Developer: Square Enix

Square Enix Publisher: Nintendo

Nintendo Release Date: 12/07/2019

12/07/2019 Price: £49.99/$59.99

£49.99/$59.99 Review code provided by Nintendo

New Start

Let me start out by saying, I have never played a Dragon Quest game before. I know, shocking. I always wanted to play the first Dragon Quest Builders but just never got around to it so obviously I couldn’t wait to jump into Dragon Quest Builders 2 because I knew it would be exactly my type of game.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a block-building RPG set in a huge expansive world full of monsters and goodies for players to explore. Oh, and if you hadn’t already guessed, DQB2 is the second in the series… Now that we have cleared that up, on to the review!

Master Builders

As stated above, Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a block-building RPG, that takes the best elements from both genres and creates something truly outstanding. Allowing players to create anything they can imagine whilst also levelling up and defeating the biggest and worst monsters.

The story begins with you coming face to face with the Children Of Hargon, the worlds biggest threat, before the ship you are on comes to a sinking end. You wake up washed up on an island known as the Isle Of Awakening with nothing but dead bodies surrounding you, that is until you find Malroth. A mysterious youngster who is going to help you along your journey. But, who are you?

You are an apprentice builder, which appears to be more of a big deal than you believe it to be, who will now be tasked with the mission of rebuilding, well, everything. Don’t worry, it’s fun! You do create your own character at the start of the game, and by create your character I mean choose a gender and hair colour. It would have been nice to have some hairstyle options at the very least but it’s not too much of a big deal.

Real RPG Or A Minecraft Clone?

Although the building is such a massive part of Dragon Quest Builders 2 – and rightly so – that’s not all there is to it. There is so much more to do and explore and it’s great. Level up your character, build new weapons and armour, defeat bosses, recruit new allies, complete various side-quests, find loot, do a spot of farming, I mean, the list really is endless.

As is the case with any RPG, levelling up your character is important. You can gain EXP by defeating enemies, completing quests and completing various buildings. But what happens when you level up? Well, not only does your health increase but you will also learn new crafting recipes which is very important to becoming that legendary builder!

As well as your character levelling up, you will also level up your village which provides various bonuses, but more on that later. The bottom line is this; this is not a Minecraft clone, not even close. This is an in-depth block building RPG that will provide you with hours of fun.

Builders Paradise

Building up your village and keeping your villagers happy is an extremely important aspect to Dragon Quest Builders 2. Villagers that join you will have various quests for you to complete, usually in the form of rebuilding their once beautiful homes, complete those quests and your villagers will love you and this will earn you gratitude points. Gratitude points are used to level up your village and levelling up your village will not only allow you to build more but it will also attract new villagers and will awaken that burning desire inside each villagers heart that was once lost. In other words, they will help you with various tasks; building, farming and even cooking. Oh yeah, everyone has to eat, including you.

One thing I really like about the Dragon Quest Builders 2 is, unlike most building games, it doesn’t just drop you into a massive world and say “go build something” but it also doesn’t hold your hand throughout the entirety of it. Everything you need to build, as such, the game will tell you exactly when and how to do that. You will even have blueprints to follow for many buildings which will map out of the floor what block goes where and what items need to go inside the building to make it what it needs to be… if that makes sense.

Do You Have The Power?

Let’s touch on the most lacking part of the game, the combat. Now, it’s not exactly bad… it’s just not got much going on. It’s pretty much just a case of hacking and slashing with the odd special ability. There’s no blocking, dodging, rolling, nothing of the sort. It’s kind of, boring? Which is a real shame as every other part of the game is spot on.

The boss battles are fun but it’s a little annoying that the only way to avoid enemy attacks is to run away from them or run behind that attacking enemy and your special ability takes a long time to charge up which means that 1. you will most likely get hit before you can unleash your attack and 2. you will do more damage by just smashing your standard attack button. That’s it, my only gripe is out of the way.

You Got A Friend In Me!

Yes, Dragon Quest Builders 2 has online and couch co-op! You and up to 3 friends can go adventuring and building to your heart’s content! Sadly, this feature isn’t available straight away, you have to unlock it by completing the first island, essentially. This is no quick feat either, this takes many, many hours so it can get a little annoying when you’re waiting to play with a friend.

It is worth the wait though, it’s incredibly fun and this is the perfect game for some co-op action! You are even able to create your friend’s creations by using the Magic Pencil.

It’s worth pointing out that you are only able to play with people on your friends list so if you don’t have any friends with the game you won’t be able to join a random players game.

Another cool feature is the use of the noticeboard, an area where players can go to show off their photography skills. Yes, there is a photo mode, which is really awesome too! Players can even enter competitions!

Looking Good, Builder!

It should be clear to see from the few pictures here that Dragon Quest Builders 2 looks great. There is just something soothing about bright colours and little chibi characters. If the characters look familiar to you too then that is because it is the same person who does art for the very well known Dragon Ball Z.

The soundtrack is a pleasure too, it’s catchy and simply brings joy. It’s extremely relaxing when doing a little bit of farming. But, when monsters attack you will know about it due to a drastic change in music!

Pro’s

The perfect blend of builder and RPG

Huge world to explore

Build pretty much anything

Co-op!

Pleasant gameplay

Will keep you entertained for many hours

Con’s

Slightly boring combat

Will take a long time to unlock co-op

Verdict Dragon Quest Builders 2’s exciting gameplay and vast world to explore will keep you building for hours on end. You will be a master builder in no time! 4/5

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