A leak stemming from the official North American support site for Square Enix appears to have confirmed the development of a classic PlayStation JRPG's re-release. Star Ocean 2: The Second Story was first released in 1998 on the original PlayStation, and localized for North America in 1999. Its received multiple re-releases in the years since, first for the PlayStation Portable and more recently for PS3, PS4, and PlayStation Vita. The continued popularity of Star Ocean 2 may have been enough to persuade Square Enix to update the game for modern platforms.
Star Ocean: The Second Story is an action-RPG developed by tri-Ace, the studio best known for not just the Star Ocean franchise but also other JRPGs including Valkyrie Profile, Infinite Undiscovery, and Final Fantasy 13-2. Star Ocean stands out among JRPGs due to its unique mix of science fiction and fantasy content, mixing spaceflight with medieval settings. Star Ocean 2 is especially beloved in the franchise, and is often referred to as the defining release of the six.
The leak stems from the official North America support website for Square Enix. A banner image was uploaded to the site featuring a logo for Star Ocean: The Second Story R, though it has since been removed. It isn't entirely clear how the banner was discovered, as it doesn't appear to have been displayed or used on the website. Nevertheless, the logo's existence at all implies that a Star Ocean 2 remake is currently in development.
One notable detail worth calling attention to is the game's name. Star Ocean: The Second Story is the title of the original PlayStation release. It was then updated and re-released in 2008 with the name Star Ocean: Second Evolution. That the leaked remake is named Star Ocean: The Second Story R could mean it's reverting to the original release and not using the improvements and new content found in Second Evolution.
Additional content included in Star Ocean: Second Evolution includes a new playable character, 13 additional endings, expanded and added cutscenes, expanded voice acting to make the game fully voiced, and more. There was also a robust overhaul of the game's combat. Fans will likely be hoping most of these improvements will carry over into Star Ocean: The Second Story R.
Square Enix already released an updated version of the first Star Ocean game in 2019, for PlayStation 4 and Switch. A remake of Star Ocean 2 makes perfect sense. That first remake notably made relatively little changes to the version of Star Ocean: First Departure it updated. As for when a Star Ocean: The Second Story R announcement could be made, it's unclear. It's perhaps not a big enough release to be included in the summer's biggest gaming events, so Square Enix may drop the announcement as a surprise at any time.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R appears to be in development.
Source: RPG Site