News

XSEED Games is gearing up to take players on an old-school RPG trip into the past this spring with the upcoming release of Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls. This latest iteration of the long-standing Wizardry series – and the first available for Next-Gen consoles – will be exclusively available for download via PlayStationŽNetwork in spring 2011.

With roots stretching back as far as 1981, Wizardry is one of gaming’s longest-standing franchises, and has rightfully earned its title as the “Granddaddy of RPGs.” A pioneer in the early days of the PC-platform RPG genre, Wizardry was one of the first games to feature gird-based dungeon-crawling, presented to players from a unique first-person perspective. Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls takes this classic dungeon exploration and combat system and pairs it with beautifully hand-drawn graphics presented in striking high definition, creating a seamless blend of classic gameplay with modern-day visuals.

In Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, players choose a character from a selection of five unique races, including the level-headed and well-rounded Humans, the powerful Dwarves, the magical Elves, the spiritual Gnomes and the sprightly Porklu. And in keeping with RPG tradition, each race has its own unique starting attributes that reflect specific talents and skills. Strength, vitality, agility and luck all play a role in determining the outcome of combat, while intelligence and piety dictate a character’s skills with arcane and holy magic, respectively. While a Dwarf might have high strength and vitality from the start of the game, a Gnome will have low strength, but high piety. Still, any player desiring of a challenge may attempt to create a pious priest of a Dwarf, or a mighty warrior of a Gnome – Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls affords players complete control over their characters’ development, allowing them to custom-tailor their preferred play style to each race. On top of this, the game’s eight available classes allow for even further levels of character customization.

Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls also offers a male and a female option for each of its five races, giving players a total of ten distinct choices of starting characters. Along with each of these characters comes a unique storyline, and whether it’s searching for the secrets behind a character’s past or questing for a holy artifact, hardcore RPG fans can look forward to the various tales that will unravel as they delve deeper into the game’s dungeons with a six-member party in tow, battling over 120 different monsters along the way.

Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, developed by ACQUIRE and set 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.