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Compare the two styles of the Dark Spire
Atlus's first-person dungeon RPG The Dark Spire is playable in two "flavors": a modern mode with colorful, hand-drawn 2D graphics, and a classic mode that provides an authentic early-80s wireframe dungeon experience, complete with simplistic enemy sprites. The company sent out a set of screens today that allows us to compare the two modes directly:our gallery contains six scenes from the game in Modern Mode, paired with the identical scene as presented in Retrovision. Looking at these Classic Mode shots, we are struck by the unique terror that comes with realizing that we are lost in an RPG dungeon -- even without having played the game. %Gallery-46720%
Atlus draws us into the dungeon with free Dark Spire soundtrack disc
Not only does Atlus love announcing DS games, it has developed an appreciation for putting those DS games in fancy boxes with soundtrack CDs, and we cannot say that we are displeased with this development. Add the recent delays, and Atlus is on their way to being the reincarnation of Working Designs!The latest game to get the deluxe treatment is Success's breathtakingly beautiful, punishingly old-school dungeon RPG The Dark Spire. Like Super Robot Taisen OG Endless Frontier and Legacy of Ys, The Dark Spire will be a boxed edition with a bundled soundtrack. The disc will include 24 tracks, pulled from both the "modern" and "classic" modes of the game. Samples of the synth-heavy soundtrack are available at the official site!%Gallery-21932%
Atlus announces Dokapon Journey, delays
Last year, developer Sting announced two new games in their Dokapon board game/RPG series: Dokapon Kingdom for Wii and PS2 and Dokapon Journey! for DS. Atlus picked up Kingdom and released it in October, seemingly leaving the DS game behind. Apparently, Wii and PS2 owners bought a sufficient number of copies of Dokapon Kingdom, because Atlus has announced that they're localizing Dokapon Journey, for release on April 14 -- just as Amazon.ca "predicted"!In another press release, Atlus announced delays for some of their upcoming handheld games. The mindblowingly awesome-looking Tokyo Beat Down is now coming out March 31st, The Dark Spire is scheduled for April 14th, and Steal Princess is out April 21st. We don't mind having all the Atlus releases spaced out a bit, really.%Gallery-20125%
DS Daily: Style over sense
I mentioned in the Dark Spire post that I don't usually play dungeon RPGs. I have no aptitude for strategy, little patience for grinding, and, uh, I actually tend to get lost in first-person maze-type environments. So that is just not the genre for me. But I will play The Dark Spire, even if my experience only lasts a searingly frustrating ten minutes, because both of its visual styles appeal to me. Have you picked up something you knew was outside of your usual area of expertise based solely on the style? Are you planning to? Or are you smarter than me?%Gallery-21932%
Atlus brings The Dark Spire to light
Atlus has confirmed the theory that their upcoming The Dark Spire is a localized version of Success' Genmu no Tou to Tsurugi no Okite -- either that or they dropped whatever game they had planned under that name after they saw that everyone thought it would be Genmu. Probably not, but it's a fun idea.The Dark Spire is a first-person dungeon RPG playable in two distinct graphical styles: a vintage "wireframe" look straight out of Wizardry, or a striking, high-contrast "modern" look. Players control a band of adventurers who attempt to survive the tower stronghold of Archmage Tyrhung in order to gain possession of a magical jewel. According to one baffling screenshot, characters will be able to learn skills including dance, knitting, and "arts and crafts" along the way.One element we were not aware of in the Japanese version is the running narration on the bottom screen, which makes The Dark Spire feel much more like a text adventure. The narration, combining atmospheric storytelling with Atlus humor, is just one of the reasons this game is going to make us attempt to play a hardcore dungeon RPG.%Gallery-21932%[Via press release]
