After the brilliant Minecraft, Dragon Quest Builders 2 has given me a new addiction to worry about. Developed by Omega Force and Square Enix, Builders 2 is a spin off from the popular Dragon Quest series and sequel to the original Dragon Quest builders.
You begin held captive by monsters on their ship and are taught some basic mechanics. These monsters follow a cult called “Children of Hargon” who do not take too kindly to any acts of building or creation, which is unfortunate…because you’re an apprentice builder.
After a few brief quests to teach you the basics of the game, the boat begins to fall apart. You then wash up on a beach of a strange island and discover an amnesiac mysterious fellow named Malroth who will sound familiar to fans of Dragon Quest 2.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is an open world sandbox, building, role playing game. If that sounds like more than any game could juggle effectively normally I’d agree with you, but Dragon Quest isn’t normal: it’s exceptional.
The world of Builders 2 looks blocky, similar to Minecraft or a Lego game, but it features a little more detail. The blocky world and retro sound effects, combined with classic Dragon Quest music, fits well with the original 8bit NES Dragon Quest era the game is set in. It's a nice call back for fans of the original games, but if you're not familiar with this then it feels retro and charming.
The characters will look familiar to fans of anime due to the excellent work of Akira Toriyama known for Dragon Ball and previous Dragon Quest games. The game also allows you to shift into first person perspective, which helps you get a better look at your creations and show them from different perspectives.
After getting more acquainted with your fellow shipwrecked survivors, Malroth and Lulu, you learn more about building, collecting resources and combat. You then move on to one of several islands that have different resources and specific objectives to teach you more advanced building techniques.
You also meet other people surviving on the islands who are wary of builders due to them being outlawed by the Children of Hargon. Your amazing buildings improve their lives, so they slowly join you.
The game features a day and night cycle, which you will need to keep an eye on, especially if you have ventured far from home. At night monsters become tougher and exploration more of a challenge. However, you can find fast travel points called Navi-Globes and you can also glide around the world very similarly to Breathe of the Wild.
With exploration you really begin to understand the scope of this huge open world. You can build vehicles to help you navigate and explore further afield. The role playing and quests fuel exploration which leads you to more materials to build, which then furthers the plot leading to more exploring and building. And it’s a really satisfying looping system that works well and feels rewarding.
However, the combat is pretty weak. It's slow, repetitive and boring with you just tapping the slash button while your pal Malroth does the real fighting. You are unable to block, dodge or do anything slightly tactical and your charge up attack is pants.
Monsters sometimes band together to attack your settlement and all your villagers come out to find and defend it. This is fun to watch and take part in while you try to protect the people, minimising damage as best you can given your limited fighting skills. Sometimes a massive boss with waves of monsters comes calling, and you're forced to prepare plenty of food and healing items for the fight ahead and equip your townspeople with the best weapons. Your buildings can even be restored if destroyed by the townspeople after battle.
Builders 2 takes place during Dragon Quest 2, but don’t worry if you’re not too familiar with the lore as all the important bits are explained to you. The story contains some funny dialogue. Maroth helps you fight and collect resources. Sometimes he attempts to build which makes him feel fleshed out, with more character.
Builders 2 can feel very slow paced with the tutorial nature of the game and the constant stopping to teach you new items or abilities. The loading times are shockingly long - longer than any I’ve experienced before on my switch.
It also feels quite demanding on the switch’s hardware with the fans running at full constantly, with obvious frame drops and stuttering performance. The camera can present awkward angles: being in the wrong place or pulling too close to the player to see what I’m doing.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 does feature multiplayer. This is really fun as one of you can focus on one aspect of your town and the other player can gather resources. You can play multiplayer online or local wirelessly, but not on one switch via split screen. While disappointing, this isn’t a deal breaker. In addition you can also only play together on the isle of awakening which is a shame.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 feels like a cross between Animal Crossing, Minecraft and Breath of the Wild but is unique.
With its relaxed pace and overall good plot and satisfying gameplay, it’s an enjoyable game and solid RPG that improves upon its predecessor like a sequel should. The dialogue is funny and charming, the world is interesting and fun to explore.
A playable demo was released on the eShop if you want to try the game first.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is out now on Switch and is £49.99 on the Nintendo eShop
