Description:

Dragon's Crown is a 2D fantasy action role-playing video game developed by Vanillaware with assistance from Atlus. Though originally set to be published by UTV Ignition Entertainment, the company eventually dropped from the project in 2012, transferring all duties to Atlus. The game will be released on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in July 2013 in Japan, and North America the following August, with a European release still pending. Produced by George Kamitani, the game is designed to be an evolution of the "beat 'em up" action game genre while still retaining the company's trademark 2D hand-drawn graphic style.

Set in a medieval world of swords and sorcery, the game supports up to four players traveling through dangerous dungeons and labyrinths in search of fortune and adventure. Cooperative options include local multiplayer or the use of Sony's PlayStation Network service, with data-sharing of save games between both the Vita and PlayStation 3. Each of the game's six playable classes possesses their own unique skills, strengths, and weaknesses, and can be customized to a degree based on the player's preference as they gain experience.

Game Play:

Dragon's Crown is an action role-playing game structured like a traditional side-scrolling beat 'em up where players move their characters across the screen into the background or foreground attacking enemies. Players may choose between one of six characters—Fighter, Amazon, Elf, Sorceress, Wizard, and Dwarf—who must travel through a number of environments using standard attacks as well as magic spells to defeat enemies. Each character has their own specific strengths and weaknesses such as attack power, movement speed, special attacks, and selection of magic, with the characters' growth throughout the game also being customizable by the player. During gameplay, players may come across items which can be used to aid characters, as well as equipment and weapons which can increase a character's statistics and battle strength. The title features branching paths in every level which are traveled based on the player's decisions during gameplay, such as choosing to steal an item from a boss character, running instead of engaging an enemy, or searching for secrets, which will lead to alternate areas. Quests may also be undertaken by players which hold specific objectives for each dungeon, which all come with their own rewards.

The game features an online mode over Sony's PlayStation Network which allows up to four players to experience the game simultaneously. The game will also offer local multiplayer, according to a response by George Kamitani on his Facebook wall. When a player's character runs out of lives during online play, another player may gather their bones to trade into special merchant characters who can bring that character back as an AI-controlled partner. Players may also communicate using an in-game pop-up system which can quickly convey simple messages such as "thank you" to another person.

The PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions of the game were designed to be identical and compatible with the same save data, which can be freely transferred between both systems. In addition, the PlayStation Vita version uses its touchscreen for item management in place of the PlayStation 3's DualShock analog stick.

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Official Trailer: