Like Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade, it is a spiritual successor to an Atlus game titled Princess Crown and takes some concepts from Norse mythology.
Dragon's Crown is an action role-playing game structured like a traditional side-scrolling beat 'em up where players move their characters across the screen into the background or foreground attacking enemies. Players may choose between one of six characters--Fighter, Amazon, Elf, Sorceress, Wizard, and Dwarf--who must travel though a number of environments using standard attacks as well as magic spells to defeat enemies.
The game takes place in a fantasy world where vast labyrinths and catacombs lie beneath civilization. Magic-users seeking a legendary treasure know as the "Dragon's Crown" have used their sorcery to link each of the ruins together in order to search for it, which they plan to use for a sinister purpose. Players must take up the role of one of six adventurers to keep the crown out of their hands, as well as search for treasure of their own.
Source: Wikipedia, "Dragon's Crown (video game)", available under the CC-BY-SA License.