Deep Down will be playable at the Tokyo Game Show this week. Japanese outlets, however, got an early hands-on with the upcoming PlayStation 4 title. Below is our translation of 4Gamer.net‘s report.

When you start the game, you can select your character’s equipment. In the Tokyo Game Show demo, you can select the “Armor of Raven” or the “Armor of Infantry.” There is no difference in performance between each, and both are equipped with spears. Weapon types are also being prepared, but there are no details on it yet.

Afterwards, you’re tasked with picking your skills, but in the Tokyo Game Show demo, everything is pre-set. At this time, Capcom could confirm 21 skills. There are three attributes (neutral, positive, and negative), each with seven skills (that make up the 21). You can choose three neutral, two positive, and two negative skills.

Whether you wield the spear to perform a spin rush, or hold the spear to rush with an assault there are many skills that will assist you in battle, as well as skills that will temporarily raise your abilities, or tell you where enemies and items are.

The player will have three kinds of skills. Inside dungeons, by collecting items and performing other tasks these skills may change, and their current status will not only be displayed on screen, but also in the color of the light bar on the controller.

Depending on the skills of the character, there will be different restrictions in effect. Positive and negative skills may work in contrast to one another, and as such when positive skills are in use, negative skills will become unavailable (and vice-versa). Negative skills will be available regardless.

Once you’re able to control your character, control information will be displayed on screen. Depending on the weapon, attacks are divided into weaker and stronger. Just like in shooter games, the L2 button will dramatically increase your accuracy. However, without the use of the L2 button attack motions will change, and with weaker attacks you can back step as you attack. Depending on the situation of the battle there is some value in fighting like this, so you’ll want to make sure to try it out.

To use skills and magic items, use the directional pad to select the icon you want. However, because using the left stick is difficult to operate at the same time, preparing your skills and magic items before battle is the best way to play without becoming confused.

Delve deeper and deeper into dungeons. Maps create themselves each time you re-enter, so by climbing in and out of dungeons you can see the easier and more taxing maps, as well as the flat but expansive maps. Of course, because enemies, traps and items will rearrange themselves differently each time, the type of map will greatly influence the level of difficulty. Immediately after warping to a dungeon you may find a trap immediately in front of you, or a monster directly behind, and tension can rise in an instant.

The player’s goal is to obtain the dungeon’s hidden mementos, find the magic square, and then escape. By touching the controller’s touch pad a three-dimensional map will display showing your current location, and the location of the magic square. Nonetheless, dungeons are complicated and exploration is not easy, and traps and monsters lie in wait along the way.

Weapon attacks are performed as already mentioned, but using the L2 button will set up the weapon, and R1 / R2 will launch your attack. The shining white eyes of the monster known as “Hog,” introduced at the Tokyo Game Show, are its weak point. However, because it’s hard to aim at its eyes, you’ll have to first take out its legs to get it to kneel down before making efficient damage.

Of course, when skills and magic items are available, you will be proactive. Magic items can be reused fewer times than skills, however they boast the power to bring down a Hog in a hit. Furthermore, the red-burning Flaming Arrow and the rolling tornado Titan’s Breath graphics will give you a taste of what this next generation of gaming can offer.

By timing your attacks to the rhythm of the Hog’s blows, you can also repel the monster. If successful you will defend yourself from attack, and while there is the risk of ruining your weapon in the process, there is also value in trying, especially if you are carrying a weapon, such as the spear, which cannot otherwise be used to defend.

When using warp points you may find the path before you littered with monsters, while other times sparse with only one treasure chest.

While the Hog is the only monster to be shown at the Tokyo Game Show, there will be a lot of variation between monsters, and their colors, weapons, and attacks.

By the way, for those who aren’t good at action games, there is a “Casual Mode” being prepared. If you select this mode at the start of the game, there is little chance you will be killed by monsters. Also, clearing a dungeon within the time limit will be an even match.

4Gamer.net challenged the game five times for the sake of collecting data and, when the layout wasn’t all that complicated, clearing a dungeon could be done smoothly. It really seems that the automatically-created dungeons really influence the difficulty level, depending on their structure. It’s all luck, so challenge these dungeons with caution.

The demo only offered single-player, so the anticipated online play remains veiled. The whole of Deep Down has yet to be revealed, but the graphically impressive battle scenes are rich and worth seeing. If you are planning on attending the Tokyo Game Show, I recommend heading to the PlayStation booth and trying Deep Down out for yourself.

We’ll close this with some controls:

Character Movement: Left Stick

Camera Movement: Right Stick

Run: Hold L1 while moving

Map Display: Pad Button

Weapon Prepare: L2 Button

Weak Attack: R1 Button

Strong Attack: R2 Button

View a new set of screenshots at the gallery. For more, read our translation of Famitsu’s interview with Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono here.