Seven long years have passed since the release of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3, fans of the franchise finally have a new instalment for the monster wrangler series with Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince featuring Psaro, as we get to explore his backstory.

Quest for Revenge

Admittedly, when it comes to monster battlers/collector games, the plot usually takes a back seat and acts as a supporting pillar compared to the gameplay mechanics. However, the fact that players step into the shoes of Psaro, who is a major villain from Dragon Quest 4 is an interesting premise.

The Dark Prince starts off with your average JRPG plot, it tells the tale of how a talented demon swordsmaster getting his power sealed and eventually be turned into a monster wrangler as he amasses an army of monsters for his quest for revenge.

The game also consist of a well-rounded cast, with prominent characters in past Dragon Quest characters making their appearance as side-characters such as Rose from Dragon Quest 4 who players previously unfamiliar with her backstory is being explored in this game, and Tollen from Dragon Quest 5 getting more screen time in this game as well.

As the story progresses, so too does Psaro’s motivation and relationships with his companions, as he evolves and develops as a character which ultimately ties up the story with a neat bow in the end.

Exploring Nadiria

Unlike most Dragon Quest games where you start off in the human realm and eventually march your way to the demon realm towards the end of the game; considering we are playing a demon prince, it makes sense that players spend a limited time in Terraria and mostly in Nadiria, a place where strong monsters reside.

Speaking of Nadiria, it is divided into 6 realms known as circles, with each circle having their lower, middle, and upper sections. The game consists of 4 seasons, with each season transforming the outlook of the areas. Each of the seasons may unlock a new path for treasure and spawn rare monsters.

Aside from the seasons, weather plays a factor in the game, with certain weather effects triggering rare monster spawns in the game. For players who wish to collect all the monsters available in the game, it is worth revisiting areas during different seasons and weather effects to effectively recruit various types of monsters.

Having to collect them all would also mean needing to do a lot of back tracking, and given the sheer scale of the explorable area to cover, it can get rather bothersome. Fortunately, the game helps ease the burden by granting players fast travelling, making the journey in Nadiria an easier time.

Monsters

Not to anyone’s surprise, the main premise with The Dark Prince is battling monsters and recruiting them. The game consists of over 500 monsters to collect, and features a simple yet complex synthesis where players can merge two monsters, having both their talent and talent points be merged into one, and sometimes even unlocking a stronger monster.

The reason the synthesis mechanic is simplistic is because players can always merge the monsters and select the outcome as the same monster before the merge. Allowing players the freedom of selecting the outcome, as well as the freedom to pick on any talents that they might want is extremely helpful. However, this does not mean that the system is without its flaws, traits on the other hand is something that players cannot edit. This results in most of the monster’s build being tied to their traits.

Each monster will have two size differences being Small and Large, where small size monsters take up 1 slot within the party, and large size monsters take up 2 slots. Additionally, large size monsters will get 3 extra traits, with higher HP, Defense and Offensive stats at the cost of being slower than their small size counterparts.

There are many ways to get new monsters, but perhaps the easiest way is to recruit them from the wild, while the other way is getting them from eggs that players can find throughout the circles.

The Dark Prince also includes a multitude of talents where it is easily transferable from one monster to another, with many hidden skills that players might be able to unlock once they max out a talent, provided if both parents’ talent points are spent on the same talent. Some of the unlockable talents would require maxing out different talents to unlock them.

From the various aspects such as monster sizes and unlockable hidden talents makes for the synthesis system to be simple for casual players, but at the same time carry enough depth for the more hardcore players. The game also features Sparkling, where monsters found in the wild that has a small icon on their character sheet would have a higher maximum stat point for one of its attributes.

Duke it Out

With a vast selection of customisable monsters, players can have from two to four monsters in the party depending on the size of said monsters. Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince features turn-based combat that feels fulfilling, especially after spending a ridiculous amount of time to shape up a monster for the role.

Stacking the traits and element attack boosting accessories and seeing your monster dish out massive amounts of AoE damage in one go just makes it so satisfying. Just like with most JRPGs, making use of buffs and debuffs are imperative to ensuring your victory, especially when faced with the bosses of the game.

Verdict

Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince is an enjoyable title for both casuals and hardcore pet collectors. Another pleasant surprise during our time with the game was hearing the voice-overs of the characters, as there is a certain charm in seeing Akira Toriyama’s characters speaking in British English.

During our playtesting of the game playing it on the original Nintendo Switch OLED, we also experienced multiple crashes which was relatively bothersome. Another caveat was that a lot of the stats or descriptions in the game does not paint the full picture, oftentimes needing to spend additional time to test out certain mechanics to understand them better.

Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince was reviewed on the Nitendo Switch OLED, game code provided by the Publishers.