Explore the beginning of this RPG franchise with remasters of three adventures that inspire players to go on a journey of discovery, mapping deep dungeons, partying up with your squad, and tackling the challenges ahead in the dungeons.

Play as the leader of a guild of adventurers, searching for rare treasures and secrets within the depths of a vast and sprawling labyrinth, traversing the dungeons, and marking the layout of the land to hand over for research. Return to town to rest, buy items, and swap out new party members to build a team that works best for you. You will be able to recruit many classes to your guild, so you can either stack up on power-house hitters or spread it out to cover a range of styles of combat, experiencing all of the classes and their skills.

The Etrian Odyssey Trilogy are dungeon RPGs that let you draw your own map on the Nintendo DS’s touchscreen. They looked to be a charming set of DS games, and have now made the jump to the modern age with HD graphics and some remastering, but does the lack of dual screen help?

I personally think playing this in handheld is the best option, as you can still use the touch screen features when you are drawing the map, and it’s a major part of the game. The docked mode can do it, but it is more of an effort over just simply touching the screen.

In terms of story, there is little to be had here. Across the three titles, it is just an in-and-out short experience, but it can hook the player with the fun combat and exploring features.

There are slight changes across the series with playable classes and encounters, and I think the third offered the best experience with ocean exploration, which I personally enjoyed as it felt like it gave more to the players. While the starting segment of the games is easy, it does pick up in terms of difficulty, so you will need to visit town often to get items to help survive in dungeons.

The graphics for the Etrian Odyssey Collection use 2D monster designs, whereas the dungeon environments use a 3D style of art. Sadly, I wished the boss images were a bit more fleshed out and had some more detail to them, rather than just slightly bobbing up and down when they attack. Speaking with characters will display a still image of them with text dialog boxes that will lead the conversation and give the objective that you need to complete.

The audio is rather decent with some somber backing tracks while playing and some unique special attack sounds like fire blasts and sword slashes. It just feels like it was missing some voice acting. It would have been a nice addition to have.

The Etrian Odyssey Collection has done a good job of taking a DS series and porting it over to the Nintendo Switch. For fans of the series in the past, this will be a must-buy instead of trying to track down the DS cards online or at retro stores. The game is a bit of a grind and having to map out the dungeon while playing does take time, but thankfully, it is a game that you can pick up and play without needing to recap of story or events.

Written by: Shane Walsh