Play Xanadu Online

Summary

Xanadu, often called Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II, drops you into a world where the classic top‑down RPG meets side‑scrolling platform action. You wander towns like Bolda, watch the day turn to night and see villagers retreat to their homes, while your own hunger meter ticks down, forcing you to hunt for food or risk a rapid loss of health. Every sword, shield or piece of armor you equip earns its own experience, growing stronger the more you use it, and the Karma meter silently judges how many “good” monsters you slay, even locking temple level‑ups if you get too righteous.

Combat is delightfully simple: run into enemies to deal damage, but the real thrill comes when a chapter ends and the view flips to a side‑scrolling arena where timing button presses lets you jump, slash and cast spells in a fast‑paced showdown. Throughout the adventure, AI‑controlled companions pop up to lend a hand, and the game’s layered map of caves, ladders and hidden passages feels like an early metroidvania playground.

Beyond its addictive loop, Xanadu set a Japanese sales record of over 400,000 copies in 1985 and laid down many of the mechanics that later defined action‑RPGs—from item‑specific experience to a morality system—making it a quiet but powerful ancestor of titles like Ys, Zelda II and modern metroidvanias.

Storyline

The game Xanadu (MSX) drops you straight into the protagonist's shoes with almost no prologue. You quickly meet the king, who hands you the bare essentials and a modest sum of cash for training. After allocating points to your chosen attributes, you must escape the city and descend into a massive underground complex. That first exit is just the opening of a series of cryptic puzzles, though the core experience remains a role‑playing adventure that blends RPG mechanics with puzzle and exploration elements that felt ahead of its time. In 1988 an OVA and a manga titled Xanadu: The Legend of Dragon Slayer were released alongside the MSX version. The adaptations give the hero a name—Fieg—a 21st‑century soldier flung into Xanadu after a bloody ambush, adding sci‑fi twists and new characters not present in the original game.