Dragonkin: The Banished Preview
If you’ve played games for more than a minute, you know that genres come and go in popularity. One day Dark Souls is a niche game, the next it is the template that every developer follows. In the early 2000s, isometric ARPG/hack and slash games were all the rage, all trying to pick up and run with Diablo II’s success. The appeal of the genre faded a bit over time but there have been standouts, too. Diablo has kept the flame alive with varying degrees of success, and Path of Exile and its new sequel are wildly popular. All this to say that Dragonkin: The Banished comes at a pretty good time. There’s space for it to make an impression. Dragonkin: The Banished is poised to enter Early Access, with a solid amount of content and a strong road map for the future.
Have We Seen this Movie?
Playing Dragonkin: The Banished, it’s impossible not to spot the influences. It’s a fantasy ARPG, so the aforementioned games loom large. The pace and mechanics of combat and travel through the landscape are very familiar. Developer Eko Software even covered a bit of the same territory in their 2019 game, Warhammer: Chaosbane. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Familiar mechanics mean a shorter learning curve and a focus on what’s innovative and new.
What’s definitely not innovative and new is Dragonkin: The Banished’s narrative. It comes down to dragons=bad, you=good. And of course, the dragons have an army of acolytes and monsters, the Dragonkin, for you to destroy on your way to the dragons. Judging by the amount of narrated exposition in the game’s prologue, there’s a lot more to the story. Unfortunately, a lot of it sounds like rehashed narrative beats from decades of fantasy fiction and games. Again, many excellent games have had somewhat forgettable stories, so it isn’t a dealbreaker, but the dialogue isn’t helped by some NPC voice acting that harkens back to the days before seasoned pros got involved.
On the Battlefield
If Dragonkin: The Banished loses some good impression points for its story and setting, it’s more than balanced out by moment-to-moment combat. Sure, casting powerful spells and wielding crazy strong weapons are familiar pleasures, but pleasures they remain. Combat is fast and furious and feels good. Each of the classes has some sort of up-close ability or weapon and at least one AOE move. There is a lot of emphasis on elemental weapons and spells, because different regions and enemies are focused on them.
As it enters Early Access, players can choose from three classes: Knight, Oracle, or Barbarian, with more to come as previewed in the game’s tutorial prologue. Unfortunately, there is no character creator, but armor does change the hero’s appearance as new gear is slotted in. At least as it stands now, all three classes feel equally viable. It just comes down to if you want to bash enemies, slice and dice them, or hit them with a spell.
A little like Path of Exile, Dragonkin: The Banished puts a lot of focus on its character upgrade system. First, there’s the Ancestral Grid, a puzzle-like mechanism for adding new spells and abilities. Players loot fragments of the grid from enemies and chests and slot them into the Grid, eventually unlocking new combat skills. There are Attributes — typical RPG stats like strength, health, and stamina — to upgrade. Each character has a Wyrmling companion with its own set of powers. Add to all that weapon and armor upgrades and variants, and it’s a lot. But a lot in the way that guarantees variety in building out a character.
It Looks Unreal for a Reason
Dragonkin: The Banished shares the same visual fantasy tropes of other games in the genre, from monster design to environmental elements. However, it looks very good and in particular, the upgradable home city is impressively large and full of life and detail, and the lighting design is excellent. After spending hours with Diablo IV and Path of Exile 2, the absence of a dodge or roll is sorely missed. In general, though, the action is fluid, with fighting large swarms of enemies the norm. As it should, the level of challenge constantly varies.
Spell effects and some of the flashier combat abilities look and feel weighty and impressive. The game’s mini-map and UI will be pretty familiar to fans of the genre. No crazy or bad decisions, things work just like you’d expect. Performance-wise, it isn’t entirely dialed in and there are lots of little things to fix, like mismatched captions and voiceovers. But that’s what Early Access is for, right?
Bottom line, games like Dragonkin: The Banished have one primary task. Players want to experience an interesting world, impactful and engaging combat, and that rewarding dopamine drip that keeps them moving, fighting, and exploring. As it enters Early Access, Dragonkin: The Banished has that core pretty well dialed in. New classes and campaign variety will help sustain it along with the already-deep upgrade system. I look forward to checking in with Dragonkin: The Banished as it gets closer to its final release.
Thank you for keeping it locked on COGconnected.
