Even in 2026, FOE!

Ahem.


It’s been a long time for me since I played dungeon crawler games, honestly. The last time I played one was SMT: Strange Journey, back in my elementary school days. I have vague memories of it, but I recall that I somehow enjoyed it.

That doesn’t mean I’m entirely new to the Etrian Odyssey series as a whole, though. I used to watch some random Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold gameplays, when I saw the game released on 3DS, and what I’ve remembered the most is some of the music that I actually liked. However, I’ve entirely forgotten the game ever since…

Until around three years ago, that is. I’ve heard the first three games got a remaster, and it’s coming to PC. Now, after clearing an RPG game that did bring me back to RPG games as a whole, such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33… I’ve decided to give this game a try.


Etrian Odyssey 1 HD is a dungeon crawler game, where you’ll explore a labyrinth on Etria, under Yggdrasil, the world tree itself (no way, title drop). You’ll bring a five-man team, which consists of different (or same) classes that you can choose. Two of said classes will be unlocked through the game.

As its own uniqueness for this whole series… In this game, you’ll get to draw a map in the game itself instead of relying on the game telling you what parts are explorable or not. Most of the time, you’ll spend your time not just fighting against enemy encounters, you’ll also take some time drawing the map of your surroundings. This resembles those of older RPG titles, but this time you’ll get to draw your map inside the game, not physically with a pen and paper.

Without further ado, let’s get into the premise of the story itself.


The story is simple, you’re tasked to explore the underground forest in Etria. There are barely any survivors that reached the depths of the labyrinth itself, so just like any other guilds, you decided it’s a good idea to explore it yourself. At least, that’s what I get from the intro.

Onwards, there are some twists that do give the story some depth and some implication of what this labyrinth is supposed to be. This does in fact add more into the story, which I thought it’ll be more of those of a “create your own” story. I personally liked the way they execute the way the world is handled.


Fighting, and drawing. Honestly, not a bad mix at all. In fact, I do enjoy both parts of the game. Not only do I enjoy the gameplay overall, It does make me immersed into the game itself, as if I’m some kind of explorer that gets into some unknown dungeon, waiting to be explored.

The controls and the whole user experience feels intuitive. You explore with your left hand, where the controls are, and the mapping goes on your right hand, where you’ll spend most of the time drawing some details with your mouse. What makes it intuitive is not only the controls itself, but the screens are not left to waste, thanks to its left and right layout.

Let’s start with the combat. This game does the usual holy trinity of RPG game roles, which are the DPS, tank, and healing units, with all of them having a kit that either buffs themselves, or the whole team.

The combat itself is simple, yet pretty fun. It’s satisfying to pull some combination of a team that specializes in beating a specific kind of encounter. You can do a team setup where you can practically just stay for as long as you can in the labyrinth where the team can self sustain itself for as long as they like, or you can nuke a boss so they won’t even get a chance to even fight you.

As for the exploration… This is where you’ll spend your time the most. While the game is some kind of grid of boxes to walk into by design, I can’t lie that I do feel like I have this feeling of, “Oh, I should map this part!” And then the next thing you’ll do is, you’ll draw a map that’s easily readable for you in the future, should you need some specific details on a floor.

Every labyrinth also is a breath of fresh air, since they do have some new mechanics per stratum. It does help a lot, since most of the time you’ll spend exploring left and right, while dealing with the stratum’s environment as you go.

Sometimes, while exploring the labyrinth… you’ll get to see an FOE, the infamous giant orange ball. They’re minibosses that patrol in a specific direction, and/or appear when a condition is met. They do pack a punch, and possibly do a team wipe on early parts of the game. But once you’re able to fight them, they do give a reward that will help you progress further into the game.

You also can gather materials as you explore, which gives you some money to buy you better equipment, and some consumables that will help you out in an important fight.

What I don’t like is that while you can find a shortcut simply by your intuition, none of them has a visual cue, which means you’ll spend some of your time looking towards a wall to find an area that might be a shortcut. General tip is, if it takes too long to reach a place, there should be a shortcut somewhere.

And also I don’t like how much you have to spend for resetting your skills, either. It does decrease your level by 5, which is quite a lot on the later part of the game. Then again, you can set the difficulty easier, and you’ll get to said lost levels in no time. Not a big deal.

As you beat the final boss, and get into the post-game content… This is where the game truly shows its true roots.

Scroll down to the next section (Music) if you want to skip the spoilers.

After beating the final boss, you can delve deeper into the labyrinth to reach the final stratum of the game, where the game practically gives you the most brutal difficulty spike, ever.

Generally, the post-game contents are okay. It tells you to actually set your team up for the last stretch of the game, which you should’ve done even before reaching this point, with the enemies’ weakness changing every stratum.

Though, the final stratum’s questionable design… This part of the game will test whether you still have a sliver amount of sanity in you. I suggest consulting a guide specifically for this part. Though, I do enjoy the bosses, save for the last superboss later in the post-game content.


The game’s music is composed by Yuzo Koshiro. I honestly liked the music the game has in this game, especially I’m quite fond of SEGA Genesis soundfonts. It does add more into the game’s atmosphere and it is indeed memorable. I liked the town music and especially the first and third stratum of the area.

However, while I personally liked it, I prefer the Untold version of the music more, which is a remake of Etrian Odyssey 1 that was released on 3DS, since it does get the feel of the mythical labyrinth of the game’s more than the original.


Etrian Odyssey 1 HD is a dungeon crawler game, with an emphasis on its exploration and its diverse class system. The game’s mapping system does immerse you into its labyrinth, alongside its mechanics that do change every five floors or so. It does encourage you with skill experimentation, but resetting the skill tree can be a bit too punishing for some. As for the music, it is quite memorable on its own, though I personally like the game’s remake version more. There are some major difficulty spikes especially at its post-game content, but even so it’s still manageable with a guide.

Do I recommend this game? If you’re into hard dungeon crawling games yourself, get this game, especially on discount. This game is not for everyone, but it does hook some people that are into this kind of genre.

Playtime: 94 hours, 100% Steam Achievement completion.