Record Of Lodoss War: Deedlit In Wonder Labyrinth Is Coming To Switch This Year

Looks nice...I'm always eager for more pixel-based Metroidvanias.

This has heavy Castlevania vibes, I like it. Also, nice that such an old anime is still supported by game developers.

I don't know much about this, but why is the name so famililar. Was it originally on the SNES? Maybe an anime I haven't seen. Dunno. This looks great, though!

@GrailUK It's a rather famous anime series. There have been games based on it before but not this one.

Looks REALLY good. As a fan of the anime I am interested. Usually games based on a series like this one suck, but this looks good. Heavy Castlevania vibes but honestly looks better than Castlevania. I am intrigued. The combat looks really fluid.

@Daniel36 Ah thanks

Man, I remember having the DVD boxed set of the OVA series before the TV series came out. I wonder if this takes place before she meets Parn and the rest of the party, or if they will cameo.

I suddenly feel young again!

@GrailUK No problem. It's well worth a watch. the show was based on a D&D adventure the creators played, they adapted it to an anime. It has all the cliches but they are the good type of cliches.

@Severian I had it on Video CD or something. It was a really weird format, the box was odd and filled with typos but I don't think it was an illegal copy. Absolutely adored it though.

Never managed to find all of the episodes of the second series. I do have a poster of that still, hahaa. Recently found it again.

Man that series was awesome.

Wow, it looks pretty good! I remember watching this series when I was veeery little. I didn't know it was famous.

@Daniel36 I had the boxed set that was supposed to have a limited edition Deedlit Phone Card. Wasn't there, but I loved it anyway. Was also happy to learn the creators liked the OVA dub and approved of it, not just for Lisa Ortiz.

>"It was previously available on Steam, where it currently holds a 'Very Position' rating."
Did you write this article on your phone? 😅

@Damo what’s a ‘very position’ rating? 😏

This looks like it isn't even just a "metroidvania" game.
It looks like a straight-up clone of Symphony of the Night, even down to the character movement.

Which makes me wonder, why hasn't Konami released Rondo of Blood or Symphony for other consoles yet?

People are dying to play those games on platforms other than Playstation.

Look nice, I hope it plays just as good as Metroid Dread and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, the two best Metroidvania we got right now.

@YessMasster
Oh I know! Me too! 😂

At first I thought they were porting the old Lodoss RPG from the SFC. I’d never heard of this new title, so thank you @Damo for the info and nostalgia!

I guess now I have to rewatch my old DVDs and support this game!

The best shoulder pads in anime! LOVE IT!! 😍

YUS!!!!!

By the way, this game is a Low Fit for the Metroidvania genre, at least according to the Metroidvania Review. It's very classically a Team Ladybug style "Metroidvania" - they've sort of built their own style of game that is Metroidvania-adjacent.

Record of Lodoss War is top tier fantasy. I'll happily support anything they put out for Switch. So glad it's coming to Nintendo.

Is this the first Lodoss game on Nintendo since the Super Famicom CRPG? That one was very difficult but interesting as it featured elements of the Lady of Pharis prequel series, The Grey Witch original novel/manga/anime, and a new storyline that bridged the two tales.

Btw, if you want to get the most coherent storyline from Lodoss, this is what I recommend:

1. Read "The Grey Witch" manga or LN (novel was recently republished and in English for the first time).
2. Read "The Demon of Flame" manga (never officially published in the west, but it's a critical story link that is referenced later on.
3. Watch the first arc of the "Chronicles of Heroic Knights" anime, ending with the Scepter of Domination conflict.
4. Read "Deedlit's Tale" manga.
5. Watch the anime or read the manga of "Rune Soldier Louie."
6. Read "Lady of Pharis" manga.
7. Watch the latter arc of "Chronicles of Heroic Knights" anime, the one about Spark and Little Neese.
8. Watch "Legend of Crystania."

