Dragon Quest Smash/Grow opens pre-registration for the legendary series’ roguelike adventure

If you are like me, your love for the Dragon Quest series was tested recently. Not by game quality, but by those god-awful adverts for the VII remaster. They played too often and had the most annoying, grating voice lines. Square Enix is looking to claw back that reputation by opening pre-orders for Dragon Quest Smash/Grow.

The developers are deviating from the standard Dragon Quest formula by making this a roguelike. Usually, I would dismiss this as chasing popularity, but for Square, this makes sense. A sprawling, 90-hour epic RPG would probably not land for a lot of mobile users. I would love it, but a rougelike you can knock a run out on in your lunch break makes more sense.  

A roguelike with a bit of that RPG flair

There is still a bit of that Dragon Quest magic sprinkled in here. You assemble a three-character party, all sporting one of the series classic Vocations. These can be leveled and upgraded, so you still have that RPG twist. Or team up with some friends. Then you go out to do your best Hulk impression, and smash.

During battle, you will be kicking monster butt with the series Coup de Grace attacks; flashy moves that cut through your foes. Each stage will offer a choice of Blessings to see you through. These include things like orbiting Woosh Spheres, of lighting swords raining from the sky during your attack combo. Who wouldn’t pick that one? 

There is, of course, a main story to go through; you can’t fully escape a Square narrative. However, you are followed by a mechanical friend named Rolly, and we all love robots. Hell, we all inadvertently helped build Pokémon Pizza Skynet; robots are friends. Besides the story, you can take on a Gauntlet of foes, tackle massive bosses in Shrines, and more activities waiting to be discovered. 

Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is available to pre-order from the App Store and Google Play.