Beware: The Abyss has opened and the curse of death is spreading across a world that’s falling into despair. In the free-to-play Wizardry Variants Daphne, you do everything you can to brace yourself before diving into the pit that’s the source of the curse. Expect failure, expect death, but also expect an RPG journey built around Wizardry’s hardcore dungeon-crawling legacy.
Wizardry Variants Daphne takes place in a doomed world that’s being consumed by the forces of the dead. A generational seal holding back a twisted warlock has failed, and now the warlock’s curse emanates from the depths of the Abyss.
The decay needs to be stopped, but a job like stopping a death-obsessed warlock comes with a very high body count. Wizardry Variants Daphne lets you build up a party of up to six fellow adventurers from a wide variety of classes and races. As with previous Wizardry games, your party’s balance of skills and battle chemistry is vital to your long-term success. Wizardry Variants Daphne balances tough difficulty with compelling visual design, making it a great game for established fans and a good entry point for anyone curious about Wizardry.
Wizardry fans are already familiar with the brutal bite of the monsters and traps that live in its narrow dungeon corridors. Newcomers to the series who pick up Wizardry Variants Daphne should expect a challenge that’s tough, but not insurmountable if you’re the type of person who can make observations and learn from their mistakes.
Take heart: Your manpower isn’t as low as it seems. Your right hand is capable of reversing time, allowing you to revive the skeletons of dead adventurers and restore them to their previous selves. This is the unique gacha mechanic of Wizardry Variants Daphne that allows you to recruit new characters. You’ll gather items called Adventurer’s Remains, which you can take into the Ruins and use to restore and recruit new characters. Once you’ve revived a skeleton, you’ll get info like their name, class, alignment, and stats.
Both old and new fans can appreciate the names on Wizardry Variants Daphne’s creative team. The detailed characters are designed by veteran manga artist and character designer Yusuke Kozaki, whose work has appeared in Fire Emblem Awakening, No More Heroes, AI: The Somnium Files, and dozens of other games. The bosses are designed by Katsuya Terada, an illustrator whose work goes back to previous Wizardry adaptations and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Its eerie, moody music comes from celebrated game composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, whose credits include Final Fantasy Tactics, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Dragon’s Crown, and dozens more games.
Whether you’re ready to feel Wizardry’s burn again or you’re ready to travel down its grimy corridors for the first time, Wizardry Variants Daphne is waiting for you. It’s been downloaded more than 1 million times worldwide, so it’s clearly making its mark on fans. It’s available for free on the App Store, Google Play, and Steam.
