Away Shuffle Dungeon Draws Publisher

Late last year the team behind the Xbox 360 RPG Blue Dragon announced a new Nintendo DS project called Away Shuffle Dungeon. The game was to be an action RPG that sends players dungeon diving -- with the twist that the cavern maps are "shuffled" periodically while the players are still inside. Shuffle Dungeon is being brought stateside by Majesco, a publisher best known for its casual fare like Cooking Mama.

The team building Shuffle Dungeon is made up of RPG luminaries like Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Final Fantasy, and composer Nobuo Uematsu, who has provided some of Final Fantasy's most memorable soundtracks.

"Their experience creating high quality, best-selling games means that AWAY will be well-positioned for success when it hits retail this fall," said Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco.

The story involves a young hero named Sword who must rescue his kidnapped neighbors from the titular dungeons. Half the battle will be finding the prisons, and Sword will have to collect various items and musical instruments that will reveal their locations. Dungeons are presented in 2D while the overworld village can be explored in 3D. Cinematics with recorded voice-overs help develop the story.

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