Phantom Dust

Phantom Dust is a video game that combines elements of third-person shooters with collectible card games. The players take the role of the unnamed protagonist, an Esper that can control the Dust that covers the earth to use in combat. The game is divided between combat stages and non-combat gameplay that includes interactions with non-player characters, reviewing and optimizing the Skills in their Arsenal (the equivalent of cards in a collectible card deck), and obtaining missions that lead to combat situations. The player may have the opportunity to select a non-player character to assist in combat.

In combat, the player, their ally, and their opponents use various skills, powered by Aura, that are collected around the level as the match proceeds in order to take their opponents' health bar to zero. Skills typically require 1 or more Aura points to activate. The player starts with minimal Aura but can increase their maximum capacity by collecting and using Aura Particles from their spawn point. When a skill is used, the Aura is temporarily drained from the player but will recover slowly up to the maximum capacity.

In Earth's far future, the surface has become an uninhabitable dust-ridden wasteland, forcing the remains of humanity to take shelter underground. Some humans are Espers, gifted with the ability to control the dust, allowing them to survive the surface for limited periods. All humans lack much of their memories, and with no records for how Earth has become this way, Espers are sent to the surface to find artifacts of the past and to seek out the fabled Ruins, the only shared memory all humans have.

One day, a team of Espers from the main human underground complex find a pair of capsules in one of the ruined structures, containing two men: the player protagonist and a man named Edgar. Both lack memories like the rest of humans, and have Esper-like powers. Edgar wears a locket with a picture of a young woman in it, his only connection to his past. The two agree to help explore the surface.

By 2004, Microsoft had not found great success with the Xbox console in Japan compared to the North American and European markets. To try to cater to these audiences, Microsoft developed games that were designed towards Japanese audiences with the potential to bring these to Western markets if they were successful. While early development began, Microsoft Game Studios Japan were shown an early development demo of Gears of War, where Yukio Futatsugi noticed the use of normal mapping, and decided to use it within Phantom Dust.

Phantom Dust was revealed alongside Blinx 2 in June 2004 at Japanese press events. Lead director Yukio Futatsugi and his team developed an English version concurrently with the Japanese version, and the English localization was included in the Japanese release. S. S.

Phantom Dust has received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic, with an aggregate score of 81 for the Xbox version. IGN praised the Xbox version for its "spectacular" graphics and "incredibly deep" gameplay. 1UP, awarding the game an 85 out of 100, said it "scores big points for offering the most strategic Xbox Live experience available". Many reviewers, including GameSpot, have noted the game's low purchase price of $20 as a bonus, especially in relation to its high gameplay content.

The original game had very poor sales; in Japan, its first month sales were only about 6,000 units, and in North America, only about 50,000 units were sold. The remastered version had seen more than 1 million players after the first month of its release. The game became a cult hit. In June 2013, Futatsugi expressed interest in making a Phantom Dust sequel, possibly using Kickstarter for funding.