Etrian Odyssey IV

Take a pencil and a stylus and set out into the depths of a forest you'll map with your own hands. Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan revives the spirit of classic dungeon crawlers and turns cartography itself into the core of the gaming experience.

The series' most characteristic mechanic is hand-drawn mapmaking. As you make your way through a labyrinth in first-person view, you draw the walls, doors, traps, and landmarks on the 3DS's bottom screen. This feeling of discovery and gradually uncovering the unknown is unmistakable. Added to this is classic turn-based combat, assembling a party from various professions, and the dreaded creatures called FOEs, powerful enemies best avoided at first. The fourth installment also added the ability to fly in an airship and explore the world above ground.

The series is developed by the studio Atlus, and Etrian Odyssey IV came out in 2012 in Japan, and in the West in 2013. It was the first main installment built directly for the 3DS, benefiting from the more powerful hardware and the spatial effect. The game is also considered one of the most accessible entries into an otherwise relentlessly demanding series, in part thanks to an optional easier difficulty mode.

Culturally, Etrian Odyssey carries the torch of a genre reaching back to titles like Wizardry, and keeps alive a tradition that would otherwise have died out long ago. For many players it's one of the few modern series that takes this classic style truly seriously.

The series' success led to further installments and remakes and later to the collector's compilation Etrian Odyssey Origins on newer platforms.

Why play it: For fans of dungeon crawlers who long for a hand-drawn adventure full of tactics and discovery, Etrian Odyssey IV is the ideal gateway.