Dragon's Crown

Within the gaming industry, it is often the overarching goal of every studio to push the medium forward, strive to produce new and exciting gaming formats and push the hardware on offer to its absolute limit. However, there are some developers out there who wear their rose-tinted glasses as if they were prescription specs and believe that the old age of gaming still has a place in the modern scene. Dragon Crown would be one of these titles who aimed to show the prestige that retro gaming formats still carry, taking inspiration from a few classic arcade titles to create something made by retro gamers for the newest generation.

This game takes inspiration from classic titles such as Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe and Shinobi, taking the side-scrolling beat-em-up format that was so popular in the eighties and polishing it up to blend with the stunning games on offer at time of release.

One For Everybody

You would think that this approach of creating a retro-inspired game would be something that would only appeal to the older generation of gamer out there. However, the developers avoid this pitfall through very clever and multi-faceted design to create a game that is accessible to all. The game still stays true to the older arcade classics but has much more on offer than any of those titles could boast.

The first thing worth noting is the intricate class system that lets you play as six very diverse sets of characters each with their own abilities, cool animations and skill trees. Not only does this offer the player the ability to choose the playstyle that is right for them but it also encourages several playthroughs of the game which is more than can be said for the games that this title is based on.

You’ll also encounter a progression system which rewards you with XP and opens up options on the aforementioned skill tree and a loot system that makes every encounter addictive and exciting throughout your playthrough.

Retro Feel, Refined Look

While the gameplay stays very true to the inspiration for this title, the aesthetic doesn’t aim to replicate its predecessors. Instead, you are treated to a series of unique and interesting areas that have a wonderful hand-drawn style with stunning shading effects. Each area really blends into the magical world that the title is trying to create and thanks to the excellent art direction, you feel right at home casting spells or swinging a mace in this game.

Dragon Crown also aims to change the quality of narrative on offer within this game format by offering much more of a structured storyline, interesting characters, a hub world and as many twists and turns as they can manage.

However, this isn’t quite as successful as other changes due to the story feeling rather poorly paced and forced in areas. The beauty of these games come from their gameplay being the champion and all the other aspects taking a back seat. So, for this reason, the story can feel a little bit distracting and may alienate the older generation of gamer coming to this game.

Don’t Call It a Comeback

Dragon crown is the return of a sleeping giant within the gaming world and it’s came back with a bang. This game delivers the same familiar style of it’s predecessors but gives all the necessary areas a facelift in order to compete with the stunning modern games that it would have to fight for attention. The story can be a little off putting at times and pacing is a real issue to this game.

Pros

• Stunning sound and visuals
• Combat is fun and familiar
• RPG elements are a really nice touch
• A variety of characters to use

Cons

• Pacing is quite poor
• The story can seem shoehorned in at times.