from-the-abyss
Latest
DS releases for the week of August 25th
You want a game? We got your game right here, from titles that were already supposed to be out, to those featuring teeny, tiny ninja dudes. And ... what's this? It seems we barely heard a whisper of From the Abyss, both for its Japanese release and subsequent localization, and now here it is. That can't bode well for the ARPG, but we'll be keeping a few fingers crossed, just in case. Commando: Steel Disaster Digimon World Championship Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli From the Abyss Garfield's Fun Fest Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness My Chinese Coach MLB Power Pros 2008 N+ PictoImage The Sims 2: Apartment Pets Head past the break for the other major market releases for the week.
From the Abyss, to North America
Remember From the Abyss, Sonic Powered's Secret of Mana-esque ARPG? The title debuted in Japan earlier this year to little fanfare, and it didn't seem to have much potential for a North American release. Publisher Aksys thought different, however, and has announced that it will be localizing From the Abyss for "Q4 2008." If Eco-Creatures, an environment-conscious RTS with hardly any mass appeal managed to find a home in the US, why shouldn't From the Abyss?As we discussed before, From the Abyss features a randomly generated world, capturable souls for stealing enemy techniques, and a two-player local co-op mode (separate dungeon, not main campaign). Hit the gallery below for screenshots from the Japanese release.%Gallery-12097%[Via press release]
Secret of From the Abyss
We initially dismissed From the Abyss when Famitsu announced the title last October -- partly because it seemed like a drop in the ocean of generic RPGs coming out in Japan, and partly because we saw that the studio developing the game is "Sonic Powered." To be honest, we're not familiar with any of Sonic Powered's previous work, but we took its name as a signal to immediately bail out.It turns out that Sonic Powered has nothing to do with the hedgehog of the same name, and From the Abyss actually has some interesting merits -- it's a 2D ARPG in the same vein as the Seiken Densetsu (Mana) series, styled to look very much like Children of Mana, though with less polish. After answering a set of questions to create your pseudo-personal character, you'll be able to fight enemies with a variety of weapons/magic and capture their souls to gain their skills. Apparently, some ancient seal has been broken, monsters are now roaming the land, and yadda yadda story. There's even a two-player cooperative mode, but it's limited to local play, and it appears that you'll be playing in a special dungeon as opposed to the main campaign. Hella lame, we agree. From the Abyss hits Japan early next year on January 17th. You can see the game's boxart and some screenshots in the gallery below.%Gallery-12097%[Via GAME Watch]
