If you’re a fan of first person dungeon games, there’s no more famous modern series than Etrian Odyssey. Since the release of the first game in 2007, fans have delighted in this RPG with map-making elements which has spawned no less than six games, two remakes and a spinoff Mystery Dungeon title. That’s a pretty hefty lineup over 16 years and the series has achieved something of a cult classic status as well as a pretty significant fan base. What’s unfortunate about the series is that due to its reliance on touch screens for the mapping components of the game, it is difficult to translate the series to other consoles and only those with DS and 3DS systems have had the opportunity to enjoy these classic RPGs…at least until now!
The Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection from Atlus collects the original trilogy and remasters all three games in HD. You get Etrian Odyssey (2007), Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Laagard (2008), and the much sought after Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City (2010), all in one massive digital package! If you played these back when they were released, rest assured the collection is still worth your time too. But for those of you who have not, let’s take a look at each of the titles and see what you’re getting into!
Etrian Odyssey, the first game in the series is a pretty standard old-school first person dungeon RPG. You are tasked with exploring the Yggdrasil Labyrinth (some fun Norse mythology there), a mysterious underground dungeon beneath the town of Etria. To explore, you’ll need a party however, and it’s up to you to create all of the characters that will accompany you into the depths of the dungeon. There are nine party member types to choose from, including fighters, archers, mages, medics, and more. Each class has a unique name such as Landsknecht, Survivalist, Dark Hunter, Troubadour, and Hexer, and each also has unique abilities. As you level up, you allocate skill points to your characters in order to make your party more powerful and the dungeons more survivable. It’s all pretty standard RPG stuff but the magic of Etrian Odyssey is in the execution as well as the details and this is the definition of a well-made game.
The key to Etrian Odyssey however is mapping. Your job is to not only survive the dungeon but map it too. Some of the time that means that until your map is complete you cannot progress, while other times, you simply need to map to figure out where to go next. In the original game, this was done with the stylus on the DS’s lower screen but on the modern Switch version, you have the option of using awkward button controls to map your dungeons or to use the Switch’s tactile controls to quickly trace out the walls and add in the events, items, doors, and key areas of a dungeon. Naturally, it’s easier to use the touch screen, but the game also looks great on a large TV in HD, so you’ll definitely be back and forth on this one!
Either way, you have a massive dungeon with multiple Strata to explore. Each new area of the dungeon is called a strata and the look of each noticeably changes as well as incorporating a new set of enemies and challenges. Every game in the Etrian series is long and the first game takes a solid 40-60 hours to finish depending on how thorough you are. You might have also noticed the lack of focus on the plot here. These games aren’t known for their plots and while there is a storyline and it’s fairly interesting, this isn’t a text and dialogue heavy series. Instead, the focus is on gameplay itself. The majority of the story takes place in the town of Etrian where you’ll talk briefly with the various shop owners and politicians, receive quests and assignments, and slowly progress the story. You can return to town via Geomagnetic Poles as you progress and then warp back deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, mapping as you go.
There are a ton of enemies in the game and some of those are particularly nasty. These are called FOEs or Field On Enemies and they’re basically bosses and mini-bosses, appearing as a colored ball of flame on-screen in the dungeon. Running into one triggers a battle which is usually more challenging than the regular enemies and often taxes your survival skills. In addition to FOEs, enemies change with the time of day and night which is tracked in the top left corner. Some missions require you to pay attention to the time as well, making you perform a task for a certain period of time or find an enemy or item that is only available in a certain area or at a certain time of day or night.
While it sounds a bit slow (and is at first) Etrian Odyssey is a remarkably compelling game that is surprisingly fun to play. Not only is the combat excellent but the design work is solid and the interface is clean, simple, and easy to understand. There aren’t too many complex menus and you don’t really miss out too much if you choose the wrong pathway when allocating skill points. The only real trouble with the game is the low item carry capacity. As you play, you’ll find that you rapidly fill up with items and have to hoof it back to town to sell them off. This serves a dual purpose. First, unburdening yourself to make room for more gear and second and more importantly, selling to the shop. Selling items allows the town to produce new weapons, armor, and accessories, making you stronger so you can penetrate further into the dungeon. If you really want to save some stuff, you can, but you’ll have to pay at the inn and you’re spending a lot of cash to do it. You’ll need that cash to upgrade so think twice before storing all but the most important items.
Whew! That seems like a lot for just the first game, doesn’t it? Don’t panic…there’s no need to continue to go into that much detail moving forward! Sure, the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection collects all three original titles, but part of the reason they’re grouped together here is that all three games are remarkably similar. All that stuff about mapping, dungeons and towns? It’s all the same for all three games. There are virtually no variations in the three titles, other than palette, sprite, music, and character type swaps. Etrian Odyssey II and III both have different character classes and abilities, different looking dungeons, different names for things in town and so on, but aside from that, the games are basically the same.
In Etrian Odyssey II, instead of plumbing the depths of a dungeon, you’re climbing up through the trunk of a giant magical tree. The menu system, mapping system, and overall design aesthetic is the same even if the visuals and specifics change and there’s no real change to the mechanics of the game, aside from minor details and a few new classes in the 2nd game. Etrian Odyssey III however adds some new content that the previous games lack.