You could read the manga of CoHK instead of the latter arc of the anime, and it's probably slightly more canonical, but it doesn't connect up with Crystania to my understanding, and it doesn't resolve the conflict with Karla and it leaves Parn's group as second-tier characters to focus on Spark and Neese. I THINK the most recent light novels focused on Spark as the Duke of Marmo build more so on the story told in the manga, though, but those are impossibly hard to find, let alone to find a translation thereof.

@Teksetter Gods, would I buy the crap out of an officially translated port of that SFC game.

There's also a PlayStation game that came later, but the SFC game is a real classic.

@Daniel36 what’s even more interesting is the anime is based off a light novel series, thst in itself is based off of actual dnd sessions thst we’re recorded and people read.

@marandahir I own the light novel and it is a beautiful book to say the least.

Wow, this looks fantastic. That is some stunning pixel art.

@marandahir
The SFC game is one I bought as a curiosity before leaving Japan in 2005, liked what I saw but I never took the time to play through it properly. Another casualty on my backlog list of shame ☹️

Thank you for that amazing in-depth Lodoss guide above, BTW. I will bookmark this page and try to read/watch some of those titles you mentioned.
And I’m afraid I’ll have to think of you as my Lodoss-senpai henceforth! 😊

For those interested, there’s a nice pack of the Lodoss OVA on Blu-ray and Chronicles of the Heroic Knight TV anime on DVD out there for about $25-30.
<cue granny voice> We usta pay double that fer a single OVA episode when I was yer age—!

The Record of Lodoss War OVA series is one the jewels of early 90s anime. A wonderful piece of animation. So I'm really happy to hear this is coming to the Switch, as I've had my eye on it for a while.

@Teksetter lol anime really has gotten cheaper to collect. When I was collecting NGE as a kid, I paid $30 a pop for VHS tapes with two episodes and only one language track.

The VHS box set of Lodoss War was intimidatingly expensive, as I recall.

@Damo @Friendly it could be an "every position" rating or a "very positive" rating.

I have it on Steam and despite the occasional "ooh, that is a barely distinctive edit of a sprite from Castlevania SotN!" it is a very competent Metroidvania with neat deviations from the basic templates.

@Ralizah
Oh, I know, I know!! I spent a fortune on Laserdiscs including Eva and Lodoss and then had to freight the gosh darn things back to the US!! Kids nowadays are spoiled!!
Sorry, slipped into my grandma voice again there, a little 😂

I loved the Diablo-esque Record of Lodoss War RPG on the Dreamcast. I usually don't care about Metroidvania, but i might give this one a chance.

Hey, these are the developers that did Touhou Luna Nights, a pretty good metroidvania that was completely ignored by the site.

I really dig the esthetics in Lodoss war! Seen the OVA but reading through the comments makes me curious about the novels as well.

@Damo 😁.

i saw some rating the game YMCA style, a number in a very…. Weird position. Like the 3 in splatoon 3 in the direct.

@GrailUK anime, Manga, Novels, A few games (one I believe was on the Dreamland and released in the US).
It hasn't had much lately, that's necessarily something a western fan would have likely stumbled on. But it use to be a fairly well regarded fantasy anime in the early to mid 90's.

@Ralizah I remember paying around $50 for a VHS of Ninja Scroll (Japanese dub), circa 2000 probably.

I read through the Famitsu article outlining the Japan release on consoles this year. This import can't come soon enough for me!
Here were the deets:

Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth
Releases on 16 Dec 2021 digitally on Switch, PS5, PS4, XBox X/S and physical release on Switch, XBox One, PS5, PS4.

Physical will open for preorders at retailers in Japan starting soon.
First-print edition will include Soundtrack CD with 22 tracks and a Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth Special Book featuring art by Lodoss novels illustrator, Deed chara designer, and prolific anime veteran Yutaka Izubuchi.

Genre:
2D exploration action game

Languages:
This console release of game will include support of 8 languages: Jpn, Eng, simplified Chn, traditional Chn, Korean, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Brazilian Portuguese, and Russian.

