Dragon’s Crown
In the build-up to release, Dragon’s Crown had a staggering weight on its shoulders. Not only did it represent Vanillaware’s most expensive project to date — a reported ¥100 million, or approximately $1 million — but the beat-em-up title has been lingering in development for thirteen years, a time which forced Ignition Entertainment to pass on the developing duties to Atlus. After this lengthy incubation period, Dragon’s Crown launched exclusively for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, and though it received generally favourable reviews, it perhaps deserved a little more praise for reintroducing a very dormant genre.
Like all categories in gaming, the 2D beat-em-up has experienced its fair share of peaks and troughs; although with the mass-market push towards 3D adventure games of late, the genre’s legacy has filtered into hack and slash properties such as God of War and the aforementioned Devil May Cry. Nevertheless, Dragon’s Crown harnesses the old school sensibilities found in games such as Guardian Heroes and Odin Sphere — which, incidentally, was also developed by Vanillaware — to deliver a truly modern, hyper-stylised, beat-em-up title.
Often when two genres are merged, the results can be somewhat lacklustre. But Dragon’s Crown skates past that pitfall stylishly, implementing some highly addicting character progression choices alongside a randomised, Diablo-esque loot system. For the game, your side-scrolling begins in the realm of Hydeland, wherein you must take up arms as one of the game’s six classes — namely The Dwarf, Elf, Sorceress, Fighter, Wizard and Amazon — to reclaim the titular Dragon’s Crown and restore the calm.
Truthfully, the narrative through line feels a little generic, and the fact that there are only eight dungeons to fully explore is a little disappointing, particularly when visiting the locales for the second, third and fifteenth play-through. Having said that, the combat system in Dragon’s Crown is complex and rewarding. It’s so grounded in conventions that it will feel intuitive to any RPG fan from the get-go. And though the game drew criticism for its female character models — with the Sorceress drawing particular attention — Dragon’s Crown is an eye-catching title that offers style, substance and replayability in spades.
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