
| Console | Nintendo DS (NDS) |
| Publisher | Atlus |
| Developer | Atlus |
| Genre | Dungeon Crawler / RPG |
| Region | World |
| Size | 128 MB |
Overview
Atlus developed and published Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City, a first-person dungeon crawler for the Nintendo DS. The game arrived in Japan in 2010 and reached North America later that same year, marking the third chapter in the long-running Etrian Odyssey series. Players recruit a party of up to five adventurers and push deep into a massive underwater labyrinth beneath the ocean city of Armoroad. What sets the game apart is its iconic mapmaking mechanic, which asks players to chart every corridor, wall, and shortcut by hand using the DS stylus on the bottom touch screen. This pulls players directly into the act of exploration in a way few other role-playing games attempt. Beyond the dungeon, the game introduces a naval component that lets players command a ship across a wide ocean overworld, discovering hidden islands, bonus events, and story encounters along the way. Twelve distinct character classes give players deep control over party composition from the very start.
The main campaign takes players through five themed labyrinth strata, each ending in a formidable boss fight and hiding secrets across dozens of floors. Turn-based combat rewards careful positioning, with front-row characters soaking damage and back-row units dealing ranged and magical attacks. The twelve playable classes include the Gladiator, Buccaneer, Monk, Zodiac, Ninja, Princess, Farmer, and more, each with deep skill trees that let players specialize their characters over time. A subclass system, available once players progress far enough, lets each character take on traits from a second class, opening up a wide range of party combinations. The naval exploration layer adds events, item gathering, and boss encounters at sea, giving the game more variety between dungeon runs. Three difficulty options allow players of different skill levels to enjoy the experience. Etrian Odyssey III wraps its punishing challenge in beautiful hand-drawn character art and a rich soundtrack, making it one of the finest role-playing games on the Nintendo DS.
Roms Portal