Square Enix announce Dungeon Encounters, led by FF6 director
A new dungeon crawler directed by Hiroyuki Ito
Square Enix today announced new game Dungeon Encounters, and surprise, it's launching in only a fortnight. The dungeon crawler is directed by Hiroyuki Ito, who directed Final Fantasy VI, IX, and XII, as well as creating the Active Time Battle system. Some other FF veterans are onboard too. But more important than all that is: along with all manner of warriors, possible party members include a giant cat named Sir Cat, a dog holding a sword in its mouth, and a hamster. Yes, thanks.
"Using 2D grid-based movements, players are invited to lead an expedition charting the depths of an otherworldly labyrinth," Square Enix say. "Plan and prepare to overcome numerous obstacles, battles, and defeat monsters in a bid to outwit the formidable game system and reach the deepest level of the Dungeon. Strategise to survive!"
They note that it uses a "newly polished and refined iteration" of Final Fantasy's ye olde Active Time Battle system, which Ito created way back when. Also familiar from FF is character designer Ryoma Ito, who did the characters for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and its sequel. And musical director Nobuo Uematsu composed music for quite a few FF games. Plus producer Hiroaki Kato produced FFXII: The Zodiac Age.
Dungeon Encounters is coming to Steam on October 14th. It'll also be on Switch and PlayStation 4. Store pages aren't all up yet, so here's its website. The Switch version is £25 so yeah, I'd probably expect the same on PC.
Square Enix also announced Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin's release date during their Tokyo Game Show presentation today, but notably did not mention the long-awaited PC release of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Booo.