While Mizuguchi is working on his next-gen game, one of his previous works already hinted at what he can do next.

Mizuguchi continues to work with the concept of synesthesia (where one sense is stimulating another unrelated sense), and his Rez Infinite’s Area X portion was confirmed to be some sort of a prologue of his upcoming title. We didn’t make it up: he said it himself to Famitsu.

„Area X in Rez Infinite was developed as a ‘prologue’ to the next game, and we hope to use that concept in the next generation of games. With the concept and XR technology, we’d like to increase the overall resolution and create a more detailed game,” he said. Mizuguchi feels excited about the PlayStation 5’s Tempest 3D audio engine, as well as the DualSense controller’s haptics: „We are very good at weaving music and sound into visual and tactile experiences in our game designs so that we can take an interesting game and turn it into an even more impressive game. I’d like to raise the level of excitement to a higher level by increasing the granularity of what comes next after Rez Infinite or after Tetris Effect.”

His work continues to involve virtual reality to some extent, which is why we suspect that the PlayStation VR 2 will get this next project. (After all, Rez Infinite’s Area X and Tetris Effect both utilized the first PSVR. The latter game is easily one of the best Tetris games after Nintendo’s Game Boy launch title and Tengen’s version.) „To achieve this, the evolution of VR technology is very important, and resolution is also important. In other words, there are various levels of granularity, aren’t there? I’d like to see that improve. Of course, the next generation of consoles came out at the end of last year, so we would like to develop the next games for the new generation, and we have actually started working on projects,” Mizuguchi added.

He also continued to discuss the „resolution of sound” and how it can sharply increase the experience: „When you think about the pattern of sounds coming from various directions in a space, and harmonizing them to form a piece of music, it becomes a different dimension from simple stereo sound. Everything becomes spatialized. Everything becomes 3D, and the increase in granularity and resolution shakes or changes the experience itself.”

Finally, he discussed how haptics can also be a game-changer: „When haptics (tactile technology) is added to the mix, the total integrated experience of visuals, sound, and tactile sensations is not just multiplied, but multiplied by a factor of several. When that happens, things start to happen that in the past would not have felt like this in a game. We believe that we can make it happen, and we’re climbing the stairs one by one.”

Enhance (Mizuguchi’s company) struck gold with both Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect. If the former’s Area X is just a teaser of his next project, we’ll have to look for our jaw on the floor.

Source: PSL (https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2021/02/05/rez-infinite-area-x-prologue-mizuguchi-next-gen-game/)