Xanadu Next

2005 video game
2005 video game
  • JP: Nihon Falcom
  • WW: Xseed Games
Nokia (N-Gage)Director(s)Takayuki KusanoProducer(s)Masayuki KatoWriter(s)Toshihiro KondoComposer(s)
  • Hayato Sonoda
  • Wataru Ishibashi
  • Takahide Murayama
  • Takahiro Unisuga
Platform(s)N-Gage, WindowsReleaseN-Gage
  • NA: 20 June 2005[1]
Windows
  • JP: 27 October 2005
  • WW: 3 November 2016
Genre(s)Action role-playingMode(s)Single-player

Xanadu Next[2] is a 2005 action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom for Windows. The game is a spin-off of the 1985 action role-playing game Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu. Xanadu Next was released worldwide in English by Xseed Games in 2016. An N-Gage version was developed by ScriptArts and published by Nokia a few months prior to original Japanese release.

Premise

The player character is a dishonored knight hired by a scholar named Charlotte L. Wells to investigate the ruins of Harlech Island on her behalf. Almost as soon as he begins, however, he is mortally wounded by a mysterious warrior named Dvorak and must undergo a life-saving process which binds him to Harlech. He will now die if he ever leaves – unless he can find the fabled Dragon Slayer sword, which is the only item capable of severing his ties with Harlech and giving him his life back.

In the N-Gage version, the player character is instead a hunter who has been hired by a small town named Marion Berck to find a missing girl named Momo who disappeared after King-Dragon attacked. Since King-Dragon's attack, the villagers have been plagued by mysterious deaths, dying crops, and monster attacks, and the players must guide the hunter in the journey to find Momo.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
N-GagePC
GameRankings65%[3]78%[4]
Metacritic78/100[5]
Review scores
PublicationScore
N-GagePC
GameSpot6.6/10[6]
GameSpy3.5/5
RPGamer3/5[7]

The N-Gage version got mixed reviews, but the Windows version got generally favourable reviews.[3][4][5]

References

  1. ^ Adams, David (20 June 2005). "Xanadu Next Hits Stores". IGN. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  2. ^ ザナドゥ・ネクスト, Zanadu Nekusuto
  3. ^ a b "Xanadu Next for N-Gage". GameRankings. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Xanadu Next for PC". GameRankings. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Xanadu Next for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Xanadu Next Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  7. ^ "RPGamer > Review > Xanadu Next". archive.rpgamer.com. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
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Dragon Slayer
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