Xanadu Next on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Whenever mist hangs over Lake Orwell, sailors catch sight of a phantom castle just out of reach. As they draw near, it fades away, leaving only questions for all who have seen this “Castle Strangerock.” Now, you must aid your charge in uncovering its secrets...even if it costs you your very soul.
Xanadu Next is a rpg, action and action rpg game
developed by Nihon Falcom
and published by XSEED Games, Marvelous USA and Inc..
Released on November 03rd 2016 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 730 reviews of which 679 were positive and 51 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.7 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 14.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for 3.45€ on Eneba.
The Steam community has classified Xanadu Next into these genres:
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows XP
- Processor: Pentium III 866 MHz
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: 32 MB VRAM, 3D accelerator compatible w/ DirectX 9.0c
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Storage: 2 GB available space
- Sound Card: Compatible with DirectX 9.0c
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Xanadu Next is an ARPG developed by Nihon Falcom that originally released in 2005. I was expecting a clunky mess of a game, but it’s surprisingly modern with a tight gameplay loop. The game can be described as a mix of Diablo without the loot and grind and a slower-paced Ys. It also implements a few systems and level design choices that would later be popularized by the Souls games. You start the game with some exposition about the world and the reason for why you are setting out towards Harlech, a small village with a few NPCs. After a brief tutorial, the game truly starts. There are no quest markers or anything of the sort, you just go out and explore. By doing that you quickly realize two things: the world is fully interconnected, and to progress you need to find items to overcome various obstacles. Additionally, you have to buy keys from a shop to open various doors scattered throughout the world, which feeds into the core gameplay loop. Since you will get your ass handed pretty easily, you will find youself back to Harlech pretty soon to heal and upgrade your equipment. Harlech acts as the main hub of the game, and you are going to come back there quite often, either by walking back or by teleporting with an item that you should be able to find early on. Basically, the gameplay loop is: go out and explore, make as much progress as possible, and then, just as you are about to die, head back to the main hub, buy new equipment, and repeat the process. While doing so, you should aim to unlock the closest shortcut in the map you are exploring, allowing you to progress further without having to retrace the same path. The level design is excellent: there are tons of areas where paths loop back and link together... and in some cases, you will even find yourself back in Harlech. The sense of progression is really well done, going from a scrub with a sword to a fully decked knight feels extremely satisfying. The combat is quite interesting. There is no dodge, parry, or dash: you just move your character around and hit enemies using either basic attacks or skills/spells. Attacking enemies from behind deals extra damage. And yep, that’s it. Despite its simplicity, the combat system is tight and addicting. It works surprisingly well, and once you get the hang of it, you will start weaving through groups of enemies effortlessly, picking them off one by one. There is also a weapon mastery system similar to the one present in ASTLIBRA, so if you enjoyed that kind of gameplay loop, you will likely enjoy this one too. The main boss fights are pretty cool! And a major pain in the ass too, you will need to retry them a few times for sure. The story is conveyed through stone slabs you find throughout the world, and which you have to bring back to Harlech for translation. Additional world-building is delivered through NPC dialogue in the hub: after each major story event, the dialogue updates in typical Falcom fashion. There are around a dozen NPCs in the village, so it doesn’t take too long to talk to them after each major story event. The villagers often mention events and places you won’t experience in this game, giving the world a solid foundation and making it feel more alive than it actually is. There is a sense of mystery permeating the world, and I found it quite enjoyable to piece together the various tidbits of information you obtain throughout the adventure. The OST is far more restrained than the average Falcom game. Music tends towards the atmospheric and eerie, without losing the melodic qualities that are typical of Falcom games. It really fits the game well. Between the highlights of the game is the final dungeon. It's simply incredible. It's long, with a complex winding layout and full of enemies... and even so, I didn't feel fatigued at all going through it, and it took me around 4 hours. This is a masterclass in level design, and for its length it's paced extremely well. By the way, the game seems to be made to be played with mouse and keyboard. The gamepad seems to work fine, but it's a pain in the ass to navigate the menu with it. Maybe it's worth trying it on the Steam Deck, since it has trackpads which makes it easier to interact with the menus. In short, Xanadu Next is an excellent game overall. It's all killer no filler (excluding the slower intro), the devs commited to the gameplay loop they envisioned without introducing any bloat. Go get it.
