Monster Mayhem
Developed by Tose and printed by Sq. Enix, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Darkish Prince arrived on Android final month after debuting for Nintendo Change in 2023. Whereas technically the seventh installment within the RPG sequence’ Pokémon-esque monster gathering spinoff, it’s the primary DQM recreation to launch within the West in over a decade.
The Darkish Prince is a prequel and side-story to the 1990 NES recreation Dragon Quest 4. It stars a youthful model of the 1990 recreation’s antagonist, Psaro, as he embarks on a quest to overthrow his father, the monster king Randolfo the Tyrant.
After refusing to save lots of the lifetime of Psaro’s human mom, Randolfo curses his son to be unable to hurt Monsters. Nonetheless, nothing says he can’t get different Monsters to do the combating for him. After studying the artwork of monster wrangling, Psaro returns to the Monster Kingdom of Nadiria alongside the elf Rose. Joined by the sticky-fingered human researcher Toilen, they journey the assorted circles of Nadiria, defeating highly effective enemies to develop Psaro’s fame.
One of many extra distinctive elements of The Darkish Prince’s exploration is its 4 seasons. Seasons change as gamers discover, altering the terrain, climate, and which monsters spawn. Rivers freeze in winter, and gamers can float down them on big flowers in spring. Summer time brings clinging vines that gamers can climb to succeed in excessive locations, whereas fall lets them seek for leaf piles for random loot. It’s not probably the most groundbreaking system ever, and it may be onerous to note the adjustments in Nadiria’s extra unique climates. Nonetheless, it’s a neat little characteristic, even when it’s finally only a gimmick.
Gotta Catch Em All
I’m not the primary to match Sq. Enix‘s Dragon Quest Monsters to Pokémon, and for good causes. The first gameplay loop consists of exploring numerous themed zones and dungeons battling wandering monsters in turn-based battles.
Monsters have a small likelihood to hitch your staff while you defeat them, although you’ve higher odds with the Scouting mechanic. When Scouting, your monsters carry out a “present of pressure” to make the enemy monster change sides. Success offers you a brand new buddy/minion and ends the battle early. Failure buffs the enemy social gathering, so you need to steadiness threat and reward. Nonetheless, you possibly can improve your probabilities of success by throwing meals gadgets at monsters earlier than scouting them.
Along with catching monsters, one among DQM: The Darkish Prince’s different key mechanics is Synthesis, the place gamers can mix two monsters into a brand new, extra highly effective one. You possibly can solely use it to mix stage 10 or larger monsters, and you’ll have to say goodbye to the monsters used within the Synthesis.
The offspring monsters may be upgraded variations of one of many mother or father monsters or one other monster with related traits. Gamers may choose which potential improve paths they need the brand new monster to inherit. It provides a level of customization to your monsters, letting you experiment with alternate builds. The brand new monsters do begin at stage 1, although it’s not too onerous to catch them again up.
To Be the Very Greatest
One large distinction between DQM: The Darkish Prince and Pokémon is that the participant usually instructions a staff of as much as 4 monsters, fairly than most matches being 1v1. The battle interface has numerous choices relying on how a lot management you need to give your monsters. You possibly can micromanage each assault and skill or give your monsters normal directions by the Techniques system and belief them to do the remaining. The AI does an honest job in customary encounters, although you’ll need to step in for boss fights. One criticism of AI is that it appears biased in favor of AOE assaults, even in opposition to single targets. Nonetheless, in case you’re in a scenario that’s greater than an inconvenience, it’s best to in all probability be combating the battle manually.
Surprisingly, you possibly can’t try this through the Monster Mega Brawls and Maulosseum battles. These are formal tournaments for skilled Monster Wranglers, so it is sensible you possibly can’t run off together with your opponent’s beasties. Nonetheless, it’s odd that saying “hit that one subsequent” can be in opposition to the principles. It’s not an enormous deal since you possibly can nonetheless change Techniques between turns, and I by no means felt like I misplaced a battle due to it. It simply caught out to me as odd. Quirks like that apart, it’s a enjoyable turn-based fight system, and I appreciated watching my little guys go at it.
Total, I immensely loved my time with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Darkish Prince. The few points I encountered, like a considerably clunky digicam, had been so minor they barely really feel price mentioning. The worth tag is price noting since $30 is quite a bit for an Android recreation. Nonetheless, that’s nonetheless $10 cheaper than the Change and PC variations and can be well worth the worth even when it wasn’t.
Is It Hardcore?
Completely!
Whereas the Seasons system doesn’t stay as much as its potential, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Darkish Prince is a virtually excellent turn-based monster-battling RPG.