REVIEW: ‘Dragon Quest Smash/Grow’ Offers A Pleasant Enough Experience

Dragon Quest Smash/Grow, developed and published by Square Enix, sets players off on a roguelite adventure to save the world. Assembling a party of three, players will face hordes of monsters with an ever-changing set of blessings aiding them as they level up their characters and strive for victory.

As a roguelite, this game goes in a bit of a different direction. While most require the player to go through the same stretch of procedurally generated levels repeatedly, Dragon Quest Smash/Grow does not. Levels are bite-sized and generally conquerable in a single attempt, assuming your characters are leveled up. The roguelite elements come from the temporary abilities players gain during each level, only to start over fresh in subsequent missions, keeping the gameplay side of the experience changing from level to level.

The moment-to-moment gameplay here in Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is extremely simple. Guiding your onscreen character with a virtual directional stick, the character will auto-attack whenever not moving and an enemy is within range.

Damage charges up their coup de grace attack (ultimate), which can be unleashed with the push of a button. The three-character party can be swapped in between, allowing the player to potentially have a wide array of basic attacks at their disposal.

Players gain access to blessings throughout each level in Dragon Quest Smash/Grow.

Throughout each level, players will gain access to blessings that provide special bonuses for the remainder of that level. From spewing fireballs to healing, and floating orbs that encircle the player character as they deal damage, the options offer a solid variety. Each temporary ability even offers multiple upgrades for further options.

With these tools in hand, players guide their party through linear levels or grand melees, fighting off hordes of enemies to progress the story or acquire upgrade materials. The enemies come in several different styles, but there is a fair amount of palette swapping of several common enemy types seen in the game.

And that is the gameplay side of Dragon Quest Smash/Grow. It is easy to play, with some opportunity for skill expression as you maneuver your character around attacks and decide when to use your coup de grace, but otherwise, there isn’t much to it.

Characters in Dragon Quest Smash/Grow level through use.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy my time guiding my hero through the levels, just that the gameplay side, while fun, is pretty shallow. Most of the game’s push to keep going comes with the customization and leveling systems.

Characters in Dragon Quest Smash/Grow level through use, but gear and weapons must be leveled with resources. These can be earned through story missions or special training encounters, focused on farming these commodities.

Weapons and gear are gained through a gacha-style system that requires players to pay for “pulls” via in-game currency. The game feels fairly generous with the amounts that it gives, and a solid drop rate for max-level gear, as well as early guarantees, so you get your first one at 50 attempts if you used premium currency to make your pulls, so it doesn’t feel painful to reach.

And until you do manage to get top-level gear, lower rarity equipment does the job for much of the game; you may just have to grind a few extra levels if you aren’t the best at steering clear of damage or picking blessings.

Players can harness the powers of memories to increase stats in Dragon Quest Smash/Grow.

An important element of the gacha that I can’t comment on is the cost of buying things with money. The build I got to play ahead of launch didn’t have the shop up, so I can’t say what players will have to pay if they want to quicken their time in the game.

Along with equipment, players can harness the powers of memories to increase their character’s stats further. These item drops can be upgraded over time and provide another collectible to chase. As characters gain levels, they can equip more/better memories, increasing the upgrade’s value.

The final area where players can customize their characters is with their vocations. Vocations is a job system that allows players to change their characters’ focus. While all weapons are equippable by all characters, properly pairing a weapon with a character of the preferred class yields extra benefits.

Characters do not carry levels between classes in Dragon Quest Smash/Grow.

The only catch to this system is that characters do not carry their levels between classes. Meaning if you change your level 15 fighter into a mage, they will be back at level 1 in that vocation. Many missions can be accomplished with two properly leveled characters, so you can bring the third along to help them level up faster, but they won’t be of any use. As this is the only speedy way to get a character leveled, it’s obviously a good idea only to swap one at a time, unless you want to do the early mission over again.

All of the story progression and upgrade grinding are restricted by a stamina bar. The game provides plenty of stamina when you first start, and you can refill it in-game, but eventually it will wear out. Once you are operating only on what regenerates naturally, you can expect to get 10-15 missions/encounters before it runs dry. Given the limited nature of the gameplay, I think even those who enjoy the game will probably find that a satisfying amount to play before logging off to let the energy fill again.

The story here is nothing special. It provides enough of an excuse for the player to strike off on their adventure, but it isn’t anything overly memorable. Some of the dialogue is fun, while a couple of characters teeter on annoying as they lean into their personality traits a little too hard at times.

Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is a simple, straightforward action game that provides some fun. With lots of customization options, there is a fair amount to explore, as long as you don’t mind working with the usual free-to-play trappings of stamina bars and random unlocks.

Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is available now on iOS and Android.