If you're under any illusions about whether Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls is for a general video game audience, don't be. It's not. It's not even for general RPG fans. Hell. If you enjoy modern dungeon crawlers you're still going to need to be adventurous to get a kick out of this one. On the other hand, the developers of this Wizardry respected the game's heritage, understood the audience for this kind of game, and the uncompromising commitment to delivering for that audience is admirable. Especially for oldies like me that grew up playing these games. The trip down memory lane that Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls provided has been a delight.

Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls is a port, and that’s pretty much where it stands. It doesn’t add anything new to the franchise or to dungeon crawlers in general, but it’s still a decent and entertaining game. The well-balanced RPG systems make this a high starting point for the Wizardry series, which doesn’t get enough attention in the west. The adventure retains its originality from almost ten years ago and opens the possibility of other ports in the future.

Sure, the combat is simple, the progress is slow, and the difficulty is high. But if a measured, elegant, austere RPG is what you’re looking for, look no further. Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls is a great escape for anyone invested in the genre’s illustrious past.

Fans of this archaic throwback to Wizardry dungeon crawling of old may enjoy the nostalgia captured here, but those craving story and more engaging gameplay best look elsewhere.

It’s a game that feels like it should have had a big manual when it first launched, but without that manual, you only have half the picture, and so you’re stumbling around in the dark trying to make sense of everything. Sometimes that’s fun and mysterious. But a little too often, various parts of the game clash, and Labyrinth of Lost Souls becomes more trouble than it’s worth.

It’s rather interesting that XSEED decided to bring Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls to the PC. It’s not that it’s old-fashioned because it’s a ten-year-old game. No, by the time the game was originally released, role-playing games, even first-person dungeon crawlers, had evolved in leaps and bounds from their ancient beginnings - and for a good reason. I remember playing aforementioned Eye of the Beholder games in the early 90s and being totally immersed in them. In its forced nostalgia, Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls is paper-thin in comparison.

The core of the game is a very old-school RPG/dungeon crawling experience, for all its positives and mostly negatives. Unless not having a map and spending hours trying to re-roll viable characters sounds like fun, this one is better off left alone. The anime portraits look nice, but they are just dressing on a framework of something that simply does not stack up to better options in the genre.