-Hi all, Welcome to Rosaviews! This is going to be a new series where I give amateur reviews on DS games that I play. If you agree or disagree with my asessment, I'd love to hear your reasoning why in a civil manner in the comments!-

Hisory
Deep Labyrinth is a game released by Atlus entertainment that was originally developed for mobile phones. It was initially released in December 2004 exclusively in Japan for Vodafone phones, and it recieved another release in March 2005 for FOMA phones. The game was finally released for DS in Japan a full year later, August in NA, and it would eventually release for EU and AU in February 2007.

Plot
The game is a unique first person RPG, which follows two seperate characters over two seperate stories. Hence this post being part one, as I will be exclusively talking about the first story. It was created for the DS version and was meant to be a more casual experience. The first story follows a boy named Shawn as he, his dog Ace, and his family become stranded near a creepy house. Shawn loses his family and dog though, and when he approaches the house, it turns out to be a portal that pulls Shawn in.

Shawn wakes up in a strange area and is met by a floating Elephant god who eventually informs Shawn that he is in a world of memories. The dimension is full of creatures and monsters, each with their own jobs or roles for maintaining and removing memories. He is also informed that his mother and father are there, but that their memories are set to be removed. Shawn eventually finds a sword and shield, some armor, and even a few spells, and he sets out into the labyrinth to find his family. Although, there is a faceless woman in the labyrinth as well, and she isn't supposed to be there, causing a lot of problems for memories.

Review
This game stands out so much for the controls. The DS wasn't the best console for first person games due to lack of controls, so DS games had to get creative to pull off first person gameplay. Deep Labyrinth doesn't control perfectly, but the controls are interesting as the stylus acts as your sword with the direction you drag your stylus being the direction Shawn swings his sword. Spells are also comprised of symbols you draw on a 3x3 grid, with the ability to combine certain spell symbols for stronger spells. Spells are cataloged in the menu, but gameplay doesn't stop in the menu meaning it's a good idea to memorize a few important spells for quick use in combat.

Gameplay is not the only plus though, the game is so weird, and I love weird games. The common inhabitants of the labyrinth are rat people who all have interesting things to say, although not everything they say is nice. There is also a purple platypus who acts as a save point, and he is my favorite save point in any game ever as he always has a goofy joke or is talking about how sleepy he is. Boss and enemy designs are also pretty interesting and surreal at times, with stand outs being silver slime that takes the shape of a feminine torso and a giant mermaid lady but with a fish head.

If you ever see this game and are considering playing it, I highly recommend it. It ramps up in difficulty near the end, but it is a wonderful gane with beautiful enviornments to explore. It has an amazing soundtrack too!