Price:
MSRP is JPY3,980 for physical, JPY2,480 for digital.

Overview:
Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth is set in the time preceding the 2019 novel Record of Lodoss War: the Pledged Diadem, which was a story set 100 years after the time of Parn and co. in the classic "Cursed Island" story arc.

Story:
Deedlit awakens suddenly in an unknown land. Where is she? What brought her there?
She asks aloud, but silence is her only reply. Deed sets out quietly in search of answers...

Game System:
> Master using spirits, various weapons, and magic to proceed through a vast labyrinth.

> Defeat enemies to strengthen your "soul stream" spirit power and augment your strength in combat.

> Employ the elemental spirits Sylph and Salamander together with your bow, learn different fighting techniques to defeat enemies.

Preorder because I liked the anime of this.

Luna Nights is so good on the Switch (their previous game), so I'm really looking forward to this. A real shame Nintendo Life never bothered to review Luna Nights for some reason (very odd considering how good it is).

@MARl0 Well, they take suggestions on missed gems so... maybe they will soon?

NICE! A cross between the best Castlevania (SotN), and one of the best anime ever? ILL TAKE IT!

@malcire Yeah, I remember the name from around the 90s. Never watched anything though. I should remedy that by the sounds

@Ralizah yep I remember seeing that vhs set for about 200 dollars.

@MARl0 I don't think quality is a metric in determining whether or not a game gets reviewed. Honestly, I'm not even sure how that would work. How do you determine it's "very good" and good enough to review without essentially reviewing it to begin with? I think the issue is a matter of how well known the game is. Maybe they haven't heard of it or didn't think it was well known enough to be worth reviewing. They can't review every game that comes out by a long shot, so they have to pick and choose.

@chipia Lodoss is a big franchise and this is actually based on (or a prequel to, I believe) a 2019 light novel.

@Severian it takes place well after the end of the story. Has a lot of callbacks to the show so fans of it will defo enjoy it.

Wow. There's a name I haven't heard in 20 years... And it's the second time it entered my consciousness today! The first was talking about it to my 5 year old when he was asking about Dungeons and Dragons cartoons. Now I pop online and see this headline. The universe is conspiring.

@Themagusx1
I do too! I just wish they would do the same for the rest of the LNs. What I wouldn't give for translations…

@Teksetter
Why thank you! Though I may have to call you and @Ralizah sempai in this regards; I vaguely recall stumbling onto Lodoss in the 90s, but I didn't rediscover it until the mid-00s, so my earliest copy is a bootlegged DVD of the OVA that my folks got me for a birthday since I had found the show online and was obsessed and wanted to support it and own it. Didn't know it was bootlegged until booting it up and discovering that the menu options, next episode credits, and menu options were all messed up.

The OVA is truly beautiful, mind you. I didn't include it above because it frankly doesn't fit canon as it's trying to condense down the story of all the main Parn-involved novels into 13 episodes. But if someone could only invest their time in ONE piece of the Lodoss franchise, I'd direct them to the OVA.

And I still think the OVA is the place to start with the franchise, in the same way that I'd suggest folks watch the unaltered original Star Wars trilogy if they can find it before going back to Episode I and watching the entire series in chronological order (using the special editions once they finish Rogue One, etc). I STILL find reviews of Chronicles of Heroic Knights where the reviewers are driven out of their mind why they "retconned" the OVA, as if the OVA was the canon and everything else had to fit it. The OVA is gorgeous and thematically captures the "feel" of Lodoss more than the TV series. It just makes choices in the name of streamlining the plot that make sequels that actually adapt the novels and manga in a much closer fashion to be very difficult to put out.

@Teksetter

Oh side note, I said Read Deedlit Monogatari in the middle, but the Deedlit manga itself is an anthology of stories that are told out of order. While the order as written is fine on its own to unveil secrets of the past, the true timeline order goes like this:

Episode 1-3 - A Traveller From the Elf World

• takes place immediately before the Shiris and Orson / Sceptre of Domination arc of Chronicles of Heroic Knights.

