is a Japanese video game from 2004. Genre-wise it is a dungeon crawler role-playing video game and visual novel hybrid. It was developed by Shout! Design Works and originally published by Atlus for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. In 2020, it received a remaster for the Nintendo Switch, which was localized into English the following year, followed by ports for the PlayStation 4 and Windows in 2022.
Modeled after films such as Indiana Jones and The Mummy, the game revolves around exploring an Ancient Egyptian ruin in search of treasure. The Egyptian aspects are contrasted with Japanese elements, such as myths from the Nihon Shoki. The protagonist also attends modern-day Japanese high school, gradually building relationships with his classmates. Being a role-playing game with social elements, and revolving around high school students fighting folkloric monsters, the game has been compared to modern entries in the Persona series – although Kowloon precedes said entries.
Series director Shuuhou Imai has a long history of making games in the category he calls , starting with the Tokyo Majin Gakuen Denki series. Though Kowloon is inextricably linked to the series and even takes place in the same fictional universe, it is only the second related video game to be released in English, after Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters. Kowloon, along with other games under the gakuen juvenile denki moniker, is considered a cult classic in Japan, but has garnered comparatively little attention in the West.
Plot
The player assumes the role of a young treasure hunter who has learned of the existence of an ancient, treasure-filled ruin underneath Kamiyoshi Academy in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Entering the school as a faux transfer student, his true goal is to explore these ruins and unearth the treasures (and OOPArts) they hold. This is not an uncomplicated task, however: the ruins reveal themselves to be an upside-down Ancient Egyptian pyramid, guarded by traps and age-old monsters of Japanese myth – and the school's student council, being more than it seems at first glance, is equally determined to get in the way.
The story is told as in an anime: divided up into "episodes", each one starts and ends with the same opening and ending sequences, and has separate sub-stories contained to each episode.
Gameplay
The game is divided into two primary modes: 3D dungeon crawler RPG segments, which consist of exploring the ruins underneath the school to retrieve treasure, and visual novel segments, which further the story and allow for interaction with the game's characters. Joining the two are various skeuomorphic menus – such as maps and Windows 95-styled computer screens – that allow moving around the school and accepting quests.
In the tradition of classic dungeon crawlers such as Wizardry, the RPG segments assume a tile-based first-person perspective. Actions are turn-based, with characters having a given number of action points to spend before the turn ends. Attacks are carried out as if it were an action game, allowing the player to aim and shoot with a cursor. Atypically for the time, the game features a crafting system, through which two items can be combined to synthesize a new one. Unlike traditional dungeon crawlers, dungeon segments also heavily feature puzzles, some of which require use of this crafting system.
Returning from the Tokyo Majin Gakuen Denki series is the used in the visual novel segments, albeit with differing specifics. When speaking to characters, in addition to standard text options, a wheel-shaped interface will sporadically appear. This wheel is adorned with eight different emotions – two in each cardinal direction – selectable by pressing or holding the corresponding direction on the D-pad. There are nine possible responses: "joy", "love", "amity", "hot", "cold", "anger", "somber", "grief", and finally ignoring the other party (by pressing nothing). Depending on the selection, the player's relationship to the character may improve or worsen, and they may become a party member with unique stats and abilities for the dungeon segments.
Included as a bonus mode is Rockford Adventure, an original PC-98-styled retro dungeon crawler RPG. Progress in this game rewards the player with statistic bonuses in the main game.
Editions
Beyond the 2004 original, two further versions of the game have been produced.