Etrian Odyssey HD - This Game Took Me By SURPRISE!

Etrian Odyssey HD is now available on PC through steam as well as the Nintendo Switch as of the 1st of June 2023, a game that originally released in 2007 on the Nintendo DS. And I had the pleasure of giving this game a try.

Honestly when I went into this game, I had no idea that this was originally on the Nintendo DS, but now that I know that it’s starting to make sense, why the game is the way it is. Gameplays wise you are kind of thrown into the game and you must create your own guild as well as the party members for your questing expeditions.

You can make quite a few members for the guild, and these all must be named, as well as given a character art avatar. Each class has its own strengths and weaknesses, and you must put skills in for them for how you want to build them. Once done with creating your party and naming them, you must go to Radha Hall and get your first quest which is to go to the labyrinth floor 1 and map out the whole area before you can do any real quests from the pub.

This is where the gameplay got weird for me, and I wasn’t really enjoying the mapping out of the first-floor labyrinth at the beginning. It seemed a bit overly complicated but as I progressed further into the labyrinth and mapped out the area, I started to kind of enjoy it. It wasn’t as tedious as I thought, and it felt kind of cool, knowing that I was mapping out the area that I would be visiting many times for the quests to come.

It kind of gives you a sense of ownership to the labyrinth floor, since you’re thinking about how you mapped out the area yourself. Once you’ve done that you can then pick up more quests from the pub and sleep at the inn to heal your wounds, sleep till the next day as well as save the game.

Shilleka’s Goods is where you go to spend your hard-earned currency for new equipment and to also sell your items you earned while questing. This is how I found out that the more items you give to Shilleka, the newer items she will have available to you. I thought that was cool. I liked the idea how by giving her materials you earned from monsters, she was able to craft stronger weapons, armor and potions for you. Visually the game isn’t much to look at. While the game title states it is in HD, there doesn’t seem much that needs to be HD.

The game is played in first person so there isn’t much in terms of 3D characters, only the environment is 3D, and the characters are only shown through the character art. So, if you’re wondering what HD in this game is, it’s the environment in the labyrinth and the artwork. The artwork is very detailed and crisp. It doesn’t look blurry or outdated. I really like the artwork too for the character designs.

They’re very nice. Overall, I’d say that Etrian Odyssey HD is a game that may turn off people who never played the Nintendo DS version in the past, but if you give it some time, you might find that the game is cool and very fun. It will take some time to get used to though, since it doesn’t really hold your hand in how you go about playing the game. But I do think it’s worth the experience. Though I’m not sure about the cost of the game. At 39.99USD on Steam, this game is steep on the cost if you ask me.