Dragon Quest Builders – A classic returns in a refreshing way

Dragon Quest Builders will be released for PC on February 13, 2024. You can check details here.

Dragon Quest Builders: Story and Gameplay

“Come! Take your rightful place at my side! Do it, and I will grant you dominion over half this world!

…Don't you want half the world? Wouldn't you reconsider? It is an offer that few would refuse…”

–Dragonlord.

Dragon Quest Builders expands on the original story Dragon Quest, and presents you with an interesting proposition: what would have happened if the hero had accepted the Dragonlord's deal?

Nothing good, apparently.

Long after these events, you wake up in a tomb. After losing your memories, Rubiss, the “spirit of the world” guides you and explains – or at least tries to, since you don't seem to care much –, the current state of the world, the condition of its people, and your importance in both of their futures.

Alefgard – the world – has fallen into darkness, its people have lost the ability to build things, villages have been destroyed by monsters, who take advantage of the darkness to roam, and people find themselves divided by the same circumstances, they only have to survive. Now, as the only person with the power to build things, it is your mission to return both peace and these abilities to the world. Although there is a small detail that you should never forget: you are not a hero.

As an introduction to the game and its mechanics, you must escape from your grave. This serves as a tutorial, and focuses on explaining basic controls, such as walking and jumping, interacting with objects, building tools, among others. When you leave your tomb, you will find yourself on a plain called Cantlin, and the remains of what used to be the town there, and this will introduce you to new objectives, and some more complex mechanics, starting with a banner, which It will be your tool to claim territory.

Dragon Quest Builders It gives you free rein after this, allowing you to become a little more familiar with the controls and the world. Of course you still have quests and things to discover, so after a little exploration, let's get back on track and visit that dilapidated town. After planting the flag, the area lights up, and you are introduced to new mechanics, such as developing your base, building rooms, and having people come to live in this new safe space.

Dragon Quest Builders presents you with a sandbox practically without limitsand complementary mechanics that will allow you to do more with your buildings, and interact more complexly with the world, while retaining the aspects of an action RPG, so prepare your weapons to eliminate those dangerous monsters.

Dragon Quest Builders is anchored very strongly to the construction aspect, since in addition to being the main mechanic with which you will expand and explore the world, it will also It will be the basis of combat, since your character does not have a level that you can raise, and the only way to become stronger and more resistant is through better weapons and armor, both “craftable”.

What yes you can level up your base, through various techniques including interior design, room size, among others. This mechanic is important, and will allow you to expand your territory and the number of people inhabiting it.

Returning to the topic of the quests, these are displayed as an exclamation point (!) over the npc, and will give you a wide variety of tasks, these quests are essential to progress the story, and will also introduce you to new mechanics, such as blueprints, that you can place in the world to guide you and build entire rooms. Dragon Quest Builders It is a space full of possibilities.

It should be noted that the video game is an experience that runs smoothly, so you will enjoy it on a mechanical level.

About Dragon Quest Builders; What about the artistic section of the game?

The game's visuals are classics of the franchise Dragon Quest. It has the unmistakable style of Akira Toriyama bringing the landscapes to life in a smooth way, despite being a game that is quite square in nature.

On the other hand, The textures are well designed, blend excellently, and for the most part don't feel “repeated.” between blocks of the same type.

For their part, the characters are also very varied, with very specific details in each one, flirtatious and even fun designs. This complements the type of writing they have, since Their personalities are just as varied and comical, making it difficult to confuse them.

We can expect the same from the monsters, since they have not lost their touch. The classic variety of enemies in Dragon Quest It is the most iconic in the franchise, and its designs are preserved intact, with its due “distortion” introduced by the change of medium since its creation. However, they are still the same adorable, round creatures we know and love. Never change, my dear Slime.

As for the music and ambient sounds, perhaps there is not much to say. We have the traditional Dragon Quest music: heroic, adventurous and dynamic, with the quality that only such a well-established franchise –with due exceptions in the industry– can provide.

The musical themes vary on multiple occasions, between menus, safe areas, “open field” areas or areas where exploration and collection are what is important, as well as different themes for day and night, among others. They all have excellent composition, which perfectly highlights what they are trying to set. Good audio management decisions always make themselves felt when they don't give you the urge to turn off the music, so this was a good job.

The rest of the sounds fall into the same range, with excellent choices that do not confuse between actions, whether they are yours or any other NPC, excellent setting, and they somehow share that “roundness” of the visuals (despite so many blocks).

So yeah, great service!

The highlight of Dragon Quest Builders

It's really entertaining how Dragon Quest Builders manages to mix elements of RPG and Sandbox. Thanks to this, it goes beyond just being construction, there is more: there are the missions and the story – which is not loaded with visual artifacts that could encourage it. The narrative is quite simple and agile –as for the dialogues–, and the same can be mentioned about the controls.

It is an unusual delivery that considers different types of players – from those who have all the time available to those who manage to organize a little to enjoy it during the delivery; If you like to explore and build, the variety of mechanics combined with the story will definitely anchor you to the title and won't let you get bored.

Is there anything wrong with Dragon Quest Builders?

Perhaps the attitude of the protagonist – his indifference – begins by making the adventure funny, however, with the passage of time – some frames – it will begin to be exhausting and somewhat unpleasant, It will make the dialog boxes heavy and could even encourage us to skip through them – which is not the best thing in the middle of the tutorial.

On the other hand, although the story is well established and the game is a progressive delivery, the fact that it is an RPG should give more support to exploration, which at times feels stagnant, of course, this can affect the storytelling.

We recommend you: Review: Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince – Monsters with personality

Should you get your degree? Dragon Quest Builders for PC?

Dragon Quest Builders It reminds us that sandboxes are still alive, and that it is not necessary to modify them to have something to do in them. Preserving the RPG touch in a purer expression of the concept gives life to its world and expands on the capabilities that being able to shape the landscape to your liking already provides. Definitely, a versatile and fun delivery. If you didn't have a chance to play it before, now is the best moment.

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We played Dragon Quest Builders on PC with a code provided by a Square Enix representative in our region.

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