Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (2003)

Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software, Atlus USA, Koei
Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Tactical
Rating: 4.2 of 5, 33 player ratings
Where to get it: Website

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A goofy anime tactics game that hides staggering mechanical depth beneath its slapstick humor, rewarding patient grinders with absurdly satisfying number escalation.

comedicstrategicdeep systemsanime-flavoredgrind-heavylightheartedmethodicalrewarding

About

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is a tactical role-playing video game and the first game in the Disgaea series. Battle gameplay takes place on a map divided into a square grid. The player controls a squad of humanoid units and monsters, which each occupy a single square of the grid and do combat with a group of enemies. Depending on the character and attack selected, the player will be able to deal damage to a specific enemy unit or a designated region of the map. Combat ends when all enemy units or all of the player's units are destroyed.

What players say

An off-kilter tactical RPG packed with campy, irreverent humor and absurdly deep grinding systems that can stretch into hundreds of hours for dedicated players. It earned strong cult-classic status as an addictive, system-rich SRPG, though its endgame grind feels tedious to some.

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This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.