Wonderful in the dungeonone of our favorite anime of the year so far, it’s based on a critically acclaimed manga created by Ryōko Kui in 2014 – but as the mangaka tells it, the origins of the concept go back even further.
In a Japanese language interview with Famitsu in February, Kui detailed the many video game inspirations behind the popular series.
One of the big ones is an RPG from 1990 called Sorcery 6: Bane of the Cosmic Forge. In the game, originally released for Amiga and DOS, a typical fantasy party – humans, elves, dwarves, fairies, dog people known as Rawulves, you name it – gets trapped in a castle overrun with monsters, and has to fight their way out. . Like Wonderful in the dungeonHowever, the plot has some twists that go well beyond your standard fantasy fare. We won’t spoil since you can still play the game todaybut it gets very sci-fi-y towards the end, if players choose the right path.
Kui said she grew up watching her father play the game. but was not allowed to play it myself. But as an adult, she turned to many video games for research Wonderful in the dungeon. The list is extensive: translations point to her reference everything from story-rich role-playing games such as 13 guardsto deckbuilding games like the spectacular one Encryption.
Kui has said that she prefers games with minimal combat, but still loves them Red Dead Redemption 2 And God of war for the quality of the story, the characters and the landscape.
All things considered, that makes perfect sense Wonderful in the dungeon plays so adeptly with and subverts Western fantasy tropes, focusing as much on cooking monsters and solving personal problems as it does on combat.