Away: Shuffle Dungeon
North American cover art
Developer(s)Artoon
Mistwalker
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Masahide Kobayashi
Producer(s)Naoto Ohshima
Artist(s)Naoto Ohshima
Writer(s)Hironobu Sakaguchi
Composer(s)Nobuo Uematsu
Yutaka Minobe
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
  • JP: October 16, 2008
  • NA: October 29, 2008[1]
  • EU: April 10, 2009
  • UK: June 3, 2009
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Away: Shuffle Dungeon (Away(アウェイ) シャッフルダンジョン, Awei Shaffuru Danjon) is an action role-playing game developed by Artoon and Mistwalker for the Nintendo DS. The story involves a curse called "Away", which causes a person to mysteriously vanish from a village each year.

Gameplay

The main gameplay focus of Away is its "shuffle dungeons", where both DS screens show a part of the dungeon for the player to explore in. When a player enters a dungeon, they are given a few seconds to move Sword around both screens before a part of the dungeon starts to shift and reveal a different area for the player to battle monsters and open treasure chests. If a player dwells too much time in one of the dungeon's areas, they'll get caught in the shuffle and will lose a portion of their HP and start over in the dungeon before the previous one where they got shifted. After reaching the final floor of a dungeon, they'll either face a boss or collect gold or items from treasure chests and access a save point. Once the player exits through the way they came from the dungeon, they'll be able to use that dungeon again to raise their stats and open chests.

Development

Away: Shuffle Dungeon was co-developed by Artoon and Mistwalker and published in Japan by AQ Interactive. Instead of handing off the western localization to AQ's subsidiary Xseed Games as earlier reported, the game was published in North America by Majesco Entertainment.[4] AQ Interactive and Virgin Play entered into a partnership for its European release, translating the game into German, English, Spanish, French and Italian.[5]

Reception

The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[6] Game Informer gave it a favorable review nearly two months before it was released Stateside.[10] GameSpot said the gameplay was too simple and easy.[12] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of two eights, one seven, and one eight for a total of 31 out of 40.[9]

References

  1. ^ IGN staff (October 29, 2008). "Majesco Entertainment Ships Away: Shuffle Dungeon". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  2. ^ "Majesco Entertainment Announces 'Away Shuffle Dungeon' for Nintendo DS". Majesco Entertainment. July 7, 2008. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved November 23, 2008.
  3. ^ Yip, Spencer (May 29, 2008). "Away: Shuffle Dungeon shimmies to Europe this autumn". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  4. ^ Yip, Spencer (July 7, 2008). "Mistwalker hands Away: Shuffle Dungeon to Majesco". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  5. ^ Yip, Spencer (June 6, 2008). "All about Away: Shuffle Dungeon". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on March 31, 2017. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Away: Shuffle Dungeon for DS Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  7. ^ Parish, Jeremy (November 18, 2008). "Away: Shuffle Dungeon Review". 1Up.com. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on November 24, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  8. ^ Edge staff (February 2009). "Away: Shuffle Dungeon". Edge. No. 198. Future plc. p. 94.
  9. ^ a b rawmeatcowboy (October 8, 2008). "Famitsu - review scores". GoNintendo. Archived from the original on April 23, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Away: Shuffle Dungeon". Game Informer. No. 186. GameStop. October 2008. p. 115.
  11. ^ Herring, Will (October 21, 2008). "Away: Shuffle Dungeon [JP Import]". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 25, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Stella, Shiva (October 30, 2008). "Away: Shuffle Dungeon Review". GameSpot. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  13. ^ Platt, Dylan (December 8, 2008). "AWAY Shuffle Dungeon - NDS - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  14. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (October 29, 2008). "Away: Shuffle Dungeon Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  15. ^ "Away: Shuffle Dungeon". Nintendo Power. Vol. 235. Future US. December 2008. p. 102.
  16. ^ Wilson, Glenn (January 9, 2009). "AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon - Staff Review". RPGamer. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  17. ^ Grosnick, Bryan (January 30, 2011). "Away: Shuffle Dungeon". RPGFan. Emerald Shield Media LLC. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  18. ^ Hargreaves, Roger (April 2009). "Away Shuffle Dungeon". Teletext GameCentral. Teletext Ltd. Archived from the original on September 27, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2022.

External links

Artoon
Mistwalker
Categories