One of the best games I've played, personally reminded me of Dark Souls. Not because of the combat or the difficulty, but because of the atmosphere and the way Xanadu Next delivers its story (it's via items you actively have to seek out while exploring). Thankfully, it remains still very good.

Special mention to the final dungeon which is one of the best I've played. 10/10, would get lost in again

FOR STEAM DECK USERS: Make sure to set one of your trackpads to a mouse. This will make menuing MUCH easier, while still keeping the combat somewhat comfortable to use.

when it comes to Falcom games I've only played Ys Origin and Ys I & II Chronicles+. Origin is one of my favorite games and I'm not interested in the (modern) Trails series, so Xanadu Next was the logical next step before I continue on with the Ys series. I'm glad to say that just like Origin, it turned out to be another awesome hoIistic experience.

its age definitely shows with some dated features, which may be hard for some to look past. the most obvious example is the questionable key system, but I didn't mind it. my pain point was frequently opening the inventory to swap accessories or skills depending on the situation, it was the one thing that got bothersome over time. I was playing on a controller so having to use a joystick for cursor movement was a pain point, but I was fine with it. it wasn't much of a problem since it took only 14 hours to complete as tracked in-game, including about one hour of grinding weapon proficiencies.

notable setbacks for me were forgettable boss fights and most importantly, a combat system that I just couldn't be bothered fully engaging with anymore. where the inventory and equipment management has its own charm to it, after a certain point I got tired of running behind everything and just facetanked with potions half the time. it's a shame too, it really is well made, but I just lost interest in it over the course of my playthrough.

none of that should understate its successes however. the soundtrack and ambience really set the tone, giving the game a strong sense of atmosphere, although it can get repetitive when you frequent an area for too long... especially that shrill flute in the Harlech Village theme. progression in general feels pretty good, in terms of both leveling and the story. the plot is presented well and I found myself actually getting emotional at the ending, doubling as a testament to the game's overall charm. dungeons are intelligently designed and backtracking never feels like a slog, in part thanks to the shortcuts. puzzles are implemented well too; they make you think without taking too long to solve, they feel rewarding, and they're never too frequent.

I could probably list off more positives but all things considered, this overlooked game really does deserve its flowers. I played Ys Origin way back in 2017 yet I only just found out about Xanadu Next even existing. I'm pleasantly surprised everything came together in the way that it did, it truly is a hidden gem.

A JRPG that gets almost everything right. It's very light on story but the setting is a decent enough backdrop for the action RPG combat, clever 'Guardian' system that lets you prioritise aspects of your character build, weapon abilities and spells that you can permenantly learn and then apply to anything in your arsenal and - crucially - an occasional grind that feels relaxing rather than repetitive.

The combat is very basic but the little wrinkle in that you can dodge enemy attacks and do more damage from the rear, combined with some properly satisfying impact sound and visual effects feels good to use and fun to master.

There's a sprinkle of Ys, a touch of a dungeon crawler and a drop of Zelda in the mix here - a strong concoction and well worth ten hours of your time.

"How meaningless can pursuing a role be?"
This is what Xanadu Next was about for me.
If destiny is fated, we have no other option but to wait for our time to play the role given to us. This is the dilemma faced by our characters in this game.
However, it is not a matter of changing our destiny or breaking away from fate. In fact, it shows how important it is to accept that time is an essential part of our lives. Waiting can be the only option, and some things only need time to work themselves out.
Pleasing aesthetics, excellent gameplay, and a nice story.

I had never heard of this game before, until recently, and I'm pretty surprised given how much I enjoyed it! Xanadu Next is a top down isometric dungeon crawler that can be played in it's entirety with just your mouse (this is huge.) I'm a big fan of any game that can be played one handed with the mouse, so I can slump over like a corpse in my chair while I play.

The combat is nothing to write home about, its your standard stuff. Left click near an enemy to attack, right click from a distance to cast magic. There is a fun 'back stab' mechanic where you deal more damage if you attack an enemy from behind, even bosses! This encourages you to think more about your positioning around enemies attacks and/or how to kite them around so you can whale on their backside.

Something else I enjoyed about the game was the key economy. Every dungeon interior you explore is going to require many many keys to make your way through. You can buy keys from the shop keeper, however every time you purchase one they go up in price. Another way to acquire keys is by crafting them from bones which will rarely drop when defeating monsters. While crafting keys can help when your in a pinch knee deep into a dungeon. You can sell your bones to the shop keep to dramatically lower the price of keys he sells. The game explains this mechanic at the very start of the game. Unfortunately, like a gamer, I skipped the tutorial. Not knowing this mechanic, I was buying keys at upwards of 200 coins at one point (not good!) This felt super frustrating at the time. Then randomly an NPC I talked to explained the key economy to me and I realized I was playing the game wrong for 4 hours. This doesn't affect my rating of the game at all since this was my own fault, I just thought it was funny to share. The key economy system is fun though.

