The game received a generally positive reception from critics. On NovemAtlus confirmed that they would be localizing and publishing the game in North America for a release. A North American release of the game was confirmed by the Twitter account of Sony Computer Entertainment America which said that the game was 'definitely' coming to North America. The game was unveiled before the countdown ended by Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, on August 18, 2009. The game was teased by From Software on Augwith a teaser site showing a cube and a countdown-timer to August 20, 2009. The game was actually created as a way to showcase Silicon Studio's middleware technology, and the speed at which development could progress with it. Silicon Studio developed 3D Dot Game Heroes in just 10 months despite none of the development team having prior experience with PS3 development.

This caused the entire world to become 3D while still retaining its original pixelated look. The kingdom was once a 2D pixelated world but as the King of the Land felt that sprites were outdated he thus decreed for the kingdom to make the switch to 3D. The game's main protagonist is the grandchild of the brave hero who sealed away the Dark King and thus is entrusted with the responsibility to save the land. However, the forces of evil rose again as the Dark Bishop Fuelle stole the orb and threw the Kingdom of Dotnia into a state of chaos once more. However a hero rose up against the Dark King and with his legendary sword as well as the power of the orbs, he sealed Onyx away within another orb. Legend tells of an evil king known as the Dark King Onyx who brought tragedy and darkness to the kingdom by stealing six magical orbs.

The game follows a hero on a quest to rid the Dotnia Kingdom of a dark plague caused by the forces of evil in order to restore peace to the land. Loading screens in-game feature recreated box arts of classic video games using the game's 3D sprites. Players are able to collect monsters to be featured in an encyclopedia which is done through beating the monster on its head with a book until its profile shows up in the encyclopedia's pages.

Players can create their own character model using the game's 3D sprite editor. Swords in-game can be customized and leveled up to increase its length, width, as well as magical power, other special items that can also be used include boomerangs, lanterns, candles, and bows. When the player's health bar is full, the player's sword will grow to tremendous sizes whenever swung. Players move characters from screen to screen exploring dungeons, battling enemies, collecting items and solving puzzles. The gameplay resembles that of action role-playing games on third generation video game consoles from the 1980s, particularly that of The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy Adventure, and also aesthetically similar to Dragon Warrior.

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