Now, almost 2-year-old, Dragon Quest Builder by Square Enix is going to make its way on to the Switch on Feb.9th. They have a demo available in the app store so I grabbed to get an idea what this game is all about. The cover art design kind of threw me off as the whole Minecraft sandbox world has been overdone, to say the least, and if it wasn't for the demo I would not have taken a second look.
What I found when I opened this game was a world that reminded me a lot of a reskin of Minecraft but this game quickly shows you that you are now in the world of Dragon Quest. The enemies at the beginning are a familiar lot and right away you meet an NPC who is there to set you on your way with quests.
This game sets itself apart in some pretty interesting ways. While you need a workbench to create things, you are given blueprints in order to know what material you need. Instead of memorizing a pattern you just have to know where to find it on your list and have the items to build it. There are also blueprints of rooms, which is really cool. You lay it down on an open area where you want to build and it gives you an outline that you can build on top of. This is all done in a city limit that you make by claiming a piece of land. This reminds me of an older mod on Minecraft called territories. One of my favorites.
Every room in this game counts toward your overall town score so there is a point to building and decorating rooms. On top of the sandbox world, it gives the game more of sense of purpose. You aren't just building for the sake of building but building for visual objectives and progression.
One of the main issues I had was the camera. Instead of the set first-person view, the game is in a 3rd person view. It makes sense to build roofs to your rooms because when your town is attacked by enemies they can jump over the roof if there is something to jump up on. A pot decoration becomes your undoing. When you build the roof you can't see through the wall so your far away view becomes blocked. You can zoom into a first-person perspective in the house but finding the icons, like for the bed, is a bit annoying.
There is also the issue that dropping blocks was not the easiest on the Switch controllers. I missed a lot when I don't think I should have. At one point it felt I was getting better but there were a lot of misses still happening and maneuvering the block into the right spot could get frustrating.
Other then those two gripes, the game still gives you a nice sense of depth. The graphics are clean and the landscape is appealing. You are rewarded with items that increase your health when you explore certain areas so it gives you the drive to look around. The fact you always have a weapon armed is also great. Even more, nothing exploded near me, killing me and destroying the house that I was working on.
I am not sure if I am totally sold on this game yet. They took a great concept and actually expanded on it in a way that was unique. The worries I have is the if the pacing of the game can stay up when you have to craft bigger things and if I don't just get bored because the Minecraft hangover kicks in. It is coming out with a $50 price tag, which makes it more tempting and you can always save a few more bucks through Amazon pre-order. I am heads or tales on this one but I a much more interested in it then I have been in the past.
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