Wizardry: The Five Ordeals coming to Nintendo Switch on January 25, 2025

Developer 59 studio and publisher Game*Spark Publishing have announced that they're bringing Wizardry: The Five Ordeals to Nintendo Switch on January 25, 2025.

Wizardry: The Five Ordeals originally released in Japan on June 8, 2006 as Wizardry Gaiden: Itsuro no Shiren - Five Ordeals, which is, in turn, based on the gameplay engine from 2005's Wizardry Gaiden: Prisoners of the Battles. 

The Steam version was remade via the Unity engine, and it entered Early Access in 2021 before reaching its full release in 2023. While the Steam version is essentially a worldwide release, including English text support, it is presently unknown whether the Switch version will be available outside of Japan.

Wizardry: The Five Ordeals includes several official story scenarios: "Traveler's Property", "Children of the King Selene", "The Pickled Man of Galvan", "The Wheels of Flame", and "The Devoid of Apotheosis", as well as an in-game editor for player-crafted scenarios. (English support for the in-game editor was not available at launch and is presently being finalized.)

It should be noted that Wizardry: The Five Ordeals is unrelated to Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, a 3D remake of the first game in the legendary franchise.

Switch Announcement Trailer

Players in Japan will have three options to choose between:

• The digital version for 3,980 yen
• The physical version for 4,980 yen
• The Collector's Edition, which is priced at 9,980 yen, and includes an acrylic stand, several cards based on the game's monsters, a soundtrack CD, and a digital code for a DLC scenario, "The Absence of Misericordia"

"The Absence of Misericordia" can also be purchased separately for 1,480 yen. A second DLC entitled "Prisoners of the Battles", is available for 2,480 yen. This DLC is, in essence, the original Wizardry Gaiden: Prisoners of the Battles.

About the Steam Version

Classic hardcore gameplay. Experience a deep dungeon crawling RPG. This game was created by the main staff that worked on the popular RPG series back in 2006. In this game, players can experience many different dungeon crawler RPGs using the same base system. Available for the first time on Steam and outside of Japan with enhancements to the user interface and much more. Official scenarios seen for the first time each with dozens of hours of gameplay.

Gameplay that is easy to get into. Players will create their own character—much like a traditional tabletop RPG—and venture into a grid based dungeon with a party of up to six members. The turn based combat mixes the simplicity of Japanese RPGs with the difficulty of tabletop RPGs. (Our internal dice is not rigged!) Your character can be lost forever and saves will be overwritten. Get ready for a classic hardcore adventure.

Newly Improved Version

The Steam version has been overhauled using the Unity engine. While the core gameplay is left unchanged from 2006, the user interface has been improved for a modern audience.

Improvements include:

• Widescreen / high-resolution support with new user interface and 3D mazes with high-resolution monsters.
• In-game scenario selection.
• Gamepad support.
• Steam cloud support.
• Custom portraits support.