Another classic Nintendo-exclusive RPG finally comes to PC next month

We've had a pretty good run of Nintendo platform exclusives making their way over to PC recently. We got Triangle Strategy late last year, the Etrian Odyssey games are due out in June, and now the formerly Switch-exclusive remake of beloved RPG Live A Live will hit Steam on April 27.

The original Live A Live came out for the Super Famicom in 1994, and let you play as a bunch of different protagonists with their own stories. It's pretty Octopath-esque, which only makes sense given that Octopath was something of a spiritual successor to Live A Live. It was also pretty dang weird, with environments themed after everything from the Middle Ages to prehistory to the far-flung future. 

Combat was turn-based, and pitted you against era-appropriate enemies like cavemen, cowboys, or, uh, bikers. I'm pretty sure a dragon was in there too. All very Chrono Trigger, but sadly unavailable outside Japan.

That is, until it got a full-fledged remake last year. Replacing the original's SNES-era graphics with the sumptuous 2.5D you'll recognise from the Octopath games, it was generally well received by fans and critics, even if it was moored on a strange, hybrid platform the kids are calling a "Nintendo Switch".

Well, no more. Square Enix has made a rare good decision and decided to break the game free of its console shackles. It's not actually live on Steam just yet, for reasons I can't fathom, but it should be up in the very near future for preorders. There will also be a demo for you to try out when it finally pops up, which will let you play through the opening sections of three of the game's stories.

Joshua Wolens
News Writer

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Read more
Tactics Ogre Reborn
Holy heck, there are a lot of strategy RPGs on PC now
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PC
It seems like Square's finally consistently taking the PC ports of Final Fantasy seriously
A screenshot from Recettear HD
Iconic shop sim JRPG Recettear is getting an HD remaster in 2025
MySims: Cozy Bundle
The MySims: Cozy Bundle brings the blocky-headed chibi sims over to PC: 'It's still very, very Sims'
A cold-looking gameplay shot of Fate: Reawakened
Fate: Reawakened gives the nostalgic 20-year-old action RPG series a new lease on life
Latest in RPG
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's latest stress test update fixes heartbreaking bug that caused a total party-wipe on Ironman Mode at the game's final boss, forcing dejected testers to restart the entire game
Lady smiling with the sun in her face
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's director was 'starving for new turn-based RPGs,' and figured if he wanted them, there would be others out there who'd want to play his game
Astarion, a silver-haired vampire from Baldur's Gate 3, places a hand on his chest and pouts.
Wizards of the Coast gaming head says Baldur's Gate 3 'certainly raised the bar' and changed how they think about big budget D&D, but they still want 'different entry points' including smaller games
Natarkveld, a horrific amalgamation of Nata and Arkveld, screeches like a creature in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Monster Hunter Wilds player spits in the face of creation, fuses Nata with Arkveld like they're doing a Full Metal Alchemist villain speedrun
Fallout 76 ghoul screenshots
How to become a ghoul in Fallout 76
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 barbers change hairstyle - Henry sitting on a horse wearing armour.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 sold 5 times more than the original in its first month
Latest in News
The "mind blown" meme from Tim & Eric.
Friendship ended with human race: Boffins declare the 'meme Turing test' has been passed, and AI is now making funnier captions on average than you useless lumps
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's latest stress test update fixes heartbreaking bug that caused a total party-wipe on Ironman Mode at the game's final boss, forcing dejected testers to restart the entire game
Two adventurers face off against a pair of undead scallywags in Frosthaven
X-Com creator Julian Gollop unexpectedly takes over sequel to sprawling board game adaptation, and you can try out the closed beta next week
Naoe and Yasuke pose against the backdrop of a burning building.
After Ubi came crawlin' back to Steam, Assassin's Creed Shadows blasts past a million players in under 24 hours and has already smashed Valhalla's player record
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Valve CMO threatened the company would walk away from games if it didn't own the rights to Half-Life—'It wasn't an idle threat—we weren't going to take on all of the risk to make other people rich'
Nvidia Blackwell GPU with specs annotated.
CEO Jensen Huang reveals that Nvidia is now making chips in the USA but will that help with gaming GPU supplies?