There's a world somewhere on an alternate timeline where Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is simply the latest part of one of the biggest monster collector/battlers in its genre. The earliest iteration of the franchise was full of charm and surprisingly exciting gameplay systems that arguably rivaled Pokémon at the time; unfortunately, a much less smooth timeline featuring scattered releases quickly made the spin-off series feel like it would be relegated to a bunch of "what-if" and "forgotten gems" lists.
That's what makes Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince such an important release. It's on a system that's perfect for the genre - offering some open-world potential that Pokémon recently embraced, for instance - and the slew of monster collectors available on the market to varying levels of success proves there's room for more than one series in that space. After a recent hands-on with the RPG, it's obvious that The Dark Prince is positively brimming with potential - and if it makes good on it, it could finally establish Dragon Quest Monsters as a fruitful, more frequent spin-off from the popular DQ IP.
A Nice, Necessary Tie-In To Dragon Quest Lore
Something that immediately benefits Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is the way it connects with the larger universe of the franchise. Psaro, the main character, is a younger version of a popular villain, and the exploration of this backstory will be inevitably pretty appealing to those who closely follow the series. While the hands-on session didn't shed much light on the narrative, Psaro has been cursed with being unable to harm monsters directly - instead, he needs to employ the services of other monsters to do that for him.
What unfolds appears to be a fairly routine RPG storyline, at least in the early areas. Our exploration of the in-game world was limited to an area made out of candy, and that tonal complexity - a would-be young demon lord essentially exploring what feels like a children's board game - was pretty interesting rather than dissonant. If The Dark Prince can strike the right balance between its journey and its whimsical look into Dragon Quest lore and monsters, it will establish a place for itself among some of the great spin-offs it will be following.
Familiar Gameplay With An Emphasis On Strategic Thought
Combat in Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is extremely familiar. It's mostly the standard tactical combat those familiar with the Dragon Quest series will be pleased to see return - players input commands to their creatures (instead of human party ), or switch them out for others, or otherwise use items on each of the monsters' turn actions. Then the battle round runs its course and it's back to more turn-based action. While it's not necessarily the most innovative it could be, it is refined. Combat felt immediately satisfying and challenging when picking the game up, and hands-on gameplay proved that small mistakes could be punishing in more difficult content.
Capturing monsters is also familiar, involving whittling down their HP to improve the chance they'll the team. There will also be monster breeding, an arena-style mode against other characters who use monsters as their minions, and more. While we were really only able to explore, battle, fight a boss, and then attempt to capture some monsters during our Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince hands-on, those systems felt intuitive and it was clear there would be more to explore as the game opens up more broadly.
The Dark Prince Has Serious Potential
If there's one recurring theme from the hands-on session, it's this: Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince has the right systems, attitude, and gameplay loop to seriously make an impact on its genre. The potential is there in every setting, whether it be the changing seasons of each environment or the fun dialogue that colors interactions between Psaro and his companions. The actual monsters in Dragon Quest have long been a bright spot of the RPG series, so any time it gets the chance to focus on them some more, it's brimming with creative interest. While there's a lot of content left to be seen, what we've played so far indicates Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince should absolutely be on your radar heading into its release window.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince releases on December 1, 2023 for Nintendo Switch. Screen Rant attended a private preview session for the purposes of this article.
