Old-school dungeon crawlers re-lived
Gameplay is that of your average Japanese RPG, turn-based with a choice of attacking with blades, using gun skills, using an item, retreating, or summoning party members. You can recruit members by talking to them, or fusing two or more together to make an even more powerful being. After analyzing demons completely and recruiting them, you can use the Demon Compendium to summon demons again at any time if you let them free or fused them together.
Not only can you fuse demons, you can also fuse forma that you obtain from scanning the area or from defeating demons into items such as blades, guns, or medicine that will help you on your quest. This is the main way to getting new weapons, as you rarely receive them from quests.
Movement is on a grid from the first-person point of view, being able to move forward and moving the camera in four directions. As you travel, you will find doors, some hidden, that you must unlock to move forward. If you can't unlock a door, it usually means you should come back to it later. The environment is usually similar throughout a sector, but the visuals are impressive for the DS' hardware.
Strange Journey might not be to everyone's tastes, but to those who love RPG's and dungeon crawlers, it is one of the best choices on the DS to satisfy your needs. It is one of the few mature Japanese RPGs. and even the most jaded gamer will be haunted by the rampant genitalia monsters. Those who find RPGs difficult might want to try something more casual before they try Strange Journey or any Shin Megami Tensei, but those who give this game a try won't be disappointed.