Disgaea Mayhem Interview

Nippon Ichi Software is offering an action take on the Disgaea series with Disgaea Mayhem. Ahead of its western release from NIS America later this month, RPGamer was able to put some questions to the development team about the game, the ideas behind it, and how it translates some of the traditional Disgaea elements to a new type of gameplay.

Alex Fuller (RPGamer): Can you give an indication of how Disgaea Mayhem relates to the main series?

Nippon Ichi Software: The game is fundamentally built on the same universe setting and similar systems as the Disgaea series. Specifically, many of the weapons, skills, and monsters that appear in the game are drawn from the Disgaea series. On the systems side, character levels can rise up to 9,999, and we’ve incorporated the Item World, Chara World, and the reincarnation-based character progression systems.

RPGamer: How did the main ideas for Disgaea Mayhem come about?

NIS: We have long felt that the hallmarks of the Disgaea series — its flashy attacks, rich setting, and massive damage numbers –lent themselves naturally to the action RPG genre. This project gave us the opportunity to finally put that idea into practice.

RPGamer: Can you talk about the premise for the game and ideas behind the game’s story?

NIS: Since the development prioritized genre and gameplay, the story was shaped by those elements in a few ways. The main influences were (1) keeping things from getting in the way of the action (avoiding excessive amounts of narrative and cutscenes) and (2) not letting the tone get too serious.

Early on, there were two concepts on the table: a comical conflict centered on someone eating all the flan in the fridge, and a story about a Netherworld detective solving cases. We went with the former.

RPGamer: Can you describe the relationship between N.A. and Princess Tichelle?

NIS: N.A. and Tichelle are in an employer-employee relationship. Tichelle is a fledgling Overlord who hires N.A. — a mercenary said to have been a friend of her late father’s — to reclaim the royal flan that was stolen by her vassals. N.A. frequently bristles internally at being hired for such an absurd reason, and at Tichelle’s naive outlook, but as the story progresses and their involvement with each other deepens, that dynamic gradually begins to shift.

RPGamer: What goals have you looked to achieve with the combat system?

NIS: Not just for the combat system, but across the game as a whole, our most important goal was to make it feel like Disgaea. To achieve that, we’ve incorporated elements, like massive damage numbers and deep character progression, and we’ve tuned the action gameplay with a focus on smooth, accessible controls, so that fans of the Disgaea series, and strategy RPG players in general, can jump in comfortably.

RPGamer: Are there any extra challenges balancing the Disgaea penchant for massive numbers with an action-based combat system?

NIS: We believe that what makes a typical action RPG fun is the back-and-forth between your own inputs and the enemy’s behavior, but the massive damage numbers you’ve mentioned can be a poor fit for that. It can lead to situations with very little tension: grind your characters enough and you can one-shot a boss, while conversely an overpowered enemy can one-shot you right back.

That said, since making it feel like Disgaea was our top priority for this title, we accepted that trade-off, and built the game around it.

RPGamer: Are there any other challenges or opportunities to explore that the shift in gameplay style has given you?

NIS: In a strategy RPG, each unit is generally guaranteed one action per turn, which makes balancing things like damage output relatively straightforward. In an action RPG, however, there is no such structure. Depending on how the player controls their character, they can keep attacking relentlessly, or avoid taking damage entirely, which made balancing feel considerably more difficult.

On the other hand, this title has allowed us to achieve things that weren’t possible in the strategy RPG genre, such as fully proportioned 3D characters and a high degree of freedom in controls. That’s given us a real sense of possibility for what lies ahead.

RPGamer: How well did the Disgaea art style translate to the new perspective and gameplay?

NIS: Disgaea’s unique visual style, established by the artwork of Takehito Harada, is truly distinctive, and bringing it to life in-game is something we always struggle with. This time around, the shift to an action RPG meant a different camera perspective, so we made adjustments to carry those characteristics through into the 3D environments, as well. We feel we were able to successfully adapt Takehito Harada’s distinctive illustrative style to the new format.

RPGamer: How have you looked to incorporate other traditional elements of the series, such as the Item World and reincarnation? Are there any fresh twists on them?

NIS: We’ve implemented these elements by recreating them from the Disgaea series as faithfully as possible.That said, there were aspects that didn’t translate directly, and the Item World and Chara World in particular have been reworked. We think players will find they offer an experience that’s unique to this title.

RPGamer: How different are the weapons to use? Will players be encouraged to find a weapon style that works for them, or try and keep mixing up their weapons to deal with different foes?

NIS: Each weapon has its own distinct feel, but we’ve tuned them all with the goal of being accessible to anyone.

Part of the thinking behind this is that we want players to keep trying out new weapons as they find stronger ones, without getting too attached to a particular weapon type. That also ties into making the temporary weapon type changes from Magichange easier to embrace.

RPGamer: Do you have any final messages for potential players, new or returning?

NIS: Thank you for playing Nippon Ichi Software’s games. Here at NIS, we’re continuously pushing ourselves, not only by developing new IPs, but also by taking on fresh challenges with existing ones, just like with this title. Even as I answer this interview, we’re hard at work on the next one (though I can’t share any details just yet!). We’d be so happy to have your continued support. Again, thank you.

RPGamer would like to extend our deepest thanks to the team at Nippon Ichi Software for taking the time to answer our questions, as well as to Erica Enos, Mika Kelly, and Clever Communications for facilitating the interview. Disgaea Mayhem releases for PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 on July 23, 2026.