The most surprising aspect of Xanadu Next, to me, was how interconnected its environments are. There’s a very Dark Souls kind of feeling to it, as you discover shortcuts that lead you back to previous areas or back to towns. It was exciting to find a new path that opened up an area, and new items you obtain throughout the game open even more routes and options in previous areas.

The combat system in Xanadu Next is simple, while still managing to be engaging. Positioning plays a big part, and you’ll often need to navigate your character just right to be out of reach of an enemies attacks. Some areas throw a ton of enemies at you, so you need to use your abilities smartly to either knock some away or hit multiple ones at once. Things can get hectic fast, and you’ll find yourself surprisingly focused on battle as the enemy AI swarms you.

Combat has a hint of Zelda style to it, with the way enemies broadcast their attacks, and a couple of the boss battles feel like they’d be right at home in one of Link’s adventures. One might even be a direct reference to Nintendo’s series, as it’s a giant spider with a glowing red eye you have to hit named Scoltula.

As it’s a game over ten years old, Xanadu Next isn’t particularly impressive graphically, although it isn’t ugly. It’s easy to run on high settings to get a glossy look, but characters and environments are blocky and awkward looking at times. The world does have enough variation in its environments to keep things fresh however.

The interface, however, can be a bit cumbersome to navigate. You have a simple menu that holds your items, abilities, and more. Unfortunately, clicking and selecting tabs and boxes was nigh impossible for me at times. Something made it so that instead of clicking on the menu I just brought up, it would instead keep moving my character around. Using hotkeys for abilities and items is easy, but changing spells or equipment became a frustrating exercise occasionally.

I ran into a few other bugs here and there, with some graphical hitches, framerate drops in larger areas, sound clipping, and even my game crashing a couple times at the start. The menu frustrations were a lingering problem that made things difficult, while the rest of the bugs weren’t really a problem.

Xanadu Next is definitely a game that feels dated by many standards with its lack of a detailed map, frustrating menus, and simple combat. Even despite all this, there was an immense draw to the game with its gameplay loop that proved to be incredibly fun, and really made me want to keep going. The story definitely draws your interest with its mystery and the strangers you meet along the way, and the simple combat system manages to still be engaging and hectic. Xanadu Next doesn’t overstay its welcome, and proves to be a succinct experience with a world that feels cohesive and contained.

SCORE: 3.5/5 – Fair