You are a new Hero, descended from the old one, in a kingdom overrun by monsters, charged with a mythical quest to restore peace by recovering magical orbs and besting the evil Fuelle.
It's inevitable that games will be derived from other successful games, but this isn't Batman: Arkham Asylum building on lessons taught by Super Metroid and Metal Gear Solid this is something else entirely. Once it takes on a passive role after the introduction, however, you're left with another strong impression: 3D Dot Game Heroes is a massive Legend of Zelda rip-off. It's not quite as stunning or delightful an effect as something like Paper Mario, another Japanese RPG series that sought to distinguish itself through its unique visuals as well as its enterprising gameplay, nor as evocative as your first glimpse of Zelda's divisive Wind Waker approach (which I loved), but it's a strong foundation, and a pleasurable background perk.Ī lot of areas in the overworld look the same, so you end up doing a lot of backtracking because you forget which bit takes you where. It's still a 2D top-down RPG in form and function, but everything in it has been built in 3D out of little "pixel" cubes, and then augmented by modern effects like shimmering bodies of water, lens flare when emerging from a cave, deep shadows and fancy reflections. But it is good news for us, because it means 3D Dot Game Heroes looks unlike anything else you've seen. So it turns out this 3D thing isn't good for business. Not to mention the fact that the evil Fuelle has taken control of the six legendary orbs, condemning Dotnia to a future of pain and suffering. However, in a classic case of mistaking correlation for causality, the king has foolishly overlooked the impact on tourism of all the angry bunnies, men with bows, spiders and other monsters rampaging around the countryside.
The king, desperate to boost the flagging economy, therefore declares that everything must be upgraded to 3D to save the day. Stories of an ancient Hero's miraculous exploits have long since passed into myth, and as a result nobody can be bothered tripping along to check out his magical sword in a nearby forest.
The two-dimensional RPG kingdom of Dotnia has seen better times.