Etrian Odyssey Nexus Reviews
While we may be waiting on the jump to new platforms for future entries, Atlus brings together a greatest hits package in Etrian Odyssey Nexus for its farewell outing on the Nintendo 3DS, which is the definitive version of the series to date.
Etrian Odyssey Nexus is a great way to see off the 3DS with many references and borrowed assets from the previous games. Even though not much has changed in terms of the core gameplay mechanics or the overall feeling of the game, everything feels very polished and really fun to play. ATLUS have kept things interesting by bringing back some of the fan favourite elements of other games in the franchise as well as mixing in a few new mechanics and even a new class for you to experiment with.
If you enjoy role-playing games, then you should have quite a bit of fun with this title and, if you are a newcomer, it may even convince you to check out the prior games in the series.
Adhering to the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, Nexus takes the tried-and-true Etrian Odyssey formula and does well with virtually all of its components: music, battles, interactions, and world-building.
Etrian Odyssey really knows how to use the console’s features to the fullest — drawing the map is smooth and intuitive, all the buttons are used efficiently… hell, even the 3D is good, making it one of the few games I would recommend giving the feature a solid try even if you’re usually not into it. Other franchises have departed to the Switch by now, but there’s a reason Etrian has hung onto the DS line from which it originated.
There are literally no complaints I have with this game. It combines all my favorite parts of a series that I love and make them even better. For those of us who have followed the series since its inception, this feels like a love letter from the developers to us. Of course, if this is your first game in the series, there is still a lot here to recommend. But you are going to miss out on some of the brutal difficulty and many of the references and call backs throughout the game. That being said, I can still recommend this to anyone who is interested in drawing your own maps (with some handy recent tools that help auto-map some) and who is interested in a difficult (but fair) combat with strategic character builds. This game took me 80 hours to beat on Expert and an extra 20 hours to beat the final labyrinth and two bonus dungeons that unlock after you roll credits. You also have the option of New Game+ in which you can choose to carry over your whole Guild with all the items and maps that you want (other than story items). So even that 100 hours can be dwarfed by how much long term content you can take advantage of. The $39.99 retail price seems paltry compared to the amount of content you get, and at this quality. This is very likely to be my favorite RPG of the year, and we already have a strong contender for my Game of the Year. Oftentimes as a part of the gaming press we set aside a review game and never come back to it. But there is no way that is going to happen with Etrian Odyssey Nexus for me. I cannot wait to go through the game again with an all new crazy party combination. A Farmer as my main tank and a Nightseeker as my main healer? It’s possible. This entry isn’t just the last of the series, but it’s the best. Hopefully we can have another entry eventually, in whatever form that takes.
The marketing material summed it up best when they described Etrian Odyssey Nexus as ‘a love letter to Etrian’. Not only have the longtime series character designers and composers come back to produce a great send off for the 3DS, it’s also a great sendoff for the Etrian Odyssey series if it has no plans to move to Nintendo Switch and this is in fact the final entry in the franchise.
Although I prefer Beyond the Myth by a slight margin, Etrian Odyssey Nexus offers a familiar and rewarding dungeon crawling adventure that retro RPG fans will surely appreciate.
Etrian Odyssey Nexus is an excellent way to end the franchise's time on the 3DS, beckoning old and new fans alike back into the labyrinth.
Etrian Odyssey Nexus is an excellent dungeon crawler, overland locations and all. It’s not only the perfect antidote to grimmer adventures but it’s an addictive, creative, appealing outing that will have you coming back for more and rarely regretting your return.
The references don't hinder the fun and this game stands on its own strongly. Etrian Odyssey Nexus is an elegant farewell to a series and a system. If this is the last we see of the Etrian series, this is a high note to go out on.
All in all, Etrian Odyssey Nexus is a solid entry in the series. It doesn't reinvent the wheel but is sort of a grab bag of everything that makes Etrian Odyssey work. It's very familiar, and longtime series fans may find that this outing played it too safe, but casual fans and newcomers should consider it a near-perfect place to start the series. All in all, Nexus is a fantastic end to the long handheld history of the franchise, and it provides a lot of hope for whatever comes next.
This really feels like the end of Etrian Odyssey. The series has felt indelibly linked to the 3DS (and Nintendo DS before it) by way of the dual screen mechanics. That, combined with the wonderful send-off of a game here that revisits so many aspects and elements of previous entries in the series, feels like Etrian Odyssey Nexus really is a farewell. Atlus has already hinted at a future for the series, and if it can reach anything close to what has come before, it will be something truly special. While this entry is clearly made for long-time fans, and they will get the most out of it, this is also completely viable for people to enter right here and find a new series to get obsessed over. This is wonderfully old-school, in all the right ways, insanely addictive, and a perfect swan song.
Etrian Odyssey Nexus is a satisfying culmination of all the games thus far, even if there’s very little to set it apart from its predecessors. Wherever the series goes next, I hope there is at least enough of a change to shake up the all-too-familiar formula these games are known for.
With the series ending its run on the 3DS, Etrian Odyssey Nexus proves itself to be the strongest entry in the franchise yet.
It's easy to look at Etrian Odyssey Nexus and say that there hasn't been a lot of mechanical changes when compared to previous entries, but there really isn't much that needs to be changed to make it a wonderfully enjoyable time.
A great lovable goodbye to 3DS. Etrian Odyssey Nexus is loyal to the series and to its fan.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While some of its sense of celebration can feel dampened by sheer franchise fatigue, on the whole, Nexus does a great job of ushering out its series, as well as the hardware that it has been beholden to all this time.
A fine finale for the series on 3DS, even if it looks backward more than forward.
The ultimate love letter to fans of the Etrian Odyssey universe, Nexus serves as a bittersweet—and gargantuan—farewell to the 3DS for a series perfectly suited to the platform.