Xanadu Next is a 2005 action RPG from Nihon Falcom, and it carries the weight of two histories at once. It is a late entry in the Dragon Slayer series, the line that gave Falcom its footing, and a spiritual follow-up to Faxanadu, the late-’80s cult favorite. It is also, by the publisher’s own framing, an exploration-centric game from the studio behind Ys and The Legend of Heroes.
It is a strange, spare thing. It is worth your time.
Trailer, via XSEEDgames.
Charlotte L. Wells and the Phantom Castle
The setup is a ghost story told straight. Whenever mist hangs over the waters of Lake Orwell on Harlech Island, sailors see a phantom castle just out of reach. As they draw near, it fades into the fog like a mirage. The locals call it Castle Strangerock.
A scholar named Charlotte L. Wells wants to study it in person. Harlech Island is no place for an unescorted young lady, so she enlists an old childhood friend, a fallen knight, to accompany her.
They arrive. Char catches sight of Castle Strangerock almost immediately and dives into the research head-on. She leaves her companion to explore the surrounding environs alone, hunting for artifacts that might trace the origins of the ephemeral stronghold.
That almost immediately leads to his death at the hands of a mysterious swordsman seemingly displaced in time. Death is only the beginning.
Dvorak, the Dragon Slayer, and the Cost of Living
The knight is mortally wounded by a warrior named Dvorak. He survives only through a life-saving process that binds him to Harlech. He will now die if he ever leaves, unless he finds the fabled Dragon Slayer sword, the only item capable of severing his ties to the island and giving him his life back.
That is the engine of Xanadu Next. The binding is a rule, not decoration. The sword is the only way out.
The N-Gage version runs a different story entirely. There the player character is a hunter hired by a small town named Marion Berck to find a missing girl named Momo, who disappeared after King-Dragon attacked. Since that attack, villagers have been plagued by mysterious deaths, dying crops and monster attacks.
Two versions, two plots, one title. That is unusual even for a Falcom release.
An RPG Built on Looking Around
Xanadu Next is an action RPG with hack-and-slash combat, played from a third-person perspective or a bird’s-eye isometric view. It supports single player and multiplayer.
The exploration carries the game. The companion combs the environs for artifacts while Char works the legend from the other side. The pace reflects that division of labor.
That restraint is the game’s best quality and its hardest sell. It asks for patience rather than reflexes.
Two Versions, Two Histories
Nihon Falcom developed Xanadu Next for Microsoft Windows. It released in 2005. Xseed Games released it worldwide in English in 2016.
The N-Gage version launched a few months before the Japanese release of the Windows version. ScriptArts developed it and Nokia published it. That is the version with Momo and Marion Berck.
The published critical score sits at 8.3/10 across six outlets, according to the IGDB critic aggregate. That number is fair. It is not a perfect game. It is a game with a clear idea and the discipline to hold to it.
The Part Worth Keeping
Xanadu Next matters because of what it refuses to do. It refuses to make the binding a cutscene problem. It refuses to let the phantom castle be scenery. It refuses to explain Char’s research for you.
The N-Gage split is the detail worth watching. A publisher swapping out the protagonist and the entire plot for a handheld port is a substantial change. Anyone approaching Xanadu Next should know which one they are getting.
The 2016 Xseed release is the one to start with. It is the one with the knight, the sword, and the island that will kill him if he leaves. Falcom fans who know the studio only through Ys and The Legend of Heroes will find a smaller, stranger game here.
The Numbers
- Title: Xanadu Next
- Developer: Nihon Falcom
- Publishers: Nokia, XSEED Games
- Platforms: N-Gage, PC (Microsoft Windows)
- Original release: 2005
- Worldwide English release: 2016 (Xseed Games)
- N-Gage version: developed by ScriptArts, published by Nokia, launched a few months before the Japanese release of the Windows version
- Genre: Action RPG, hack and slash
- Perspective: Third person, bird’s-eye/isometric
- Modes: Single player, multiplayer
- Published critical score: 8.3/10 (IGDB critic aggregate, 6 outlets)
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