Dragon Quest + Dynasty Warriors + Tower Defense = A Great Game
I skipped over this game at first because I thought I had played enough musou side games. But after seeing Jason's positive attitude about it during Extra Life made me decide to check it out. Turns out adding in some light tower defense elements adds some much needed variety in a series that has gotten boring for many people. DQH follows the trend of gathering a bunch of heroes across many different games to battle evil. The basic setup is that this world was full of nice monsters till one day some evildoer decided to unleash a wave of darkness. That darkness turns all the monsters evil and it is up to two knights named Lucius and Aurora who must go on a journey to cure them. Along the way the other heroes appear from other dimensions that doesn't quite get explained till near the end of the game.
As you might be able to infer by the developer this is indeed a Dynasty Warriors like game and the gameplay is as you would expect if you've played any of them. Light and heavy attacks may be what you'll be pressing to pull off basic combos but it gets slightly more complicated that than. Each character has their own set of unique skills like a ice tornado or a skull smasher attack that will lower the defense of the enemy. This game does a good job of mixing in attacks that call back to DQ skills while still making them effective in a action based format. They all (other than the two main heroes) have a unique set of skills and a different basic move set. Plus instead of just controlling one character you'll have access to 4 at a time as well. Being able to move to other characters to better exploit enemies weaknesses or if you are just better at using that character gives the player new ways to deal with a ton of enemies.
This may mainly still be a action based game but the biggest twist is that this has tower defense elements as well. After defeating monsters the player may earn a monster medal that can be used to summon them to protect a area. So for the levels that have you protecting something valuable it will be vital to place ally monsters in zones that block the endless train of monsters. Taking down magical portals that spawn said endless waves will be required to succeed. So it adds even more variety to what could have just been a really simple action game that emulated their previous games.
The biggest thing that surprised me was that I kinda have some nostalgia for Dragon Quest/Warrior. I've only played the first two games in this franchise but once the music started I was hooked. Visually it doesn't blow anything out of the water but it has a nice animated visual style. Difficulty wise it wasn't much of a challenge although the post game quests are a lot tougher than the rest. On the negative side of things each area you fight in are mostly really small compared to similar action games. It does break that mold later on but for most of the game you'll be fighting in narrow corridors or one big room connected to other little rooms. Blocking seems completely useless in this game most of the time thanks to the fact you have to stand still to use it so I ended up dodging a bunch instead. The only other negative point is that the story is about as generic as you could get. Light vs Dark and only the power of friendship can win the day will be the story beats you'll see if you decide to play this game.
In conclusion this is really good musou game. The way it managed to mix in elements of the Dragon Quest franchise while adding in new elements to a well worn format. I don't know if it has enough hooks to keep me coming back but I've already put 25 hours into it which is more than enough. If I had to recommend Dynasty Warriors spin off game to someone this would now be high on my list. Which is thanks to additional elements like the tower defense levels. Unless you hate the warriors series this is a game worth playing.
