Lost Dimension, An RPG Where You Can’t Trust Your Party

Have you ever played tabletop games like Shadows Over Camelot or Battlestar Galactica, where deception and betrayal are key components of the game? Well the people at Lancarse, developers of the Etrian Odyssey series, have adapted this very mechanic for a JRPG called Lost Dimension. 

The game is a Tactical RPG that plays in a similar fashion to Valkyria Chronicles. The player has a dedicated player phase where he can take control of each of his party members for either positioning the characters strategically, or to take the initiative and start attacking the enemies. The AI will then have its own turn phase and will be able to control its units in the same manner as the player. However, the unique mechanic of the game comes after the battles.

After each battle, the game will shift to a “visual novel” type system where the player must eliminate one of his party members. The reason behind this is that there is a traitor(s) within the group and the player must weed them out because, in predetermined points in the game the traitor(s) will betray the party. The main character has the ability to see into the future to obtain hints as to the identity of the traitor. The player may also question each character to help him in his decision. This could put the player in a unique situation where the strongest party member, who has been racking all the kills and getting the most EXP, might turn-out to be the traitor. The player thus has to either eliminate him NOW and weaken the party, or keep him in to sustain the party’s strength and run the risk of him turning on the player in the next battle. Either way, the player has to get rid of the traitor before the confrontation with the final boss or else, he might run into a situation where the entire party turns on him. As a final note worth mentioning, each new game will have a different traitor, thus adding to the potential replay value of the game.

This unique JRPG is being published by Atlus, who are already known for releasing remarkable JRPGs, and you can look forward to playing it on the PS3 and PSVITA sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year.