
Cover art for PS2 North American version
Baroque is a roguelike role-playing video game developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Atlus in the United States, originally developed for the Sega Saturn and later ported to the PlayStation. It was later remade by Sting, where it was to be a planned exclusive for Japan. However, Baroque was scheduled for release in the United States on March 18, 2008 for the PlayStation 2 and Wii. Atlus USA eventually released both versions of the game on April 8, 2008.
The original version was re-released in digital form on 2020 for Nintendo Switch.
Description[]
The objective of the game is to guide the nameless, mute, and amnesiac player character through the Neuro Tower to the bottom floor, to help the remnants of humanity. Randomly generated, the majority of the layouts of the Neuro Tower's floors change each time the player ventures inside. Portals found on each floor of the tower will transport the player to the next floor. Death in Baroque does not result in a game over screen, but instead advances the plot, unlocking cutscenes, new areas, and comments by the non-player characters. The Neuro Tower expands after certain things are done, similar to side-quests.
Gameplay[]
The protagonist begins the game outside of the Neuro Tower with no items or experience points. Before entering the Neuro Tower, the player is presented with an Angelic Rifle, a special weapon that can destroy any monster with a single shot, and it's the most powerful, limited, starting weapon in game. However, the rifle has an ammunition capacity of five shots. The player can find items, swords, disks, etc. scattered around the tower at random and by defeating enemies—which also grants the player experience points, allowing the player character to gain levels thus becoming more powerful. However, should the protagonist die before reaching the end of the dungeon, they will be returned to the Outer World, and will lose all items, including those equipped, and all gained experience points. By throwing an item into a consciousness orb, the player can retrieve it from the collector on the next run-through. Up to five items can be saved in this manner at the start, but the number can increase if the certain conditions are met.
The game uses two bars to measure the protagonist's hit points and vitality. The vitality gauge constantly drains during the game (running, fighting, ect.). If it empties, the health bar will begin to drain. The bars can be refilled by eating flesh, hearts and bones to restore either hit points or vitality. If flesh or a heart is consumed while the corresponding bar is full, the protagonist's max. hit points/vitality will increase by an amount depending on what kind of meat is consumed.
Characters[]
- Protagonist
- Archangel
- Absolute God
- Bagged One
- Baroquemonger
- Coffin Man
- Collector
- Horned Girl
- Longneck
- Sentry Angel
- Phantom
- Brain
- Gas Mask
- Cursebringer Angel
- Urim and Thummim
- Little
- Fist
- Scythe
- Alice
- Eliza
- Boxbearer
- Mind Reader
- Neophyte
- Doctor Angelicus
- Cherub
- Alluring Beauty
Videos[]
Baroque Original Version (Nintendo Switch)[]
External links[]
- Baroque on App Store (free trial)
- Baroque Original Version on Nintendo Store (Japanese)