Our first peep at Tri-Ace’s Beyond the Labyrinth makes it look like a handheld Ico.
Tri-Ace recently announced a duo of upcoming games for handheld systems coming to Japan: Frontier Gate for the PSP and Beyond the Labyrinth for the 3DS. Frontier Gate sounds like Tri-Ace’s take on a Monster Hunter title, so as something a little different and a 3DS game, Beyond the Laybrinth has a bit more of my interest for now. It’s evidently a dungeon-crawler, but it doesn’t appear to be the type of game that Diablo or Wizardry fans are used to.
From its first screenshots, Beyond the Labyrinth looks more like Ico. Tri-Ace described the game to Famitsu as a 3D dungeon RPG that’ll feature dungeon exploration.
While players may be crawling around, the situation with combat hasn’t been revealed yet. The only character we know of so far is a young girl that Beyond the Labyrinth‘s story will center on, but she may not even be the main character. Very confusing. If she’s to be fighting skeletons or shadow beasts, I hope she has magical powers or at least a knife stashed somewhere in that sun dress.
The world is intentionally being made bright, which might get Diablo fans all hot and bothered, but is totally fine for a JRPG. It’s only 60% complete, so expect to see more on it in the coming months. If it’s good, I’m sure Beyond the Labyrinth will make its way out of Japan, especially if it has the Ico vibe.
Source: Andriasang
Image Source: Famitsu
