The latest entry in the Disgaea Tactical RPG franchise, Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny, has a worldwide release date announced of June 29, 2021, for the Nintendo Switch. Japanese markets received Disgaea 6 on January 28, 2021, for both the Playstation 4 and the Switch, but the worldwide release has been only confirmed for the Switch, at present.
The Disgaea series has an 18-year history, beginning with the 2003 release of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness for the Playstation 2. Since then, Disgaea has spawned four numbered sequels, as well as ports, side stories and spin-off titles, including a visual novel and even platforming games starring the penguin-like mascot creature, the Prinny, Disgaea’s answer to Final Fantasy’s Chocobos and Dragon Quest’s Slimes. Disgaea titles and related games have been released for Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, Nintendo DS, Playstation 4, PC, Playstation Vita, and Nintendo Switch.
At this time it’s unclear if Disgaea 6 will remain a Switch exclusive for its worldwide release, or if it will be ported to other platforms at a later time. Based on the series’ history, it’s reasonable to expect ports to other consoles and PC at some point, but it seems the Switch will be your only way to play the new Disgaea title, at least for a while.
Xbox gamers might not have the best odds of seeing the title on their console – a Disgaea game has ever been featured on an Xbox platform, and as of 2017 Nippon Ichi had noted Microsoft wasn’t very supportive of Japanese games, at that time. A lot has changed since then, however, with high quality Japanese titles like the Yakuza series coming to Xbox, and the Disgaea 4 PC port being added to the PC version of Microsoft’s Gamepass service, so it’s too early entirely rule out an Xbox release at some point.
The Disgaea series has established its own unique footprint among grid-based, tactical RPG games, with its combination of dark humor and huge in-game numbers, relative to most other tactical RPGs. Disgaea 6 promises to raise the bar on the numbers side, increasing the level cap from the series’ prior standard of 9,999 all the way to 99,999,999.
Where the original Disgaea cast the player as Laharl, Prince of the Underworld, Disgaea 6 offers a vastly different protagonist in Zed, a zombie described as being “at the bottom of the Nethworld rankings.” With the unique ability “Super Reincarnation,” Tactical RPG fans can likely expect to help Zed climb the rungs of importance in the underworld in the story, alongside the gameplay where they grind towards the new 99,999,999 level cap, or however far they go before deciding they’ve had enough of a good thing.
Disgaea 6 will also include new features to allow newcomers to the series to jump into a Disgaea game for the first time without being too overwhelmed, such as auto, retry, and replay functions. The game was developed by Nippon Ichi Software, and its worldwide release will be published by NIS America. For more information on Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny, you can check out the official page here.
