An excellent reminder that a demo is an unfinished chunk of a game: the Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl demo begins with some text reminding that this is an unfinished game and, specifically, several pieces of music are unfinished and shorter than they are in the full game. Which is good, because the music is repetitive and can be annoying if it features a sound that grates on your nerves.

Having never played an Etrian Odyssey game, I decided to give this demo a shot. I’ve always been intrigued but concerned at the reported difficulty and old-school nature of the series. But I’m hooked now and absolutely want this game, and likely will look into past releases as well. If the idea of drawing your own map while dungeon-crawling sounds enticing, this game is for you. The lower screen is dedicated to a map where the player can draw walls, denote doors and passages, and annotate special areas. Random battles occur as you’re exploring, which are fairly standard for an RPG as best I can tell from a brief demo. You can attack, use skills that cost Technique Points to buff/debuff and do elemental damage, and use items. Some enemies are weak to certain elements while strong to others. Sell collected materials to unlock better weapons and armor, then buy it. Specific character classes can only equip specific types of weapons. While not imaginative, it is well-designed and a good time.

The story is fairly interesting, with immediate hooks in the beginning to draw you in. You play a wandering Highlander, a race of people dedicated to justice. There’s a mysterious girl who only remembers her name is Frederica, knows your face is familiar, and uses terminology that confuses the other characters around her, such as “computer” and “terminal”. There are monsters and abnormal earthquakes threatening Etria that various groups are investigating. And you’re in the middle of everything.

The game also looks fantastic. The first-person dungeon-crawling works wonderfully with the 3D and character designs are delightful, if a little busy and cluttered. Certain events are depicted with animated cut scenes that are even more gorgeous.

Overall, I’m now very excited for the release of Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl and I hope to carve out some free time and money to play the full game once it’s released October 1st!