Episodes 5-7 - Opening the Forest

• takes place between the Shiris and Orson arc and the Spark and Neese arc of Chronicles of Heroic Knights, only shortly after the events at Fire Dragon Mountain. Parn is a Free Knight fighting for the freedom of Kanon under Prince Reona/Leonard alongside Hobb and Maar, but Leaf/Leif is a young girl still.

Episode 8 - The Travelling Minstrel Sings

• this one takes place immediately after the last three chapters, still during the CoHK timeskip.

Episodes 4 - Fog of Revenge

• This one takes place immediately before the Spark and Neese arc of CoHK, and deal with consequences set forward by the events of Episodes 5-8. It also relies HEAVILY upon the story told in the "Demon of Flame" light novel and manga series, despite that taking place over a decade prior. The CPM Manga translated book claims there's also an Episode 5 (The End) but this is a mistake - Episode 5 is in volume 2. The End is written at the end of Episode 4.

Episode 9 - The Elves of the Forest of No Return

• flashbacks take place before The Grey Witch. Framing device, however, takes place after Parn becomes the Knight of Lodoss, putting this at the very end. Thematically too, it fits to be the final tale, telling us how Deedlit became interested in the human world.

As you can see, the more complex way of consuming the series, then would be:

• The Lady of Pharis (manga)
• Lodoss War SFC parts I & II (video game)
• The Grey Witch (LN, manga, & Lodoss War SFC part III)
• Demon of Flame (manga)
• Deedlit's Tale Episodes 1-3 (manga)
• Chronicles of Heroic Knights episodes 1-8 (anime)
• Deedlit's Tale Episodes 5-8 (manga)
• Deedlit's Tale Episodes 4 (manga)
• Chronicles of Heroic Knights episodes 9-27 (anime)
• Legend of Crystania (anime)
• Deedlit's Tale Episode 9

With "Rune Soldier Louie" anywhere in between, as it relies on your familiarity with Lodoss' mythology but is otherwise unrelated, taking place in Alecrast. Though I still think Lady of Pharis makes more sense if you read it AFTER Grey Witch. Maybe the best way is to watch the OVA first and get a sense of who Beld and Fahn are?

I also recommend Record of Grancrest War as it's by the same author & original DM of the Lodoss group. It's a completely different universe that feels more like a Fire Emblem game, though.

Just stay away from the completely unrelated Record of Agarest War…

I've really wanted to play this and have been holding off from buying it on steam in the hopes of a Switch release, so I'm excited. Gives me more strength to wait for a Persona 4 release too hah

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Aww f@$% why did it had to be Playism... after that bs that they did to Kson I really don't want to support this company anymore... but I do really am interested in wanting this game so now I don't know if to buy or not to buy...

As a old school anime fan.....this makes me so happy.

I love the fact that this exists because Record of Lodoss war is great, and I've always liked the Deedlit character, but video of this game shows a ton of screen-shake effect, which bothers me quite a bit. From what I can tell, it doesn't look like it's optional. I'll keep an eye on it, but I'll have to pass if that's not an option as some other games offer.

Now, I have never seen the anime but I know of it. Did the showed ended in 12 episodes? It is base on a LN right?

@Shiro28

13 episode OVA, 27 episode TV series.

Originally a D&D campaign replay, which was adapted into a Light Novel series. Only the first light novel is officially translated for western audiences. The Light Novels were adapted into several Manga and OVA and Anime and Video Games, which are only sometimes in continuity with each other.

For example, if you watch the anime series after watching the OVA, you'll probably be confused because they overlap in some of their content. The OVA adapts Novels 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7. The TV series adapts novels 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. But because the OVA condensed down the later novels and cut out content, there are a lot of inconsistencies between the two. That said, the OVA is generally considered the superior show, even if less accurate to the original D&D games and their light novel adaptations.

There are manga adaptations of novels 1, 2, 6, 7, and 2 of the sidestory light novels - the Deedlit's Tale anthology and the Lady of Pharis prequel.

