Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince Review – Metal Slime I Choose You!

In a way, a Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince review is a challenge. The game marks not just the return, but the anniversary of a beloved Dragon Quest spin-off series, one that shares a lot of DNA with Pokemon and Shin Megami Tensei. You don't stick around that long without sticking to a formula that works.

Overall, the charm and presentation of the series still shine in this entry. So much so that it hides some disjointed narrative beats and underwhelming story elements.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince – From Monstrous Beginnings

In Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, you play as Psaro, the half-human son of the demon king Randolfo. After a devastating monster attack destroys his home village and kills his mother, Psaro swears vengeance against his father.

The twist is that Randolfo has put a powerful curse on Psaro; a curse that prevents him from fighting monsters of any kind. Thankfully, there is a loophole. Psaro becomes a monster wrangler. If he can't fight his father's enemies, his team of monsters will do it instead.

In essence, the setup for Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is a blend of the series' straightforward fantasy trappings and monster battling core gameplay. You travel to different locations in the demon world, fight and recruit monsters, gain allies, and take down bosses to grow your reputation.

These areas are broken up into several hubs. Each hub is a dedicated biome (ice world, lava world, desert world, candy world, etc.) containing different kinds of monsters and hidden collectibles.  Those monsters have different types, abilities, and unique elemental resistances. Those abilities can be complemented with equippable accessories and stat-boosting items.

There are even two different colosseums that host challenging monster fighting tournaments as well as roaming legendary creatures to tame if you have the skills.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince – Building Better Beasts

It is a structure all too familiar to fans of Nintendo's monster-battling series, but Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince manages to stand out thanks to some clever design choices. First, you control up to two teams of four monsters. Those four monsters are all on the battlefield at the same time. Better still, these monsters can be swapped at any point during a battle. Lose your healer? Send in the backup. Boss hitting too hard? Take the support tank off the bench.

Certain battles feel more tactical as well. In addition to managing four different roles in your team, certain battles prevent you from giving direct orders to your monsters. In these fights, you can only give them broad tactics like “support your allies” or “attack without using magic” and the AI does the rest. Thankfully, the monster AI is decent during these battles.

But the biggest draw for Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is monster synthesis. Similar to Persona's fusion mechanic, monster synthesis lets you combine two monsters to create a new one. Not only can this lead to a stronger monster, but you can also choose what abilities the monster inherits from its “parents.”

It is here you can create some impressive monster teams. A giant demon with insane defense that auto-heals every turn. A golem that draws enemy attacks. A dullahan packed with insta-kill spells. A team made entirely of slimes. If you have the time and know-how, it's possible.

By comparison, level design is a bit underwhelming. While there is a lot of visual personality in each world, the different layers of the ice world slowly reveal an abandoned industrial yard for example, there is very little in terms of exploration. The overworld changes thanks to a shifting season system (water freezes in winter, giant floating flowers bloom in spring, etc.), but these mostly lead to small niches full of random healing items or interchangeable monsters.

The same can be said of the main story's dungeons. While the levels themselves are well-made multilayered puzzle boxes, there's very little reward in exploration.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince – Ravenous Ravings

While the core gameplay of Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is fun, it does highlight parts that feel shallow or underdeveloped.

Like most Dragon Quest titles, the second half of the game can turn into a chore of level grinding. And given that certain prized monsters can be the result of three or four rounds of synthesis, that grind compounds considerably.

In addition, despite the game giving you the means to make some disastrous monsters, there is not much in terms of endgame content. Once you've finished the main story, you gain access to one small new area, and a bunch of super boss fights clumped together. It just felt like an afterthought compared to the escalation of the main story.

As for the main story, it does have some pacing issues and character problems. While Psaro does gain some human allies throughout the story, they lack any real charm and personality. They feel more like props to move the plot along.

In addition, the game's attempts at stakes or drama are perfunctory. An example that comes to mind is a story turn at the midpoint involving a dangerous macguffin. You are given dialogue options on whether to use it or not. No matter what you pick, Psaro uses it. Troubles arise. Psaro is accosted. An unearned character arc happens.

Not helping here is that Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is treated as a prequel/ parallel story to Dragon Quest IV. Not only does this run into an inherent problem of predetermination with prequel stories, but the way these storylines overlap is almost nonexistent. Aside from one cutscene and an appearance by the Dragon Quest IV cast near the end, the whole game could have been a standalone story.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince | Final Thoughts

If you are a fan of his side series, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince does have more of what you expect.

Akira Toriyama's legendary creature designs are still a perfect blend of adorable and monstrous. The core gameplay is a perfect middle ground between Pokemon's accessibility and Shin Megami Tensei's ruthless brutality. And you'll certainly get your money's worth in terms of content.

But if you aren't familiar with the main series, the story turns and tissue-thin characters may leave you underwhelmed.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince was reviewed on Nintendo Switch with a code provided by Square Enix over the course of 65 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of review.