How to survive the tortures of Etrian Mystery Dungeon (guide)

When Atlus and Spike Chunsoft got together to mash up dungeon crawler franchises Etrian Odyssey and Mystery Dungeon, the companies cleverly combined the best aspects of each series to make a crossover so well done that it should become a new franchise on its own. But the resulting game, the 3DS’s Etrian Mystery Dungeon (read our review here), also blended in every devious tactic and torturous turn they could come up with. It’s as hard as it is good.

Etrian Mystery Dungeon fully embraces the roguelike roots of either of both of its parents. This means that players should expect turn-by-turn, tile-based movement through procedurally generated (aka random) labyrinths packed full of powerful monsters and hidden traps, all while balancing limited resources and a steadily decreasing hunger meter. And death in the dungeon means losing everything.