Drihoo is part of a fascinating selection of Japan-exclusive original Xbox titles. It’s also one of the better ones (Dinosaur Hunting is another).

Up until this patch however, Drihoo lost a lot of the flavour behind its language barrier. Sure, it’s an action game and precursor to From Software’s Soulsborne series, so you can enjoy the mechanics, but the narrative and - most importantly - clues for locating bosses would be missed.

Thanks to this fan-translation, however, it’s much more accessible.

Oh, yeah, you spotted that comment about Souldsborne? The director behind this next went to From Software and played a key role in most of the Soulsborne entries (Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, etc.) Thus making this game historically important, and the translation even more valuable.

Now, full disclosure: it’s not a 100% translation. The item descriptions in your inventory require more complex hacking to access, so it’s just the NPC dialogue that’s translated. This however does yield clues, convey the story, and makes completing side quests possible (people ask for stuff, etc.).

To make up for this, the author has written an extremely detailed companion manual, with pictures and details descriptions of items, armour, weapons, etc. So even though it’s not on-screen, you still have access to that information. The manual also acts as a mini walkthrough, with tips and maps!

Overall this is a nice complete package which makes a historically important and fun game more accessible to those without Japanese ability.

Hopefully over time we’ll see the remainder of the game translated too.