Atlus has announced that Etrian Odyssey Nexus, the final Etrian Odyssey game for the 3DS, will come to North America on February 9th. The announcement comes just two weeks after Etrian Odyssey X launched in Japan, making Nexus one of the fastest localizations yet. Atlus has said pre-orders are currently available, but the official website lists them as "coming soon." Set to include some of the most content of any Etrian Odyssey game released so far, North America gets their chance to dive into Etrian Odyssey Nexus next February.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqJDwsDUlVI
Etrian Odyssey Nexus sets us within the world of Lemuria with the heroes gathering in the floating city of Maginia. Summoned by degree from the Royal Princess Persephone, you gather your party in search of treasure and glory. Adventuring through dungeons in first-person, you'll explore giant trees, caverns, and more. The main draw of the Etrian Odyssey series has always been crafting your own maps through the dungeons. Outlining walls, marking traps and treasure, and otherwise "solving" each floor provides endless challenge and enjoyment.
Etrian Odyssey Nexus is clearly positioned as the series' swan song on the 3DS. Atlus is bringing back 18 different classes from different Etrian Odyssey games, in addition to the new "Hero" class. Subclasses are returning from Etrian Odyssey IV as well. Nexus will also boast the hardest difficulty setting yet for an Etrian Odyssey game, appropriately titled "Heroic." The auto-mapping feature will return as well, if you're not a fan of drawing maps yourself, as well as variable difficulty settings.
Etrian Odyssey Nexus also sees the return of character designer Yuji Himukai, monster designer Shin Nagasawa and composer Yuzo Koshiro. All three have worked on the majority of the Etrian Odyssey games, with their reunification capping off a stellar series. Newcomers to Etrian Odyssey don't have to worry about missing story beats, either, as the story is standalone and told through over one hundred story quests.
Even with the Etrian Odyssey series so heavily reliant on touch controls and the 3DS's stylus, that doesn't stop legions of fans asking for a Switch port. Atlus is clearly aware of the demand, with series director Shigeo Komori saying that Etrian Odyssey is preparing to move into the "next stage." Yet, as so much of the enjoyment of Etrian Odyssey comes from mapping out your own adventures, Atlus will have to come up with a truly novel solution to the dual screen hardware of the DS/3DS. Atlus is no stranger to port requests, as the fan response to Persona Q2's announcement shows. Still, as Atlus pioneered the Etrian Odyssey series in the first place, one would expect that they could make it work on the Switch, too. We'll see just how Atlus has adapted the Etrian Odyssey series in the future, but there's still Etrian Odyssey Nexus to look forward to next February.
