Dissecting the ‘Beyond the Labyrinth’ trailer

So, this entry is going to be pretty much word-for-word from a news piece I posted recently over at Video Game Writers, but as much of my Japanese game coverage often does, it seems to have gotten lost in the pile. I think I have a few readers here who I think would appreciate my insight on the Beyond the Labyrinth trailer, which was just released yesterday. I’ve not only watched it but have also provided some translations for it, since it’s Japanese-only. It doesn’t seem like much, but I think an understanding of what’s being said actually gives you a lot to think about in terms of what the gameplay will actually be like. Feel free to watch the trailer and then read the translation! It makes more sense that way rather than the other way around:

Finally, some more news surfaces on tri-Ace and Konami’s intriguing 3DS game Beyond the Labyrinth in the form of a trailer. Unfortunately, the trailer doesn’t feature all that much except for some text and dialogue in Japanese, along with a few shots of the game’s mysterious female protagonist. Not much is said in the dialogue and text, but the “conversation” highly suggests that the girl in the game will actually be “interacting” with the player.

The trailer opens with a girl calling out “Is anyone there?” and is followed by text on the screen answering her call. She then says “Let’s go!”, leaving the “text” to wonder where they are going. The girl appears to, in fact, be talking with the “player,” rather than another character in the game, and even interacts with the 3DS system by talking directly at it and even shaking the screen at one point. Here’s some of what the other text in the trailer reads:

A magnificent world beneath the earth. 
A mysterious girl in a labyrinth. 
An adventure full of riddles. 

But what could it all mean? We’ve been told previously that Beyond the Labyrinth is going to be a dungeon RPG, but so far there has been no hints regarding what the actual gameplay will be like, and whether there is a battle system. If we could hazard a guess, it more resembles an ICO-esque puzzle adventure, at least in terms of aesthetics. Perhaps the player will be guiding the female character much like Ico guided Yorda through the Castle in the Mist? Or are there remaining characters that are yet to be revealed? We should hear more at this year’s Tokyo Game Show in September.

Ok, well, I haven’t translated *all* of it, because the beginning is mostly the girl going back and forth with the on-screen text saying “Is anyone there?” “Yes, I’m here.” “Let’s go!” “Where are we going?” “Come on!” “But where are we going?” … Nothing too exciting. I think the main thing to take away from this trailer is that there is some kind of interaction between the girl in the game and you, rather than characters in the game (though there may be other in-game characters). I have to say, I’m intrigued!

And yes, I suppose that would be me using the royal “we” in that write-up… 

About Anne Lee

Also known as apricotsushi. Anne can be written with the kanji for apricot (杏), and sushi was the most quintessentially Japanese thing I could think of when I was 13, resulting in my goofy, albeit memorable, nickname.