Rougelike RPGs are making a comeback in various ways. From games like Legend of Grimrock and Heroes of the Monkey Tavern that are inspired by classics like Eye of the Beholder, to newer takes on the genre like Etrian Odyssey, there is always something new. I truly enjoy playing these games, but I always want to see something new or done in a new way by them and I may have found a game that does just that.
DragonFangZ – The Rose & Dungeon of Time is a Rougelike RPG with a heavy JRPG and anime influence and tells the story of a half dragon girl and her fair companion. They must travel through dungeons to find their way home, defeating enemies and levelling up along the way. The gameplay is rather interesting since, in addition to taking place on grid based levels from a top down perspective, the game manages to evoke the feelings of a first person dungeon crawler as well.
You can move in multiple directions and attack from an angle which is a nice touch, but what makes the game stand out is the fang system. You can equip different fangs dropped by enemies and these will have different impacts on your character and abilities. There is a neat collection aspect here and this offers incentive to replay and retry consistently, in order to try more combinations. In that, the game takes influence from some modern JRPGs that have similar mechanics, but applying this idea to a rougelike works wonderfully.
The detailed item system is another standout, as while you will get new items and weapons, you wont know what kind of weapon it is until you identify them. You might find a great upgrade or a lower quality weapon and it is rather random. You will also find tools to identify items faster and magic tomes as well, which offers some more familiarity.
The game is not all perfect though, as the controls are rather slippery at times, leading to attacking in the wrong direction occasionally. I also noticed a few bugs here and there when traversing areas that I should not have been able to pass but did, and vice versa.
However, these flaws do not get in the way of the game. The dragon timer gives you an incentive to get through the levels quickly, since you will start to automatically take damage as soon as it expires. However, the game also gives incentive to explore the dungeons at the same time, which ends up making you want to replay the levels over and over, even if they are randomly generated.
In conclusion, DragonFangZ – The Rose & Dungeon of Time is an imperfect but still excellent rougelike RPG. It tries new ideas and offers great innovations on the genre, which is very welcome. If you have a Switch and want a rougelike to play, then DragonFangZ – The Rose & Dungeon of Time is the game for you!
Disclaimer: A review code was provided