo. Hades explains that he could talk for Pit, as Japanese people are Underworld beings in human form and as such can understand Hades. Hades himself was overthrown by Azrael as the god of death, but he's united all of the former Skyworld army and Underworld army into a single Pagan Army (which is however missing Poseidon's Marines, as Poseidon refused to surrender and wants to rule Japan for himself). Hades explains to Pit that he's got two jobs to do: the first is the War for Japan to overthrow Poseidon in order to unify all of the Pagan Gods' armies (as such becoming the Antichrist) and then wage a final war against the Aurum and their supreme god YHVH. 
Pit's first mission is to defeat an Aurum invasion in Manchuria (which Hades plans to annex into his Japan), starting the first mission. It's there that Pit puts to good use his new weapon, the Burzum Arm, a black mechanical arm (similar to the weapons called Hands in Kid Icarus Uprising) which shapeshifts into multiple weapons such as a hammer, a claw and a gatling gun. As Pit flies over the Sea of Japan, however, the Marines intercepts him, leading to a fight with both Aurum and Marines. 
Pit, now working for Hades/Satan, finds himself caught in a melee a trois between the Underworld Army he's supposed to rule over, the Aurum, and an army of sea monsters known as the Marines (led by Poseidon). 
== Characters ==
* Pit/Burzum the God of Conquest/Antichrist: The protagonist, a silent protagonist like most Nintendo heroes. The God of Japanese Imperialism and Hades' best soldier. He's mute due to the trauma of having lost Palutena, and he's taken on an older, edgier, more grizzled appearance inspired by J-pop musician Varg Vikernes (Vikernes himself was paid to have his likeness put in the game). Pit is mostly known as Burzum in this game, as Shintoists worship him as the god Burzum-no-Okami, a personification of their right to rule over Asia, and is implied he despises being referred to as Pit by a human. Later on, Pit defeats Poseidon's Marines and recruits them into his army combining Skyworld, Underworld and the Ocean: as all the pagan gods are united by him against the Aurum, Pit is referred to as the Antichrist. 
* Hades/Satan: One of the last surviving Greek gods after YHVH exterminated them, he's also known as Satan. He's merged Skyworld and Underworld, creating the cursed islands of Japan (the name "Japan" comes from "Satan") where YHVH's power has no effect. Hades chose Pit as his herald to defeat the Aurum, and gave him the Burzum Arm.
* Hideki Tojo: A young Japanese soldier educated in Bushido values, who wields the dark Totsuka Blade and becomes Pit's kohai and friend, he takes Pit in his villa and the two bond. He often follows Pit in his land missions and talks for him. It's implied Tojo has a closeted yaoi crush on Pit. In the climax, Hideki Tojo helps Pit by fighting the Black Rider for him. By the time WW2 starts, Tojo becomes the governor of Japan.
* Palutena: A goddess from Skyworld, who got murdered by the Pale Rider at the start. In WW1, her Skyworld army gets taken over by Hades and merged with the remnants of the Underworld Army. 
* Dark Pit/Jesus: At first working independently, he's now fully on the Aurum's side, believing it's his job to protect humanity and counter the expansion of the Japanese Empire. Dark Pit's role is Jesus, 
* Poseidon: Poseidon, due to Hades having lost power, has decided to rise as an independent secondary villain, ruling over the sunken island of Kyushu and commanding an army of sea monsters known as the Marines. He wants to flood Earth to punish humans for having started World War 1. He despises Hades and wants to overthrow him as the god who rules Japan, so that then he could finally unite all the Pagan Gods under his rule and wage war against the Aurum. He lurks in his palace in the Marianne Trench, but controls the sunken island of Kyushu through his Admirals. Pit kills him and steals his trident in order for Hades to unite all Pagan armies under him.
* Fleet Admiral Cetus: Poseidon's second-in-command, head of the Marines. The Fleet Admiral is the lord of Kyushu and rules directly over Fukuoka, a sunken city. Cetus is an orca-like monster capable of controlling both magma and ice, as he was created from magma of an undersea volcano and ice from an arctic ocean. He was the one who sunk the Titanic, and likes keeping in Sunken Fukuoka the wrecks of the ships he's destroyed. Once Pit becomes the Antichrist, Cetus joins him and fights the Red Rider for him.
* YHVH: Supreme god of the Aurum. 
* Azrael/Pale Rider: The Biblical Pale Rider and Angel of Death. 
* Gabriel/White Rider 
* Michael/Red Rider 
* Raphael/Black Rider 
* Emperor Yoshihito Taisho: Absolute ruler of Japan, representative of Hades among humans. 
* Prince Hirohito (future Emperor Showa): A child who Pit can optionally meet and bond with. In the ending, Pit himself appoints him ruler of all mankind. 
== Gameplay ==
The game is a stylish action game which is divided into three phases, air, ground and titan battles, the former two work similar to Kid Icarus Uprising but this game is much heavier on ground action and uses less air battles. 
Unlike Kid Icarus Uprising, the game takes place in an open world map (with the player being able to fast travel to the City of Dis whenever they want) and the player can save wherever they want: saving is explained in-universe as Hades putting a Soul Signpost whenever the player saves, and Hades being able to recover the player from death, also autosaving is very common. 
On the ground, the battle system is reminiscent of Devil May Cry or Final Fantasy XVI, a lot more based on melee attacks but allowing Pit to freely switch between weapons whenever he wants. 
An EXP system is added, and Burzum Points (BP) obtained by killing enemies allow Pit to learn (and power up) special abilities and new modes for his Burzum Arm (such as a black hole mode, a flail mode and a flamethrower mode).
The air phase is an on-rails shooter where Pit uses his Burzum Arm shaped like a gatling gun. 
== OST ==
The OST is made by Kondo but includes songs by Varg Vikernes AKA Burzum and the band Dissection, and Kondo remixes of Burzum or Dissection songs. It's mostly based on black metal, dark ambient and bombastic classical tunes and opera arias. It's been described as J-pop, as in the kind of demonic tunes the Japanese have as their equivalent of pop. 
== Chapters ==
* Prologue: The One True God
* Chapter 1: Rising As The Sun
== Trivia ==
* This game was intentionally designed to turn Pit mute, as he stood out among Nintendo protagonists as one of the few non-silent ones and needed an in-universe reason to turn silent.
** He still speaks, but very few times throughout the whole game (like Persona 5's Joker), one of his lines an unarticulated scream as he watches Palutena get erased, another is his monologue in the game's ending (which is Hades and Pit talking simultaneously, as they are now one and the same). 
*Despite the name of the series, Pit is no longer a kid in this game, being portrayed as much older and inspired by black metal in his new look.
*This game is banned in China and South Korea. This is because Pit/Hades is the literal Antichrist and god of Japanese imperialism, and the ending shows Hirohito kneeled before Pit, as he appoints him supreme guide of mankind (in China it's illegal to portray Hirohito positively).
*In a social link scene, Hideki tells Pit that he's scared of American yellow bats. This is a shout-out to the Batman elseworld "The Pacman" where Bruce Wayne wears a yellow costume and fights a resurrected Hideki Tojo.
*Hades mentions that "after causing another war like this one, I want to use my cute little soldier's body to play some J-pop music!" (implying Hades in Pit's body will become the actual Burzum).
*Dark Pit seems like the usual dark counterpart, but in this game, Dark Pit is more heroic than Pit himself is (and later on, it's revealed Dark Pit is actually Jesus/The Messiah, while Pit is the Antichrist). 
Category:Kid Icarus (series)
Category:Kid Icarus Games
Category:Action Games
Category:Action Role-Playing Games