There is an additional anime called Legend of Crystania that adapts the third sidestory light novel - The Black Knight.

And there's another anime and manga series called Rune Soldier Louie that is set in the same world but on a different continent.

Some of the later light novels are actually adapted from an original game system's replays - the group stopped playing D&D and created their own rules called Sword World RPG that was tailored to the setting of Lodoss.

This game seems most inspired by the 13-episode OVA in terms of art direction.

@marandahir Awesome dude. thanks a lot!! I guess I'll watch the anime first and try to look for the manga. Is the story itself completed in the LN? Thanks again!

@Shiro28 The LN that's published in English has a complete story, but it's not the FULL story.

It's a narrative with a start-middle-&-end, based on the first campaign played by the group. But it leaves a lot of open ended questions that are answered in the later novels, manga, and anime. Unfortunately, no other LNs have yet been published in the west.

So I do recommend watching the OVA animation (13-episode series) first, then either read the LN or the first manga "The Grey Witch."

Then the second LN is adapted as a manga called "The Demon of Flame" which has been fan-translated but has no official translation.

Then the third and fourth LN are adapted solely into the first arc of the second anime "Chronicles of the Heroic Knight" (the 27-episode series).

Then the fifth, sixth, and seventh LNs are adapted into the rest of the 27-episode anime, while the sixth and seventh but without the fifth are adapted into a manga called "Chronicles of Heroic Knights" like the 2nd anime is, but it doesn't wrap up everything the same way the anime does.

Looks awesome

@marandahir

Hey if you like Lodoss, the games, novels, or D&D sessions check out the reddit!

https://www.reddit.com/r/recordoflodosswar/

( We also made a discord)

@Mirania Thank you! Seems like the discord invite on reddit has expired, but i joined the reddit at least!

https://discord.gg/vUnqbkEYxQ

Yay, another 2D Metroidvania. 😞

This looks great!

YUSSSSSSS.

Just ordered the Switch western version!!!

The OVA is NOT terrible.

@Mirania YUSS! Thanks!

My favorite anime!!!!

Having played this on Steam, I must say the following: it plays a lot like Symphony of the Night and feels like Symphony of the Night, because a lot of it is plagiarized from Symphony of the Night (some of the protagonist animations are literal traceovers from Alucard and several enemies look like sprite edits of Castlevania enemies) but it is still a very solid and fun Metroidvania despite that .

@EmirParkreiner I would pay real money if they ported that one over. Still holds up! Better than the Shining Force games they squeezed from that engine.

Glad that it would also be coming in a true physical package and that it won't be a limited release.

Do we have a switch launch date yet??

Does anyone know if all copies of the game have the pegi rating? Is there a north american version? I'd rather have the esrb rating if available.

I'm so glad this is finally coming to Switch. I had it on my Steam Wishlist just in case this never happened and I had to use the Steam Deck to play it portable.

@tylerryan79 There's some information, like with the physical edition (rated T for NA).
https://videogamesplus.ca/products/record-of-lodoss-war-deedlit-in-wonder-labyrinth-switch

So where do we order the NA (ESRB) version? The Red Art store only seems to have the PEGI version.

Anyone know if the VGP/Red out is the same as the Japan version?

Fun fact: supposedly this series (the anime to be specific) is the reason why in Japan dark elves are usually brown rather than pitch black like in D&D. The series is based in a D&D campaign, but the animators ran into all sorts of issues with straight up black elves so they made them more natural dark skinned instead. And it caught on.

