Ah, in the good old days we had first person dungeon crawling adventures coming at a regular clip.  From Alternate Reality: The City and The Dungeon to Wizardry to Dungeon Master, dungeon crawling fans were well covered.  Sadly, much like the methodical scrolling shooter, dungeon crawlers have fallen to the wayside with fans.  At least that is the perception I have since publishers are not having them developed nearly as often.  One new title, Stranger of Sword City for the Playstation Vita is putting its notch in the hilt of fans’ halberd.  The question now is, will fans step up and support NIS America and show them this is the right decision?

NIS America is no stranger to niche gaming but even they must have decent sales to continue releasing new games.  Stranger of Sword City is taking the first person dungeon crawler and dragging it into the modern world.  There will be online leaderboards allowing players to compete with others in categories such as best gear, fastest dungeon clearing time and more.  This is an interesting addition to the tried and true formula- social aspects like this could be one thing the genre needs to become popular again.  After all, people love bragging rights.

Dungeon crawlers are remembered for two things.  The quality of the dungeon layouts and the enemies you face.  I can’t really say much on the layouts of the dungeons but there are plans for you to fight many a strange monster.  Some of these monsters are HUGE, which is probably why you have a whole party of dungeon crawlers along with you rather than a one on one affair.

Stranger of Sword City by NIS America
Platform: Playstation Vita
Genre: First person dungeon crawl/Role Playing Game
Rated: Pegi 16
Availability: April 29^th for European PS Vita owners