Baroque

Baroque for PlayStation 2 is Sting Entertainment’s 3D dungeon role-playing game, released in Japan in 2007 and brought to North America by Atlus in April 2008. Rising Star Games published the European edition later that year. It remakes Sting’s 1998 Sega Saturn game, recasting its unusual dungeon exploration for a third-person perspective while retaining the series’ bleak, surreal world and its emphasis on repeated descents into a changing tower.

The adventure begins after the Blaze, a catastrophe that has left the world distorted and many survivors transformed. Players control an unnamed, amnesiac figure who is sent toward the depths of the Neuro Tower in search of redemption. The story is intentionally uncovered in fragments: encounters in the settlement outside the tower, scenes opened by progress, and the protagonist’s repeated journeys gradually reveal the people, beliefs, and events behind the ruined setting.

Each run into the Neuro Tower leads through randomly arranged dungeon floors populated by hostile Meta-Beings. The goal is to keep pushing toward the bottom, but the route is never simply a straight march through familiar rooms. Enemies, equipment, and useful objects are discovered during exploration, while combat and experience earned from defeated foes help the character grow stronger. Melee weapons and other found tools give the player options in dangerous close quarters, and a limited inventory makes decisions about what to carry, use, throw, or leave behind part of the journey.

Baroque PS2 also makes survival a constant concern through separate health and vitality gauges. Vitality falls as the player explores; when it is depleted, health begins to suffer as well. Different found items can restore these resources, and consuming them at the right time can improve the character’s capacity to endure future expeditions. Before entering the tower, the hero has access to the Angelic Rifle and its scarce ammunition, a powerful but limited resource that encourages careful use rather than indiscriminate attacks.

Failure is woven into the design instead of serving only as a stopping point. A death in the tower returns the player to the town, where fresh dialogue, events, and areas can become available before another descent. Some items can be entrusted through the game’s Consciousness Orb system and recovered on a later attempt, providing a way to prepare for another run. This loop of loss, discovery, and return is central to how Baroque PS2 tells its story and develops its dungeon challenge.

This PlayStation 2 edition is distinct from the original Saturn release. The first Baroque used a first-person presentation and tank-style movement, while the remake uses third-person 3D action with analogue movement, remade visuals, voice acting, and revised progression. A Wii version followed in Japan in 2008 and overseas alongside the PS2 release, adding motion controls, widescreen support, and a first-person camera option. For players interested in an offbeat PS2 dungeon crawler, Baroque stands out for making repeated attempts at the Neuro Tower part of both its play structure and its unfolding post-apocalyptic narrative.