Dragon Quest possesses so much history that any new game carries a degree of raised expectation. Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince delivers many of the conventions I’ve come to expect from the series: the vibrant opening song, the charismatic Slime, and the emotional storytelling I already associate with the franchise. But this game goes beyond those well-treaded territories, offering an intelligent and elegant yet simple approach to combat and dungeon design that makes it a solid spin-off experience.
In The Dark Prince, you play as Psaro, a half-human, half-monster boy who becomes a powerful monster wrangler because of a curse that makes fighting them with his own hands impossible. Wrangling is all about capturing monsters and controlling them during turn-based battles. As I progressed throughout the boy’s journey, I found stronger creatures to add to my roster. The game also has an online mode that lets you fight other players, which is a good way to test different group compositions. In my case, it took so long to find a match that my time was better spent adventuring solo.
