Torrance, Calif. (March 23, 2011) – XSEED Games, an independent-minded publisher,
today announced the upcoming PlayStation®3 system title Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost
Souls, to be released in North America and Europe in partnership with Japanese
developer ACQUIRE. The game was previously released in Japan as Wizardry:
Torawareshi Tamashii no Meikyū (Dungeon of Imprisoned Souls). The latest iteration
of the long-standing Wizardry series and the first available for Next-Gen consoles,
Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls will be exclusively available for download via
PlayStation®Network in spring 2011.
“Having the opportunity to work with ACQUIRE to bring over Wizardry: Labyrinth of
Lost Souls is truly an exciting one for us,” said Jun Iwasaki, President of XSEED
Games. “We’ve long admired the Wizardry series as a pioneer of the RPG genre, so
with our upcoming release players will be able to experience a defining moment in
gaming history.”
One of the premiere RPG experiences since 1981, the original Wizardry has a storied
history and is credited as “The Granddaddy of RPGs,” having been among the first to
utilize grid-based dungeon crawling gameplay when it was originally conceived for
early PC platforms. Wizardry – the original and its successors – established a basic
and classic command-driven battle system with still images of monsters to fight,
which would be emulated in later games for years to come. Wizardry was the first to
formally introduce an innovative first-person perspective, the fundamental stepping
stone leading to one of today’s most popular gaming genres. What’s more, RPG fans
also owe the concept of prestige classes to Wizardry, an important element and basic
building block of the modern-day RPG class system.
Following in the grand tradition of the Wizardry series is the very first version
available for today’s Next-Gen gamers; Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls features a
deceptively simple game system complementing deep and involving dungeon designs.
Hardcore RPG fans will find an extensive and grueling 1st-person 3D grid-based
dungeon crawl experience rendered in high-definition with hand-drawn characters and
sprites by famous commercial artist Yuki Hayabusa. Players will develop a party of
up to six members culled from a rich mix of five races and eight classes, and
prepare to encounter over 120 different monsters.
Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, developed by ACQUIRE and to be published by XSEED
Games, will be available for download via PlayStation Network this spring. The game
is currently in production and XSEED Games will share more information in the coming
weeks.
