When Dragon Quest Builders made its debut over a year back on PlayStation consoles, the game put a smile on the faces of fans of the franchise. It was the series’ answer to a world that had fallen in love with Minecraft and the like, and Square Enix had done a brilliant job of injecting their franchise’s charm and unique personality into the title. Now, Dragon Quest Builders is available for Nintendo Switch, and it’s hard to deny that it looks right at home on the popular platform.
Beautiful graphics stand out like many of the titles on the Switch; the colours really do look better than they ever have done on any console before. Bright and inviting, the game instantly drives those behind the pad to envelop themselves in the Dragon Quest world completely. The characters are strangely relatable and the storyline that’s woven throughout allows Builders to stand out more than other games in the same lane. This isn’t just a Minecraft clone; it’s its own entity entirely.
If you’re looking for something you’ll be able to put down easily, then perhaps stay away! Before too long, the addictive gameplay will see you sink many hours into it and you’ll be wondering exactly how 5pm turned into 11pm. The fruits of your labour is something you see grow on screen as you plug away, and the ability to put your blueprints onto the ground and build right on top of them allows for a true sense of accomplishment, which is something often sorely missing from many other games.
Specific challenges will see a player engage with an entire environment before moving on. You’ll want to discover absolutely everything that’s available and at hand, and the gorgeous surroundings of Alefgard only entice you to jump in head-first. You’ll want to keep weapons in your inventory however, as there are a number of enemies, both in the day and at night, that will try to take you down. Combat is relatively simple to wrap your head around, and it doesn’t take very long at all to master the techniques of taking out those who oppose you, before going on your merry way.
With Dragon Quest Builders, I’m not afraid to say we get the best building adventure game released to-date. Minecraft may have tried to go down the story route with its Telltale Games Story Mode releases, but they’re overshadowed immensely by this release.
Dragon Quest Builders is out now for Nintendo Switch.
Tagged in Nintendo