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Tips for playing: - Use a controller, but have a mouse next to you for navigating shop menus (its much quicker) -Uncheck "use system mouse cursor" in the config menu or the in game cursor won't move (very odd this is on by default) Great game, great lore, great world. I got through it in about 20 hours which is the perfect length for me. There's no dodge or roll button so combat can feel a bit like constantly running in circles around the enemy to try to get a back attack for more damage. You are locked into combat animations so you will often take unavoidable damage. But overall very fun. You start the game killing bats and slimes & end by killing some inter dimensional demon dragon thing. 2 thumbs up. Falcom should revisit this IP.
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Absolutely timeless. Any game where you start off in a back alley killing bats and goblins and by the end you've got a sacred sword in your hand standing on top of an ancient castle in the middle of a storm fighting a dragon who waxes poetic at you is a 10/10 in my book.
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>Focus on lore over plot >Melancholic and bleak atmosphere >Dark fantasy aesthetics and setting >Backstab heavy combat that's more difficult than the average game >Hub area where all the NPCs reside at >Only being able to increase your stat points with the help of a religious female NPC who revived you from the brink of death after the tutorial >Metroidvania style level design that loops in on itself and unlocks shortcuts to the hub area Xanadu Next is Falcom's Dark Souls and it predates Dark Souls by 6 years. Alright in all seriousness though. Xanadu Next came out in 2005 in Japan, but other than a port to Nokia's N-Gage of all things, Xanadu Next never left Japan until over a decade later in 2016 when XSEED released a worldwide localized PC port for it. Xanadu Next is a pretty unique title for Falcom because not only is it a spin-off of their iconic and influential 1985 action RPG Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu and the first Xanadu title to be released in over 10 years, but also because it's more of an old-school Western style RPG, Diablo-like dungeon crawler with a dark fantasy aesthetic more akin to the Kings Field or Dark Souls series than the more traditional anime style Falcom have become known for with their Trails and Ys series. I think the first and most important thing to mention about Xanadu Next is the atmosphere. Out of every Falcom game I've ever played Xanadu Next has the best atmosphere bar none. It's a dark, melancholic and bleak atmosphere which is fitting of the dark fantasy setting. The lore of the world, the environments, the music, it all helps enhance this atmosphere. Speaking of the music, this score is much different from what Falcom does with Ys or Trails, this isn't the heavy melodic rock with electric guitars or violins that those games feature, but a much lighter sounding, often times ethereal and orchestral score fitting of a darker and more atmospheric game like Xanadu Next. In Xanadu Next you play as a dishonored and disgraced knight, you can name them whatever you want as this character fills the role as the common silent protagonist type. This knight is accompanied by a scholar named Charlotte L. Wells who is much like a sister to him as they both set out on a quest to investigate the ruins of Harlech Island. However after an encounter with a mysterious swordsman at the start of his expedition he is mortally wounded and undergoes a life saving ritual which binds him to the island. Now the only thing that can truly save our protagonist and give him his life back is the fabled, legendary sword the Dragon Slayer, so he sets off on an adventure to find this legendary weapon. The main narrative itself is solid with some unexpected twists, but it's further enhanced by the actual presentation because there's not much dialogue or many cutscenes and instead as you're exploring the island of Harlech you can discover ancient tablets and memoirs with bits of lore that tell legends and myths of the ancient lost city of Xanadu. I would go as far to say that if you don't read these bits of lore you would probably think the game doesn't even have much of a story until the very end and then you'd be confused about what's going on. This is a very similar storytelling approach that FromSoft and most Souls-like in general apply and it really helps enhance the atmosphere and world-building of Xanadu Next without pulling focus away from the frenetic action packed combat as you get the option to slowly piece together the mysteries of an ancient civilization on each of your returns to the main hub area after exploring dungeons and this also allows the player to see how these legends are often relevant to Charlotte and our Knight's current situation. Falcom are masters of world-building, I'd say it's what they're best at and Xanadu Next is certainly no exception because reading every bit of lore was so rewarding especially once I got to the finale of the game and the twists were revealed. Much like Trails and Ys, the few NPC characters in the main hub area town all have dialogue that refreshes after each main event and go on their own mini story arcs, they aren't static people with stock text, they're all people with their own goals and worries and that always makes the world and setting feel even more immersive. Xanadu Next tells a solid