JRPG publisher Atlus recently posted an introductory blog entry which sheds a little more light on the upcoming North American release of Shiren The Wanderer. The title, whose name means “trial” or “test” in Japanese, promises a challenging, if not unconventional experience to Atlus fans.

The game is modeled after “rogue-like” titles such as Diablo or Altus’ own Demon’s Souls, but with a turn-based combat system similar to those found in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon or Final Fantasy XII. The game promises to provide a difficult, engaging experience to both veterans and newbies of the Atlus JRPG lineup with a story rooted deeply in Japanese mythology.

The game will feature randomly generated dungeons which can extend up to 1000 floors; time travel, which allows the player to shape the story events as they are occurring as well as change the difficulty/content of dungeons by completing side quests; and a party of three characters which can be micromanaged at the player’s discretion.

The JRPG giant promises a kinder, gentler experience in this dungeon crawler through the addition of an “Easy mode”. Easy mode promises not to compromise core game play, but provides what Atlus’ Scott Strichart calls a “paradigm shift” for the genre by allowing players to retain their hard-earned items through death.

The post also reveals that the North American release of Shiren the Wanderer will not include the Rescue, Versus, or Item Transfer online features of the Japanese version. While this comes as a sad development to many fans of the promising JRPG title, one must respect Atlus’ commitment to their fans through this upfront communication.

Finally, Atlus reports that the NA title will still include the Japanese dungeon DLC for those that want to experience the considerably lengthy and complex single player story.