Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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"Sorcerian" is a game that has little recognition in the West, but has a storied history in Japan with numerous ports / updates and no real sequel!

Originally developed in 1987 by the legends at Falcom, "Sorcerian" is officially the fifth entry in their "Dragon Slayer" franchise (which is a very confusing "series" in and of itself as it's more of an umbrella term for a brand) and the one port that was officially released in English (the 1990 PC/DOS port by Sierra On-Line) is obscure, to put it mildly. As one of the pioneers of the ARPG genre that fused console and computer gaming sensibilities of the era with modular expansions during a time where they were basically unheard of, Sorcerian is also notable for having Yuzo Koshiro as the main composer for most entries and it has been remade / ported more than most Falcom titles. The Dreamcast game (Sorcerian: Shichisei Mahou no Shito), naturally, has various tweaks (which will be addressed) and goes from 2D to 3D. Released in 2000, this version was handled by Victor Interactive Software and Exe Create.

Sorcerian, in and of itself, has a very simple narrative of a group of adventurers (referred to as Sorcerians) doing odd jobs in the service of the "King of Pentawan" with swords and sorcery and is accentuated by small, self-contained missions or "scenarios" that differ from the various versions of the game. These little plots range from setting the spirits of various deceased people to rest, retrieving the kings staff, and other odds and ends. As the original game featured 15 scenarios and additional scenarios that were sold separately, the main way to experience every scenario was to play the original PC-88 game, but most ports were "hybrid" releases, featuring several scenarios from the core game and exclusive scenarios made for said platforms. Sorcerian DC has 10 of the original scenarios as well as 5 exclusive scenarios including those framed around "Romancia" (an older entry in the Dragon Slayer series) and "Azteka II: Templo Del Sol" (which was, shockingly, released in English roughly 5 years after its original PC-88 Japanese release in 1991 under the name of "Tombs & Treasures" for Nintendo's NES).

Sorcerian has all the hallmarks of a complex and ambitious game but gets a little lost with mechanics that are kinda superfluous when all is said and done. There's a lot to unpack, but I'll summarize as quickly as possible. Players start by creating characters and forming a party; there are a few defaults, but the player is generally incentivized to make their own as you can distribute bonus stat points and manipulate a few factors. In most versions of the game, the player's hub is referred to as "The Castle", but in the DC game, the player resides at the Sunflower Restaurant (Himawari-tei) as a safe haven, aka Adventurer's Hall. Besides making characters and forming parties, a lot of other tasks are performed here such as advancing time, choosing scenarios, changing your job / profession from one of sixty classes (most serve to alter stat growth as you advance in years, but a few scenarios require specific roles), data management and monitoring your roster as they "train".

"Training" in this game involves going to the town Dojo and spending gold to raise stats or gain proficiency in stats, trap detection, monster identification, item appraisal and herb mixing; it takes one in-game year and you can't use said characters for scenarios during this time. Additionally, you can either raise stats or train skills, but not both at once. As you quest, there will be traps, unidentified items, unknown enemy parameters and plants to find, but only the LEAD character will experience most of this, so you can change the lead with the "L" button on the field. All characters attack at once (melee with X and magic with Y) and some areas are restricted by stats. There are other facilities such as the Armor shop, Item Shop, Elder's House (to appraise items deeply), Church (typical services + prayer / confession which affect "karma" and shop prices) King's Castle (to level up and increase stat limits from earned experience) and "Esthers' Cabin".

At Esthers, the main purpose is to augment gear with universal elements, of which there are seven; there are 120 combinations and over 40 spells, but you won't need 80% of them. The last area I want to address is age' characters (humans, dwarves and elves) have a young-adult-old stage, and "old" characters can randomly die (you can actually make them immortal by abusing death and Esthers at a ~10% rate). The gameplay hasn't changed much, but some areas are 3D-navigated and you can jump of your own accord. The graphics are simple and the music is slightly arranged (the first-print comes with a Music Collection with more arrangements). It's not the "best" version, but it's interesting for sure. This video covers 3 scenarios, a little Romancia and some Dragon killing. Enjoy.