Imagine for a second that you had in your possession a book, appearance-wise not unlike the Necronomicon. And with that book, you were tasked with recording into that book everything worthy of being brought into a new world once the old one is destroyed.
And that end is coming pretty quick~

Avalon Code has you in the role of the Hero or Heroine granted the status of Chosen One, along with the infamous Book of Prophecy. Along with little fire imp Rempo, you embark on a quest to gather the other Book Spirits and prepare the next world while also foiling the plans of an ancient evil looking to take that shiny new world for his own evil vision of utopia~ essentially one without any fleshy humans.

Usually, a DS-RPG is fairly standard~ I've been burned by a good couple in the past. They're known for having only one hitch (game-gimmick), like drawing symbols on the screen, or collecting monsters, or any other such nonsense. Avalon Code's main hitch is the re-writing of the personal code of almost everyone and everything you come across. The code-rewriting works a lot like Tetris, operating on a grid with pieces that each represent a different moral aspect. A rock is a STONE code, and generally in combat, it means the enemy you're facing has high HP.
It's almost essential to "scan",as the game calls it, every monster you meet~ As the game goes on, you will need those extra codes and room to put them~ I'll explain in a bit.
You also have the ability to, with assigning codes to a category, like sword, katana, hammer, you can create an arsenal of weapons and items~ I'm suspecting you just yank everything out of the book because there is no inventory system~ You just use things from the book. Dual Wielding is available from the start.

The action is hack and slash, however dungeons do not operate on a "Enter room, kill things, occasionally flip a switch" methodology~ Rather they operate on a "Enter room, engage in Challenge to progress to next room". Granted, once you complete a challenge, you don't have to do it again if you find yourself backtracking unless you want to aim for a better score~ Indeed, you only gain the ability to make certain items if you score well enough in certain rooms in certain dungeons. These challenge range between "Defeat all enemies!" or "Flip all switches!" with obstacles and little side feats to boost your score, like using evasive moves a certain number of times, etc. Also, while traveling across the land outside of Dungeons, you don't have to really engage enemies you've already scanned unless you need to refill your life meter with the Judgement Link system.

Back in town, you have your relations with the inhabitants, from the sickly girl bedridden for lord knows how long, the pompous merchant twins, the perverted grampa, and the grizzled swordsman instructor~ Almost every character trope is present here. There's even a bit of dating sim present, as you gift and flatter your way into the hearts of certain individuals in an attempt to be able to break a "locked" code in their grid. For instance, that sickly girl? her grid has the "ILL" code permanently locked into her grid. To remove it, perform the necessary quests and the game will tell you what codes to put around the locked code to remove it, thus altering that characters fate. You can also do this to certain non-wooable characters in side quests, like the wannabe hero Duran who has a "Coward" code permanently locked on his grid.

This whole code system, however, has one flaw that I can live with, but is endlessly irritating. The game is broken up in chapters...and by chapter 6, if not sooner, you will find yourself using people and monsters as "Code storage", as you can only have 4 free codes unassigned at any one time to place. Often, you will find yourself flipping through the Book of Prophecy (the chief HUD of the game) looking for a certain Code in a certain shape~ By the end of the game, you will be certain you've read the entire Book of Prophecy 50+ times.
The pay-off for all that code-scrounging and scanning~ better weapons, better items, etc.

In the end, Dungeons are challenging~ making items is fun~ the story has enough tried-and-true components to make it compelling~
It is also extremely short. Some chapters, like say, Chapter 9, are as simple as Map Warping (an ability you gain halfway through) to Location X, dodging enemies to location Y, and engage is battle with Monster Z. Others feel as though they can take forever~ Like the ones that require exploring every room of a dungeon before allowing you access to the Boss Chamber (Chapter 3, I'm looking at you).
Then, after it's all said and done, you get to enjoy a freeform adventure as you experiment with your New World, altered by answering a survey in the back of the Book of Prophecy.

I picked this game up used along with the Altelier Iris games that I missed at Gamestops Buy-2-get-1-free used game sale they have every weekend~However, with the way this game has literally had me by the balls these last two weeks, I wouldn't have minded pay full price.