The debut project of Tokyo RPG Factory, I am Setsuna began development in 2014 with a short production schedule.

I am Setsuna is a role-playing video game in which players take control of a party of characters, navigating environments from a fixed top-down perspective.

[2][3] Locations, such as towns and areas outdoors and in dungeons where enemy encounters take place, are reached by navigating the game's overworld.

On their journey, they meet and are joined by Nidr, the guard of the earlier sacrifice and Setsuna's illegitimate father; Kir, a member of a magically gifted tribe with truncated lifespans; and Julienne, a descendant of the ancient kingdom once occupying the Last Lands.

They are attacked several times by a figure called the Reaper, who is driven by a power that seeks Setsuna's death; he is eventually killed when they arrive in the Last Lands.

The growing party also comes across signs of the monsters' continued attacks, undermining the morale of surviving human settlements.

Travelling back to Setsuna's home on the day her mother left as a sacrifice, Endir defeats the Dark Samsara in its humanoid form.

Setsuna then absorbs him into herself, granting the Dark Samsara access to her feelings and companionship, before asking Endir to destroy her body.

A post-credits scene shows Endir walking past a broadleaf tree in leaf, with Setsuna's spirit watching over him.

I am Setsuna was developed by Tokyo RPG Factory, a studio created by Square Enix and staffed by external staff to produce role-playing video games (RPGs).

[12] The game was designed as a new intellectual property, with its future developments to be decided after Square Enix reviewed its post-launch reception and success.

[15] The concept originated from plans to re-create a game similar to classic RPGs from the genre's "golden age".

[9] According to Hashimoto, Chrono Trigger was used as inspiration due to its popularity, it being a favorite of the assembled development team, and the fact that there were few spiritual successors to it on the market.

[18] The playtime was designed to be similar to RPGs of the 90s, going against the prevalent trend of added content with the scale and power of gaming technology.

[7][17] The lack of established RPG elements, such as inns for resting and a world map, were influenced by the harsh setting and a wish to have players think about where to go.

Despite lacking katakana, the setting used writing schemes akin to those from European literature, giving the world a unique feel.

While the team wanted to continue producing games based on gameplay and thematic concepts, they considered I am Setsuna to be a standalone project without any need for a sequel.

[14] When translating the design into the game's 3D models, the team shortened them and gave them a distinctive appearance by removing their feet.

Miyoshi described the album as a new version inspired by fan performances of the soundtrack, with him creating a musical representation of Setsuna's journey.

Porting began in late 2016 and was made easier by their existing knowledge of the Unity engine and the fact that the Switch would support it.

The team ran into some issues porting the game over, with one cited bug being the menu screens glitching between docked and handheld modes.

[55] During its first year, Tokyo RPG Factory recorded a heavy loss for its parent company, though this was not seen as unusual given its status as a new studio.

[47] PC Gamer's Leif Johnson similarly praised the game's simplicity of design, with his main complaints being a lack of side content and innovative features.

[52] Peter Brown of GameSpot felt the game was held back by adhering too closely to its inspirations, summarizing it as "an unapologetic homage to beloved Japanese RPGs that plays well but takes few risks.

"[5] Liam Croft of Nintendo Life felt the game would appeal more to genre veterans than newcomers due to a lack of engaging elements outside its combat system.

[50] Philip Kollar of Polygon, while noting a lack of original elements, was positive and stated that the game "demonstrates a great understanding and mastery of what made Square Enix's past successes work so well.

[8] Donald Theriault of Nintendo World Report felt the game was let down by some of its aesthetic and gameplay design but otherwise found the core experience strong.

[5][49][50] The battle system and related mechanics met with general praise,[47][51][58] though several negatively noted some limitations in its functions and slow speed.

[4][49][51] Talking about the Switch port specifically, Croft was positive about the conversion,[50] but Ingenito and Theriault noted technical and localization issues respectively.

[5][8][51] Tokyo RPG Staff confirmed in later interviews that they had concepts for three game titles from their foundation, inspired by the setsugekka phrase.