Xanadu Next is 70% off on Steam and it's worth your time on Steam Deck

Xanadu Next — a Diablo-style JRPG from Nihon Falcom — surfaced during Steam's Autumn sale at 70% off, and it turns out this obscure gem is well worth picking up, especially on Steam Deck.

The game has a genuinely strange origin story. It's a spin-off to Xanadu: Dragon Slayer 2, a PC-88 title from 1985 that's sometimes credited as one of the earliest action RPGs. Nihon Falcom didn't follow it up until 2005, and when they did, Xanadu Next launched first on Nokia N-Gage — yes, that Nokia N-Gage — as a Japan-only release. A PC version followed a few months later, also Japan-only, and the English re-release didn't arrive until 2016. The version on Steam is that PC build, which by all accounts plays far better than the N-Gage original. The interesting wrinkle is that the game's core design had to work across both platforms, which shaped how lean and focused it feels.

After around six hours with it, the verdict is that it's not a masterpiece, but it has real charm. The structure is isometric hack-and-slash with a metroidvania backbone — there's a central village hub for resting, trading, and upgrading, and the world opens up through light puzzle-solving, keys bought in town (which get progressively more expensive), and satisfying circle-and-slash combat. It's a grind, but a calm, almost meditative one. The labyrinthine world rewards exploration, and the way areas interconnect gives occasional flashes of that same satisfaction you get from a well-designed Souls map. The atmosphere mixes cheerful JRPG village energy with something genuinely melancholy and misty. Nihon Falcom fans who rate it alongside the Ys and Trails series aren't entirely wrong.

A few caveats for Steam Deck players: the Steam page lists it as unsupported, but ignore that. Load the separate config executable first to set up your resolution and graphics, grab a community controller profile, and it runs fine — though you'll occasionally need to tap the touchpad to equip items since controller support isn't complete. If Xanadu Next hooks you, most of Nihon Falcom's back catalogue is also on sale right now during the Autumn sale.