Sekaiju no Meikyuu IV - Denshou no Kyoshin (Japan)
also known as Etrian Odyssey IV - Legends of the Titan
Nintendo 3DS
🇯🇵
Reviewed in 2014
86
✪ Reviewed on March 7, 2023
80
Etrian Odyssey IV Legends of the Titan on 3DS with a dirigible overworld. Map deep dungeons and fight massive FOEs. Atlus' rich class system at its best. A demanding JRPG dungeon game.
Your verdict
Category
RPG1 player12+
Description
A group of explorers maps the floors of the Yggdrasil and faces the legendary Titan in this fourth saga entry. Published by Atlus, released in Japan in July 2014. Manual mapping on the touch screen, turn-based combat, flying fortress as base camp, colossal Titan bosses. Japan exclusive.
Sekaiju no Meikyuu IV - Denshou no Kyoshin review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
This entry opens up the sky. Between two descents you fly an airship over a sea of clouds resting on islands of foliage, and the labyrinths now appear only as green patches seen from above, to be spotted before entering. That change of scale finally gives an outdoors to a series that had only ever shown corridors, and makes the plunge underground markedly more stifling.
For this fourth expedition, Yuzo Koshiro enriches his palette with lush orchestral arrangements, without losing any of his synthetic fire. Labyrinthine forests and airship flights are accompanied by broad, spellbinding themes. This sonic richness, more melodic than ever, masterfully widens the series' universe.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"Mild"
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Crisscrossing labyrinths while drawing your own map, dodging or facing the F.O.E.s and building a tailor-made team weaves an adventure where every level cleared rekindles the urge to descend. The addition of the airship opens up exploration. The curve stays demanding, but the satisfaction of mapping and optimizing your guild grips the patient relentlessly.
Difficulty
"Punishing"
Reputedly friendlier than its elders, it stays formidable the moment you stray from the beaten path: interconnected labyrinths, cunning FOEs and side dungeons test both nerves and strategy. It all comes down to class synergy and cautious exploration. Firm without being unfair, it rewards method and patience floor after floor.
Lifespan
"Massive"
Exploring labyrinthine forests and soaring the skies by airship to reach Yggdrasil sets up a long-form mapping adventure. Party creation, meticulous map-drawing and menacing FOEs hold you for long hours. That richness of exploration and strategy, the series' own, offers a lifespan dear to dungeon-RPG fans.
Sekaiju no Meikyuu IV is the Japanese edition of the entry that broadened Etrian Odyssey's reach through its airship and Casual mode, a configuration the series had not attempted before. Collector value rests both on the original Japanese pressing and on the domestic Yuji Himukai sleeve, noticeably softer than the Western visuals. A stable piece for JP Atlus collectors.
An underrated gem
An ideal entry point to the series, this fourth installment opens exploration to the skies aboard an airship while keeping its addictive stylus mapmaking. Too niche to break through with the mainstream, it stayed a fans' secret. Accessible yet rich, it'll enchant anyone who dreams of methodically charting labyrinthine forests.
Is Sekaiju no Meikyuu IV - Denshou no Kyoshin still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2012 in Japan then 2013 in the West on 3DS, Atlus' project marks the dungeon crawler's entry into three dimensions, adding an airship that flies over a world map to explore between the labyrinths. The map you draw yourself on the touch screen, the series' trademark, stays at the heart of the pleasure. The deep class system, the skills to allocate and the demanding turn based combat offer great strategic latitude. A gentler difficulty opens the series to a wider audience. An excellent entry point to the genre, recommended for fans of exploration and strategy.
