A Switch remake of the game originally released in 2007, Etrian Odyssey is a dungeon crawler tasked with uncovering the secrets of a dangerous labyrinth. Upon arriving in Etria, the town on the border of the Maze, you report to the Explorers Guild and begin recruiting teams.
Due to the fame of the labyrinth, adventurers of various classes and abilities are already roaming the area. You don’t have to search for anything, you can create the party you want from the beginning. This will allow the game to start very smoothly.
You can take up to 5 characters into the labyrinth and leave up to 30 in the guild. This allows us to bring out a diverse pool of talent, depending on what we want to achieve each time we take on a challenge.
As your character levels up, you can assign points to different skills. Once you reach max level 70, you won’t have enough skill points to max everything out, so it’s worth having a few characters of each type on your team.
Etrian Odyssey gives you a lot of freedom to explore in your own way. The local government assigns you missions that further the story. Tavern people will ask you to undertake quests in exchange for gold or gifts. This includes everything from fighting enemies to discovering lost items and interesting map features. Some quests recommend mixing up your party, while others recommend focusing on a specific character her class for a short period of time. Some drive you deeper into the maze, while others encourage you to explore every nook and cranny of floors you’ve already passed once.
Combat is turn-based and requires some strategy, especially if you’re playing in a more challenging setting. Different types of moves have different effects on the enemies you face. Some enemies have conditional drops based on the type of move used to defeat them. Especially if you plan to recruit healers and defenders, you need to think about this in advance, as there is not enough room in your party for all types of combat specialists.
There are a total of 25 floors to explore, divided into 5 tiers, each with their own designs, enemies, and loot. This game is mostly manual, giving you the freedom to join and leave quests. However, the stories that come with each quest have hints that help build the game’s ultimate message.
The main feature that distinguishes Sekaiju no Labyrinth from other dungeon crawlers is the cartographic element. The labyrinth is completely unmapped and does not generate labyrinths as the game progresses. In the original game, mapping functionality was on the bottom touchscreen and first-person navigation was on the top.
On Switch, both screens are combined into one. One Joy-con controls the movement of the party through the forest, and another Joy-con controls the map-making functions. You can also use the touchscreen in handheld mode. It doesn’t look great at first glance, but both the design and controls are easier to get used to than you might expect.
Along with this, the revival of “Labyrinth of the World Tree” with remastered graphics and soundtrack will be realized. Parts of the design are still a bit dated, but for the most part it looks and sounds great, so you know the effort has paid off. Etrian Odyssey doesn’t have the fluidity of more recent games, but it’s been beautifully preserved with glorious upgrades and is well worth playing to relive.
