Dragon Sinker: Descendants of Legend Review

Dragon Sinker: Descendants of Legend tells the story of Abram and Bernard as they set out in search of the legendary weapons that will help them defeat the evil dragon Wyrmvarg and free the world of his evil reign.

Dragon Sinker: Descendants of Legend is a 16bit RPG akin to classic Dragon Quest/Warrior and Final Fantasy games from the NES and Super NES era. The game is filled with random encounters; you’ll also have to visit towns to purchase stronger equipment, expandable items and rest at the local inn to restore any lost health.

The game lets players recruit additional party members (up to 12) and they can switch in between teams during battle; while it’s an interesting and fun mechanic that can prove very useful in the long run, it doesn’t change anything when you start the game with only 2 weak characters. Interestingly, they’ve included jobs for your characters which gives players a bit of freedom on how to tailor a party that best suits them.

The game is poorly balanced right off the bat. Leaving the initial town, you can randomly run into encounters with insanely overpowered enemies which can take your party out in 2-3 turns while you’re barely able to make a dent in their health. This will cause some frustration as spending your time running away from battles means no XP and Gold so your party members can’t level up and you can’t afford decent equipment. While I can understand this is a common practice in RPGs as you start with low level equipment, this is another level if insane; harder than what Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei games have been doing.

While a single enemy can be taken out in a few turns with the help of a Heal spell and special attacks, as soon as 2 enemies are encountered, you’re pretty much screwed. Considering you’re gonna die often, the game handles it in a user friendly way. Once you die, you have a fee choices: either Swap (teams), Resume Battle (for 100DRP), Retry or Flee.

Thankfully, there’s a handy mini map in top left corner which can be really helpful in guiding players. Additionally, towns are highlighted in green so players can easily retrace a safe area should they get in trouble. As with any RPGs, Dragon Sinker: Descendants of Legend includes its fair share of side-questing; this will be beneficial to all players in order to grind some XP and find useful items.

The game has a cute and colorful look reminiscent of classic, early Dragon Quest/Warrior and Final Fantasy games; which can be a great appeal for older gamers due to nostalgia. The main problem is that the camera is way too zoomed in and you can’t see much around your wandering party. Additionally, constant loading screens, entering towns, caves/dungeons, battles can prove annoying. The soundtrack is wonderful nod to the aforementioned classics; so much so that certain tracks sound very similar to classic NES games.

Dragon Sinker: Descendants of Legend feels like a mis-step. The idea and concept are interesting (and they definitely were a part of me wanting to dive in), especially for fans of classic RPGs, unfortunately the formula falls flat. The overall package is enticing enough, but the poorly balanced battles is a major turn off; coming across overpowered enemies right off the bat will be nothing be frustration to players.