Despiria is an RPG adventure that takes place in a futuristic Japan of 2070, twenty-two years after World War III. An organization known as Church has taken power, and you play as Allure Valentine, a girl recruited by the Church as an undercover agent. On one of her missions, Allure boards a train that crashes shortly thereafter. Her first task is to find a way out of the underground tunnel and discover who or what was behind that crash.
The game combines elements of RPGs and adventure games. The entire game is viewed from a first-person perspective. You fight enemies in turn-based battles, but instead of a party, you have several "minds" - summoned monsters that will fight together with Allure. They use special "mind attacks" with various elements, such as love or curse. In adventure mode, you explore environments by pressing the A button, which highlights objects you can interact with. The movements are shown in short CG sequences, similar to Western-style adventures.