There’s a slew of new content on PSN today now that they’ve turned the lights back on and opened the doors. Under Siege looks pretty good, but there’s also the new Wizardry game vying for my attention and my non-compromised credit card. I’m skeptical since this is a Japanese development (through Xseed and ACQUIRE) and I don’t care for anime-styled fantasy, but it could be a gloriously old-school, turn-based RPG here. Better get the graph paper ready. Press follows.
XSEED Games, an independent-minded publisher, is pleased to announce today that Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system is now available as a digital download on the PlayStation®Network, at a price of $14.99. The release of Wizardry: Labryinth of Lost Souls will provide fans of the series as well as fans of old-school, retro RPGs with the opportunity to experience one of the classics that inspired the genre as we know it today. XSEED Games will also release a multitude of downloadable content supporting the title in the coming weeks.
Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, developed by ACQUIRE, is the latest entry in the long-standing Wizardry series and the first made available for Next-Gen consoles. With its roots stretching all the way back to 1981, Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls brings classic RPG-style gameplay to an all-new generation of gamers, pairing definitive in-game mechanics with modern, hand-drawn graphics presented in gorgeous high definition.
About Wizardry
With 30 years of historic momentum, Wizardry is one of gaming’s oldest franchises, and is widely recognized as being one of the most influential titles in the RPG genre, earning it the nickname, “The Granddaddy of RPGs.” As one of the first games to feature grid-based dungeon crawling presented from a unique first-person perspective that remains a core part of the gaming experience today, Wizardry throws players into an epic fantasy adventure as they battle their way through dungeons with the aid of medieval weapons and magic.
These fundamental building blocks from 30 years ago form the basis of the gameplay mechanics upon which Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls is built. While these mechanics may seem simple at first glance, experienced players and hardcore RPG fans will appreciate the depth offered by Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls’ deep and intricate dungeons and battles. By pairing classic gameplay with contemporary high-definition images drawn by renowned commercial artist Yuki Hayabusa, Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls offers a unique experience in today’s gaming landscape, granting players the choice between five playable races and ten individual characters, each featuring a unique backstory. With eight playable classes, players can easily tailor their character to a preferred style of gameplay – be it a heavy-handed swordsman or a deft wielder of magic – in order to help them battle through the game’s mix of 120 distinctive monsters.
Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, developed by ACQUIRE and published by XSEED Games, is currently available for download via the PlayStation Network, with additional downloadable content slated for release in the coming weeks. The game is rated “T” (for Teen) by the ESRB. More information can be found by visiting the game’s official website at www.wizardryps3.com
Be interested to hear your thoughts on it.
My money is first heading to Red Johnson’s Chronicles as I am a monster fan of Lexis Numerique.
They have made some of my favorite unique adventure games and that gets my vote for now.
Got some fond memories of Wizardry in my past. If the same character and group creation options are in this, I’ll most likely pony up for it this weekend. Anyone ’round here played it?
I don’t have the appropriate hardware so I can’t say it first hand, but those features surely should be in : they don’t like to mess up with formulas!
I find it interesting it has been decided to start localizing that long standing Japanese Wizardry series of spin-off when the theme of those games switched from western-ish dark and gothic to “animu^_^”. I am not quite sure they are aiming at the right crowd there. Well, to be fair, back in the late 90s nobody probably pictured the PC RPG afficionado buying a Game Boy Color or a Playstation to play Wizardry.
I am not quite versed into the large collection of ASCII and friends-produced Wizardry games released while the last Sir-Tech trilogy was going science fantasy (or whatever genre it was), but I think all of the Japanese production sticked to a more traditionnal heroic fantasy approach – it might even be the reason why it spawned in the first place.
The original authors of some of the Japanese Wizardry games moved on to create their own series, Elminage (which is quite a carbon copy of the Wizardry system, with hardcore stuff such as aging, breeding of peculious characters and a very punishing difficulty thrown in as bonus), and a sad fact is that series being ignored by any publisher outside of Japan.