Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai: A Hero's Bonds is a mobile game from developer DeNA, a popular studio for the genre that's worked on titles like Pokémon Masters and Final Fantasy Record Keeper. While the game is rooted in the universe of the 2020 adaptation of Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, it's accessible to fans of the property as a whole thanks to its skill naming conventions, monsters, and familiar story trappings, making it a draw for those familiar with the franchise.
From the beginning of the game's Closed Beta Test, however, it's made abundantly clear that Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai: A Hero's Bonds isn't going to play like a traditional Dragon Quest JRPG title. The game functions a lot more like a mix between the once abundantly popular endless runner mobile game genre and an action-RPG. Players will eventually create a hero of their own using the game's simple character customization system and embark on a quest to reunite the bonds that tie two worlds together. It's standard JRPG fare when it comes to the narrative, which never threatens to get too deep, but does manage to generate interest in what's going on without needing 15 minute cutscenes.
The best part of A Hero's Bonds is without a doubt its combat, which is good - that feature makes up a huge chunk of what players will be doing in the game. Players sprint down pathways - often while dialog plays, if its a story mission - until they come across monsters lined up in a formation across three lanes. Players can swipe the screen to move their character between these lanes, and then use skills that apply different attack patterns spread in various formations to "solve" the puzzle of defeating the monsters quickly. It plays a lot better than it appears it will at first glance, especially since clearing levels quickly gets better rewards, and the strategy in movement is a welcome addition to the mobile title's mechanics.
Boss fights are equally as fun, though much heavier on strategy and skill requirements. Players can tap to hold their character to guard, or swipe backwards to get out of the way of telegraphed attacks. Bosses also have openings in their movement patterns that can be exploited to generate periods of weakness that can be capitalized on with a player's most powerful moves. Dragon Quest bosses tend to be fun regardless of the genre of the series' iteration that houses them, and this continues to be the case in A Hero's Bonds.
Swapping between characters mid-battle also deepens the strategy in play during a session of Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai: A Hero's Bonds, as does having a character that can charge up their attack gradually and then bail the player out of tight spots when required. The gacha elements of the game come into play in the gear system, with players needing to roll to acquire the best equipment. Equipment comes with stat boosts as well as new skills to equip, which does add depth to the gacha system - players aren't just rolling for aesthetic. In practice in the Closed Beta Test, there didn't appear to be balancing issues, with the equipment players earn through free-to-play methods and average rolling luck providing more than enough to get through the content at hand.
Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai: A Hero's Bonds doesn't lean into its characters the same way some mobile titles do, but the systems it does have are pretty refreshing and easy to manage. Adventuring with specific heroes lets players raise their friendship levels with them, making those characters more proficient in battle while also unlocking story scenes with them. So far, the scenes have seemed like pure character showcases rather than anything truly meaningful to the broader story - but that's exactly what they should be, given not everyone will inevitably see them all.
Ultimately, Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai: A Hero's Bonds shows a lot of promise in its conceit. It does feel a bit like the gacha system is tacked-on - it might have done better without it at all, since so much of the gameplay is related to what someone does in the heat of battle and how they strategize. Perhaps the best weapons offer advantages to those unwilling to engage with A Hero's Bonds' best element - its combat - but an average equipment loadout feels more than adequate enough. That's a good thing, as is A Hero's Bonds' light-but-engaging story and its variety of gameplay modes at launch. While the launch of the game and its longevity afterwards are difficult to predict even with the Closed Beta Test, it's easy to suggest fans of Dragon Quest check out A Hero's Bonds and see if it has enough to draw them into a solid mobile title.
Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai: A Hero's Bonds will release on iOS and Android mobile devices. Screen Rant was invited to participate in the Closed Beta Test for the purpose of this preview.