Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire

With a penchant for gritty visual novel games, Nitroplus is known for hit titles like Saya no Uta and Full Metal Daemon: Muramasa. In recent years, they've also been involved in major anime titles like Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Psycho-Pass, gaining even wider recognition as a Japanese entertainment brand. Perhaps thanks to this strong reputation, news of their next project being a 3D action game – a first for the studio – has stirred both excitement and anxiety among Nitroplus's cult-following.
AUTOMATON sat down with the key figures behind the development of Dolls Nest – director Yojo Ota and sub-director Keiichi Ogami. We asked them about the game's development process and how the project originated in the first place. They told us all about their passion for the Armored Core series and what makes Nitroplus games "Nitroplus-like."
―You made the proposal for Dolls Nest before FromSoftware announced they were making Armored Core 6. Until that point, there had been a 10-year gap in the series. Be honest – were you thinking "I'll make it myself then" when you decided to pitch Dolls Nest?
Ota:
Yes, a big part of me coming up with the proposal for Dolls Nest was the lack of a new official Armored Core entry – it made me think "I want to make it myself."
Ogami:
If I remember correctly, you even wrote "there isn't one, so I'm going to make it" in the proposal itself (laughs).
―(laughs) Then I'm guessing Armored Core 6's announcement in 2022 came as a surprise to you?
Ota:
As a fan, I was overjoyed, but as a developer of Dolls Nest, it was quite a surprise. At first, we were worried about whether the game systems would overlap heavily, but in the end, Armored Core 6 turned out to be a very different game from what we were making, so we decided to proceed with our release. Although, I must say that I'm afraid of being compared to Armored Core, given the huge difference in development budget and technological capabilities.
―Were there any aspects of Armored Core 6 that influenced Dolls Nest?
Ota:
We launched the project with the previous Armored Core titles in mind, and we were already in the midst of development when Armored Core 6 was announced, so I don't think we ended up drawing much from it.
Ogami:
When we released our demo, we received many requests to balance the game so that it's more like Armored Core 6. We weren't going for a super high difficulty for Dolls Nest, and since its core concepts are different, balancing was a challenge for us.
―Which pre-Armored Core 6 title was closest to the vision you had in mind for Dolls Nest?
Ota:
That's a tough question, but personally, I think I enjoyed Armored Core 5 the most because of how crazy you can get with customization and how fun it is to play after you've built your unit. So, that's probably the title I was most conscious of while developing Dolls Nest.
―On the other hand, how have you sought to differentiate Dolls Nest from influences like Armored Core 5?
Ota:
In Armored Core, exploration is generally a secondary part of gameplay, but in Dolls Nest, we've brought both customization and exploration into the foreground, and I think this is what gives the game a unique color.
Ogami:
Since we're emphasizing exploration in Dolls Nest, we've placed NPCs throughout the map, and you can have conversations with them as you progress. In that sense, while the game was definitely inspired by Armored Core at the start, the experience we've created feels quite new.
More at the link:

Interview: Nitroplus missed Armored Core so much, they started making their own mecha action game Dolls Nest – then AC6 got announced - AUTOMATON WEST
Developer interview with Nitroplus's Yojo Ota and Keiichi Ogami - director and sub-director of 3D mecha action game Dolls Nest.