@DaTrashMan I ordered the PEGI version. Should be fine on a NA (ESRB) version, if you're willing to pay shipping. Was still cheaper than buying either version of Pokémon from a local store and walking to it, though that might just mean the game itself is not consider a AAA title…

@SmaggTheSmug Worth noting that the 13-episode anime OVA had fair-skinned, fair-haired Dark Elves (they're dark because they're aligned with Marmo, not because of any physical differences from the other Elf tribes). It was the 27-episode anime TV series that made them brown skinned and made it very unclear whether an enemy was a Goblin, Ogre, or Dark Elf (all long-eared, brown-skinned baddies). Pirotess was a shade darker than other Dark Elves in the OVA, but still had whitish hair and was still within the same skin tone bands as Deedlit and the other Elves shown. But in the TV series, she's full on Ganguro girl with tanning-booth brown skin and bleach-blond hair. Not saying that's bad - I think it's supposed to be natural for Dark Elves in that continuity - just that it definitely leans into that Japanese trope.

Niiice and a physical copy too. Preordered one 🤘👾

Great game -r eally enjoyed it. be warned, it is short.

Hmm, I preordered the Japanese version of the game (because it includes English). I wonder if I should cancel it...?

https://www.pcgamer.com/record-of-lodoss-war-deedlit-in-wonder-labyrinth-review/

Seems like a decent enough game

Anyone have update if the Japan and EU versions are the same where Japan has english options????

@IceEarthGuard Is this true and how you find this out? If the Japan has english I keep it they always seems to have more extras for their games for some odd reason.

Yea, watched someone stream this once, looks really fun. Switch gets so many good games. It's going to be looked back on as a legendary console years from now.

@SwitchForce Yep it's true. Japanese version has all these languages: Japanese, English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian.

I found this out by checking Play Asia and they listed all these languages for the Japanese version. (So I preorder it on that site, since they have free shipping for the whole month of November.)

And it seems like every version of the game will have all these languages. (Red art games listed all these languages as well on their store.)

@IceEarthGuard
That's good then I will keep the Japan version on PreOrder then. For PA I have other games I will November preorder for.

Just curious: When is a game considered to be critically acclaimed? It has a 7,3 on metacritic.

New Switch game! 😃
It’s another 2D Metroidvania 😴

@russell-marlow SotN is on Xbox.

I don't know anything about the series, but Touhou Luna Nights by the same devs was awesome and this looks pretty similar so I'll definitely give this a go at some point

Day 1! Gotta support anything Lodoss as it was one of my favorite childhood shows! I also love Symphony of the Night so its a win/win!

I'd only play if you can save after every screen clear. These games are notorious on making you learn the hard way of every new mechanic and then have to redo it many times as you progress to the next gotcha on the next screen and can't save for 8 or 10 or 20 screens

Wow I check back and now there's a Western physical release!

I may just stick with ordering the Jpn version (1st edition of which will include the OST CD and art booklet) on Dec 16th since I don't see a US release for the cartridge version yet...

@marandahir

Ooooooh, it always warms my heart to see an anime fan that really knows their stuff and you've obviously been around the old school block enough to make an epic list like that.

I still hope for blurays (I have two Lodoss series on bluray) of Rune Soldier Louie and Crystania. Too much good stuff from the mid 90s to mid 2000s still not released on the format. I had the DVDs 15 years ago.

Anyway, bought and played this on Steam and will definitely double-dip for a physical release of this awesome game.

@Friendly probably scrubs that can't handle the game's difficulty.

Do they have some sort of Metroidvania creator, or some kind of template? Because I swear so many of these game look so similar in terms of graphics and UI. This is extremely similar to that one Touhou Metroidvania game in the eshop.

I'm looking forward to this. I was never big on anime, but I did love the original Record of Lodoss War when it was airing back on the Sci-Fi channel back in the early 90's.

I recall grabbing a copy of Record of Lodoss War for the Dreamcast. It was a single player Diablo-like, and honestly, is still one of my favorites in the genre. I wish there was a way to play it without unboxing my Dreamcast.

It would have been amazing in co-op, but it resulted in a different kind of shared experience for my brother and I. We would constantly call each other on the phone or go visit each other to compare our progress and loot. It was different, but its a favorite gaming memory of ours.

PAAAAAAAAAARN!!!!!

@TheCold0ne Thanks for that link. Was able to order a copy.