As a spiritual successor to the Shadow Hearts series, the game follows magically-gifted detective Matthew Farrell during the 1920s as he investigates supernatural events stretching across America, Europe, and Asia.

Many Shadow Hearts staff returned to develop Penny Blood, including series creator Matsuzo Machida, character designer and illustrator Miyako Kato, and Yoshitaka Hirota as lead composer.

He is joined by the half-mechanical Emilia Dawson of the British Secret Intelligence Service, and Suseri Otsuki of the fictional Japanese Kamuzumi organization.

[4][2] Penny Blood was created by Matsuzo Machida as a spiritual successor to Shadow Hearts, a series developed by Sacnoth and released between 2001 and 2005.

Following the release of Shadow Hearts: From the New World, the development team left to become independent, with Machida and series artist Miyako Kato founding Studio Wildrose.

[1] Guest composers Nobuo Uematsu and Kenji Ito were also announced to be a part of the project, creating music for American and Japanese locations respectively.

When creating the Fusion concept for Penny Blood, Machida used the theme of "holy" figures in tales as opposed to the demonic inspiration of Shadow Hearts.

The stretch goals included a New Game+, additional quests and gameplay mechanics, minigames, crossover items with Armed Fantasia, and a sequel novel detailing post-game events.