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Whereas some companies can’t keep a single thing from leaking into the hands of gamers, Square Enix seems to be keeping an incredibly tight ship. At Tokyo Game Show during Sqaure Enix Presents, they announced Dungeon Encounters, a new dungeon exploration RPG from Final Fantasy veterans Hiroyuki Ito and Hiroaki Kato. Surprisingly the game is just two weeks from release later this month.
Dungeon Encounters isn’t an easy game to explain. There are 100 levels in the dungeon and the aim seems to be to make sure each one of them is mapped fully. This is done by making sure you step on every square of the 2d grid-based dungeon floor. There are traps to avoid, treasures and other items to find, and different events like visits to armor and weapon shops that are triggered by a series of hexadecimal number codes on the dungeon floor. The only way you’re going to map the entire floor is through trial and error.
Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a dungeon explorer if there weren’t monsters to encounter. These are battled through the “newly polished and refined” menu-based Active Time Battle (ATB) system that’s been borrowed from Final Fantasy. There are common enemies that will be encountered frequently and some that will evolve over time. There are also rare enemies that players are encouraged to find. Enemies won’t be defeated on their own though, so players have to put together a party from lost friends they’ll find throughout the dungeon floors. These include a panther called Elva and a gentleman called Guyselblanc who can seemingly turn himself into a hamster. Take a look at the trailer and see if you can get your head around it.
The game’s minimal design is deliberate to make sure players focus on the gameplay mechanics instead. At least they can enjoy a soundtrack from musical director Nobuo Uematsu that includes “a modern take on classical tracks.” Dungeon Encounters is releasing on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam on October 14. It launches with a 20% discount until October 28 on the PlayStation Store.
[Source: Square Enix]