A hallmark of the Etrian Odyssey games is map-making. As you explore the dungeon on the top screen, you use the stylus on the touchscreen at the bottom to draw a map on virtual graph paper. You note doors and traps and staircases. You study the map to find secret doors. You use the map to find your way home when you need to rest. It gives these otherwise straightforward old-school RPGs a touch of self-determination. If I'm going to make my way through this labyrinth, I need to carefully record what I see. I'm not just an explorer. I'm also a cartographer. Sure, my characters go up levels and get more powerful. But my map also expands as I record the world around me. I am creating a living document that sometimes feel more alive than the assembly of stats that comprise my characters.

The twist in Etrian Odyssey III, which will be out September 21st, is that you're in the wider world, exploring oceans and islands. And although it's easy to see the "wider world" is just a dungeon with a farther viewing distance, I can't deny that the twist works. I watch the above video and thrill a little to charting straits instead of hallways, whirlpools instead of trap doors, and seas instead of big rooms.



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