narrative with fantastic world-building, but that isn't the main focus of this game, much like the older Ys titles this is a game that focuses on giving a great gameplay experience through rewarding combat and exploration and that's exactly what it does best. As previously mentioned, Xanadu Next despite being a J-RPG takes a much more Western approach to its design which only takes one look at the inventory screen to see it was clearly inspired by Diablo and other classic isometric style C-RPGs. Combat in Xanadu Next is simple at first glance, but has a lot more depth when you get deeper into the game. Like most dungeon crawlers basic combat is just walking up to enemies and hitting them with the attack button, but positioning is important as well because hitting an enemy in the back deals more damage and critical hits and hitting them from the front gives the enemy a higher chance to evade your attacks. Another important factor of combat are the skills and spells, skills are special attacks tied to weapons that you can permanently learn by maxing out that weapons proficiency meter, these usually mess with enemies positioning by knocking them down or moving them to the side, spells are elemental and every enemy has elemental weaknesses and resistances so the right spell could deal serious bonus damage or accidentally heal an enemy instead. The strong emphasis the combat places on positioning, skills and spells and deciding when to use them (They all have finite uses until you refresh them at a save point or in town) or which ones to use really gives the combat in Xanadu Next an extra level of strategy. It can certainly be janky at times and difficult too especially at boss fights, but it's also incredibly satisfying as well. Combat aside, the other major focus of Xanadu Next is the actual exploration, this is a dungeon crawler after all. Exploring the various caves, forest and ruins of ancient civilizations was always a joy because of all the new equipment and secrets that are being thrown at you, also plenty of Zelda-like puzzles to solve where you might have to equip a certain piece of gear that gives you special abilities to walk under water or crush walls to make it to the next area. There's also a LOT of puzzles involving moving boxes and those can get a bit tedious. However I am a big fan of how the level design is very Metroidvania style where you're constantly finding shortcuts that loop back around to the main hub area much like Firelink Shrine in Dark Souls. However since this is an older game some of the dungeons can be a bit maze-like at times and the environments can get a bit samey, but thankfully you always have a map so it's not as bad as a lot of other games like this. Xanadu Next is a dark and atmospheric dungeon crawler with a narrative that is mysterious and compelling enough that it makes you want to set out on the adventure and lore and world-building that keeps you constantly engrossed and immersed as one would expect from Falcom combined with fun and addictive combat that has a surprising amount of strategic depth and exploration that is constantly rewarding making Xanadu Next a true hidden gem among Falcom's catalog and truly like nothing else they develop nowadays (This is coming from a massive Trails and Ys fan btw) which just makes me love and appreciate it even more and whether you're a big Falcom fan or not if you want a game to scratch that fast paced dungeon crawler itch and you don't mind a more difficult experience than most games or a bit of jank at times, Xanadu Next might just be the one for you.
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Great Game Defintely worth the price. I have 0 complaints WARNING Do not go full magic build. There is a boss later in the game that is immune to magic. A hybrid build is best or just going straight into weapon based stats. That being said if you are able to get past this boss and max magic you will 1 cycle any boss with likely 1 spell.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Xanadu Next is currently priced at 14.99€ on Steam.
Xanadu Next is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 14.99€ on Steam.
Xanadu Next received 679 positive votes out of a total of 730 achieving a rating of 8.71.
😎
Xanadu Next was developed by Nihon Falcom and published by XSEED Games, Marvelous USA and Inc..
Xanadu Next is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Xanadu Next is not playable on MacOS.
Xanadu Next is not playable on Linux.
Xanadu Next is a single-player game.
Xanadu Next does not currently offer any DLC.
Xanadu Next does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Xanadu Next does not support Steam Remote Play.
Xanadu Next is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Xanadu Next.
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Last Updates| Steam data | 02 July 2025 06:21 |
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| SteamSpy data | 12 July 2025 01:37 |
| Steam price | 12 July 2025 04:43 |
| Steam reviews | 10 July 2025 15:51 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Xanadu Next, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Xanadu Next
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Xanadu Next concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Xanadu Next compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
6
Developer
Nihon Falcom
Publisher
XSEED Games,
Marvelous USA, Inc.
Release
03 Nov 2016
Platforms
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