Screenshots of the game were leaked before the official reveal, under the title of Project Beast. This was believed to be connected to Demon's Souls. However, director Hidetaka Miyazaki has since stated that this was false, due to Sony wanting a new IP exclusively for the PlayStation 4.

Miyazaki also stated that he had always wanted to create a game set in the Victorian era, but felt that the video game consoles at the time were not powerful enough for what he envisioned. According to producer Masaaki Yamagiwa, the game was locked to 30 FPS due to the team believing it to be the best for action games. Miyazaki later stated that the decision was made because of technical limitations.