If you feel that Japanese role-playing games are way too modern and prefer the Famicom/NES style of turn-based combat and dungeon-crawling, then this next piece of news may entice you.

AMATA Games will release an upcoming 2D title named Crescent Tower, with development handled by Japanese indie studio Curry Croquette. In a nutshell, you and your party head through 10 levels of dungeoneering from a 2D top-down perspective. You can also create your own party from 3 races and 9 classes/jobs if you want to make the journey easier/harder on yourself. You can change your character’s jobs while transferring skills already learned, making sure that you can create your own uber party to conquer the escalating retro-dangers below. This game also contains some hallmarks of 80s/90s JRPG titles, like a HUD that takes over the right side of the screen and PC-88 anime character portraits.

The game will be out for PC (Steam) in 2025, and will support English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean languages. Key features & trailer are below:

About

An authentic 8-bit style dungeon crawler RPG packed with retro style, intended for the NES generation and all RPG fans!

Feature

• Simple Turn-Based Battles: Easy to pick up but highly strategic turn-based battles. Pixel art characters wage combat on a side-view battle screen!
• Choose a Character From Three Races x Nine Classes: Freely create your own character from 3 races and 9 classes (jobs) at the Adventurers’ Guild! Your character will grow ever stronger by repeatedly changing jobs while transferring skills already learned.
• View All 10 Levels of the Dungeon From a 2D Top-Down Perspective: Explore all 10 levels of the dungeon from a 2D, top-down perspective. The search area around you will expand by lighting torches to ensure visibility.
• The Dungeon is Filled With Traps and Mysteries… Map It Out as You Proceed!: The 10-level dungeon is littered with various traps. The key to success is to advance while mapping out the area a little bit at a time.
• Game Length: 10 to 20 hours on average!

Trailer