If you collect physical games, you’ll also know that Etrian Odyssey III is the rarest of the series and copies fetch hundreds of dollars these days so it’s wonderful to see it available to everyone on a collection again. Part of that rarity is the low domestic print run, but Etrian Odyssey III also adds some new mechanics to the mix that make it a better game in many ways. The first big change you’ll notice is that the game has subclasses in addition to the main classes. Now, not only can you specialize in an area but you can add a subclass and gain most of the abilities of that main class in addition to your own, making it possible to be significantly more powerful and versatile regardless of which class you start out in.
There are some other new mechanics as well. In addition to subclasses, once you reach a certain point in the game, you can also forge your weapons in Etrian Odyssey III. To do so, you’ll need a variety of hammers to modify weapons with additional slots to imbue them with additional powers including strength and status modifiers. The biggest change however is the addition of sailing . In addition to exploring the labyrinth in Etrian Odyssey III, you can also access a ship from the main town menu and explore the oceans. Once on board, the ship exploration is similar to dungeons in that you’re mapping the seas and marking landmarks using the same basic interface.
Unlike the dungeons however, you can only sail so far without food and supplies and those supplies cost money, forcing you to be more efficient with your travels. Turning your ship allows you to see areas you haven’t explored yet and adds a tactical dimension to your sailing. Planning ahead means you can move less and use less food, allowing you to stay at sea longer. There are no random encounters, but there are pirate ships and the occasional sea monster that you’ll have to kill to complete a quest. It’s a fun diversion from the main game and well-executed, so it’ll definitely be worth your time to explore the high seas. There’s even a multiplayer online component to sea exploration. Using local or online connections, you and up to 4 other players can join forces, each selecting a character to crew a ship and fight sea monsters for loot. It’s just one more fun extra on Etrian Odyssey III.
All three games are amazing of course, but it’s not just the gameplay. The HD upgrade that Atlus has given the three Etrian Odyssey games is simply excellent. The games load fast, play smoothly, and most importantly, look spectacular. The visuals were great for their time but enemies and characters on the Switch version of the trilogy stand out in a way that they never did before. Just working your way through the dungeons showcases the art so well that you honestly don’t want fights to end and bosses are menacing and unique. The entire game is a visual feast and if you happen to have an OLED Switch, even handheld mode is remarkably crisp and upgraded.
But Atlus didn’t stop there. The music is remixed and updated as well and there are plenty of new tunes to enjoy. While the soundtrack for the three games is subtle and tends to slip into the background, the compositions are quite good and the remixes are extremely well-done. There’s no question that Yuzo Koshiro’s music enhances the entire series and he has outdone himself this time, modernizing the classic themes for the Etrian series and still making them sound retro and amazing.
There are a number of technical changes as well. Save slots are plentiful of course, making it far less of an ordeal for you if things go badly. You can also accelerate combat, walking speeds, and even combat menus in order to knock a few hours off of the playtime if you’re so inclined. There are a lot of random battles in the Etrian series and at some point, you’ll definitely want to speed through some of that combat. The biggest change however is the difficulty. You can even fast battle with the L button, allowing your characters to pummel the enemy at hyper speed and cutting down on the wear on your face buttons. With the number of battles you’ll be fighting, it’s definitely worth buzzing rapidly through a few popcorn enemies this way and it’s a wonderful addition to the control scheme.
The Etrian Odyssey series is known for being particularly gruelling, especially the original trilogy. Played on its original difficulty, the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection is an absolute grindfest with new enemies slaughtering your party left and right as you struggle to upgrade and survive long enough to complete a few missions and eke out some cash. This style hearkens back to the original dungeon crawlers like Wizardry and the extreme challenge turns off a lot of players. In short, you die a lot. And then you have to try again and hope you survive.
All that has changed with the HD remasters of the Origins Collection however. You have your choice of playing the standard original difficulty, an even higher level of difficulty reserved for unabashed masochists, or an easy mode that makes wandering through the dungeons a gentle traipse down a garden path. There’s no moderate mode here, it’s either easy, hard, or ridiculous and honestly, easy is pretty great. It might be a tad too easy but if you don’t have the hours to spend with the series that others do and still want to experience the games, easy is the way to go.
All in all, this is an absolutely bonkers collection that no one had really expected. The Etrian games are a niche series that has long been appreciated by hardcore RPG fans and it’s great to finally see them getting the attention they deserve. While they’re a bit pricey, you’re getting the best of everything with each game. Purchased separately (and if you just like one or two, that’s the way to go), Etrian Odyssey I, II, and III are $40 each on the eShop and the collection itself is $80, saving you the price of a full game if you grab all three in one go. They all install separately though, so don’t think you’re going to be selecting from a menu!
Regardless of the price, the experience that the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection provides is simply outstanding. The games are deceptive in their simplicity, pulling players in and keeping them riveted to the screen for hours, despite the relative thinness of the plot and the simplicity of the overall interface. It’s easy to see why the series has such a distinguished pedigree here and if you’re at all an fan of JRPGs and dungeon crawlers, this is the quintessential collection to have on the Switch. While it’s unfortunate there’s no domestic physical release of the collection, the games are worth getting regardless, so definitely don’t hesitate. The Etrian Odyssey Origins collection is a fantastic experience and you definitely won’t regret taking this deep dive into the original games in the series, all sleek, modernized, and ready for you to experience!
This review is based on a digital copy of the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection supplied by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch OLED system in both docked and undocked modes. The Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection is also available for PC on Steam.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.
