In Baldr Sky: Dive 1 – Lost Memory, players scoot a giant robot around an arena, moving in and out of melee range and attacking with a huge and customizable selection of weapons.

Baldr Sky’s polished gameplay wouldn’t be out of place in a Western game, but for one thing: The majority of the game is spent listening to spoken dialog and looking at static pictures of anime characters. It’s a blend of action and the visual novel genre that flourishes in Japan.

Developer Giga recently released this newest installment in the Baldr Sky series, but you wouldn’t know it by reading the usual gaming blogs. It’s gone largely uncommented on.

It’s probably going to stay that way, too. Persona 3 blended the visual novel aesthetic with an RPG to produce a surprise hit, but Baldr Sky is unlikely to follow. Why? Well, in the tradition of many visual novels, the plotlines cap off with decidedly adult situations. The U.S. market for this kind of thing is decidedly niche. I don’t think GameStop would know what to do with it.

Still, it’s impressive that Baldr Sky manages to blend two genres without skimping on either. The story is around eight hours long, and has multiple branching plotlines that can be revisited. The combat system is rich enough to stand on its own in an unlockable plotless survival mode. Take a look at a gameplay video for a better understanding.

Looks like fun, huh? Unfortunately, your options for trying it are pretty limited. There’s torrents out there, not to mention a demo, but English fan guides are either not up yet or are hiding in corners of the Internet I’m not familiar with.

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