Nostalgia is a steampunk RPG sent in an alternate history version of the 19th Century. The game takes place in real-world settings, including: London, Cairo, and New York. The E3 ’09 Demo I played started off with Eddie, the son of a famous explorer, leaving his home in London to find his now missing father.

The immediate impression is that the game looks nice. It’s a fully 3D world, including the characters, that does a good job adhering to the game’s theme. The 3D engine was created by the same team that created the graphics for Final Fantasy III DS and Final Fantasy IV DS, and it shows.

Once the game really gets going my crew was on board the Airship, and it became their representation on the world map. With the ship I can go wherever I need to, slowly mapping the world as I go (removing the “fog of war”). The map is of the world we all know, but the game’s attendant assured me that there are “plenty of surprises” in store.

While flying around I encountered an attack from a series of flying monsters. Enemy attacks in this game are random.

The game features two combat modes: air combat, and ground combat. Both of them are very similar. In air combat, as was the case with the birds, all of my characters still took turns attacking. However, instead of carrying out the attack themselves they used the ship as a tool of war. When on the ground the battles are pretty much standard turn-based RPG battle, with each side lining up and taking turns whacking each other.

In combat, each of the game’s four characters has a unique skillset: physical attack, attack magic, healing magic, and gun combat. These skills not only affect combat on the ground, but also in the air. For example: Eddie is skilled in physical combat. On the ground he attacks with a sword, and his special skills compliment that. In the air he uses the sharp tip of his airship to spear enemies.

The game’s first dungeon was “The Pyramids,” which as one would expect was located just beyond Cairo. There didn’t seem to be anything particularly striking about the dungeon design. As I explored I found myself victim of both random encounters as well as trap doors.

After what feels like I fell through one-hundred trap doors, and exterminated fifty spiders I finally made it to a switch at the end of the second floor. I completed the demo by passing through the door that opened.

Overall, I think Nostalgia looks very nice. The style of the game isn’t as unique as it used to be, but some of the design is nice. The idea of exploring for “quests and jobs” at various cities, independent of the main story, seems fun. In more than a few ways this game reminds me of Skies of Arcadia, but if it can live up to that comparison remains to be seen. Some of the elements feel a bit generic, and there is little chance any of that will change, as the game is already released in Japan. I have little doubt that the game will be solid, but if it can cross that bridge and be something truly special is still an open question.