Something that's fairly common with all video games ever, Xanadu Next begins to lose steam around the half way point and drags real hard. Near the beginning of the game you have to do a fair amount of grinding to keep up with the level of enemies. Foolishly I thought the amount of grinding would stay consistent throughout the entire game. I was wrong! A LOT of grinding is necessary if you intend to keep up with some of the late game boss encounters. This would be a bigger issue if it weren't for the fact that the game is so easy to pick up and play. If I've got a spare few minutes I can easily open the game and grind for a little bit, save, and pick it back up later. If it wasn't for this fact I probably would have dropped the game 3/4s of the way through.

XP is earned at an incredibly slow pace and sometimes it feels so disheartening to see that level bar move so. SO slow. If you defeat an enemy around the same level as you you earn around 20-ish XP, and if you're using the fully leveled Guardian of Flugel (which grants more XP) you'll typically get an average of 25 XP per monster kill. Some of the late game level ups requires thousands of XP. It can feel rough. Luckily the game will offer up some rooms that feel specifically designed to farm XP. Doesn't make it fun, but it makes it less frustrating.

I didn't care much for the story and opted to skip most of it. There is a lot to sink your teeth into here if you're feeling so inclined... If not, it's still a fun game you can turn your brain off to and watch those funny numbers go up.

I have a new guilty pleasure. This game is surprisingly short by ARPG standards but that is much appreciated. The world feels lived in, with such a homely hub town. Once I sat down to play it each time I couldn't stop playing it. The soundtrack and effects are frozen in that Y2K vibes that hits a nerve with me. It reminds me a lot of older Korean MMOs from the time and flash games, where you just mindlessly grind and fight adorable monsters. I have to give it up to this game just for the fact it made me map out each map to figure out what the fuck was going on.

I enjoyed the atmosphere a lot, the music was nice if forgettable. Having a little hub town that you keep coming back to throughout the game was really nice - discovering a new shortcut that leads back to it is always a joy. I think this game’s world is structured fairly well, and that the routes you unlock broadly make sense and enhanced the sense of place. I would have loved if there was more going on in the town - the NPCs are mostly quite dull and I stopped talking to them after a while. Small personal dramas unfolding in the hub town as you progress the story, with some more charismatic characters and maybe a bit more of you seeing your actions help people out would have been some things I would have enjoyed.

Booted up the game and presented a cutscene and opening segment to set the tone for the entire game. Mystery, a feeling of the golden age has passed and the future is unknown. A tale that far exceeds you and do not deserve to see the full picture.

I was having a lot of fun for the 1st half, had a mystery building while having a good side plot happening at the same time between the protag and the knight meeting at the beginning. I like the potency mechanic, the enemies are unique and found myself overwhelmed when fighting a group of enemies. When I saw the stats and get to choose where my points go into, I was excited as I’m a megaten fan, I love things like this as it gives the game replayability.
What carried this game the most has to be the map design, each area is memorable in the way you have to navigate and keep notes to come back to certain segments. The transition of area to area felt natural and rewarding to opening gates, the puzzles, and secret areas light my inner light bulb nearly each time.

Then at the 2nd half, the budget of the game really started to show as like the “newer” enemies are reskins with no new added mechanics to them except maybe a status element change. I learnt that building your stats mean nothing and are forced to conform, by putting your stats all-rounder as it’s needed to meet a certain threshold to equip this armor, weapon and so on. Then it’s easy found out that magic found is far and few except the upgrades in the shop of course. The spells/skills are found or gotten are underwhelming to say the least. The skills that are in the game are so basic the enjoyment to come out of them drains quickly. However, I did find a lot of enjoyment putting status elements onto the blade! Bonking monsters on the head with an electric blade feels great every time when you hit them from the back and the sfx comes along with it.

I feel the skill mechantics could be more fun if there was more to play around with and yes, I would go out and grind a weapon’s potency for skills or bonk enemies for drops, I still feel a content drought in the skill mechanization. The same goes for the guardians, they don’t add enough to the table. Enough to switch some around like what your intent is. Trying to grind a weapon’s potency? Add the guardian to help the grind. Going into a boss fight? Maybe should add tue guardian that gives you more skill points so you can use more spells. However, the guardians impact wasn’t enough to make builds around the guardians.

Skeleton keys mean little to nothing, the price for them is so low and finding bones to sell is incredibly easy to find as you can just cut grass to get them. It feels like there’s 0 purpose for them to be here as it just became something to drop some coins into that makes little impact in gameplay except extending the game’s time by 30 minutes if that.

With all that I listened above, it felt like a slug to get through and the game was over layered to look bigger than it really wanted to be. The game felt bloated and so I am wasting my time continuing. I made it to the final dungeon and it’s been 2 months since I touched the game, I have no plans to go back either.

I feel disappointed than frustration, there’s a lot to the game I enjoyed and mechanics I feel can be excellent, but they fall flat to implement it and make the experience feel fresh throughout. When for once I thought falcom was gonna get a W, it choked ;(