Dragon Quest Smash/Grow review - "Not quite a true hero, but not a villain either."

• Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is an appealing new take on the classic franchise
• Graphics, audio and gameplay are all rock-solid
• But anyone expecting a truly player-friendly Survivors-like experience will be left cold

Square Enix's efforts on mobile haven't always borne fruit. But they aren't short on fantastic franchises and recognisable names to bring a distinctly mobile twist to. And their latest is Dragon Quest Smash/Grow, which promises a grinder's dream alongside exciting Survivors-inspired action. Does it deliver? Well, let's find out!

First debuting in 1986 and preceding even Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest is a true icon of JRPGs. With character and monster designs crafted by the legendary Akira Toriyama, you step into the shoes of a nameless hero in each instalment to craft your own legend while building a party of like-minded adventurers, building your ideal team from a huge variety of vocations, skills and equipment.

My personal history with the series begins and ends with Sentinels of the Starry Sky on the Nintendo DS. But even that taster was enough to give me a lifelong fondness for JRPGs, and for the mixture of dramatic action and comfortable, stylised familiarity that Dragon Quest offered. Suffice it to say, I expected big things from Smash/Grow, especially when I found it had integrated Survivors-inspired isometric battles.

The story of Smash/Grow

In Smash/Grow, you once more step into the shoes of a nameless warrior, this time an aspirant of the Dragon Wings mercenary organisation (the good kind of mercenaries, that is). Guided by the goddess Nornea, who charges you with saving the world of Valdecia, you'll journey into Rifts threatening to tear apart reality and do battle with the creatures lurking therein.

You'll even have your own guide! The ancient robot Roly, who'll accompany you throughout the story. With their help, and that of your Dragon Wings comrades, you'll build a party of different adventurers with their own distinct classes to help battle your way through each rift.

What I liked

The actual moment-to-moment gameplay of DQ Smash/Grow takes place in individual levels leading up to a final boss fight. You'll walk through the various dungeons and be boxed off regularly into encounters, where you'll have to choose where to position your character to let them fire off some attacks before moving to avoid getting hit.

It's a satisfying take on the original's usual encounter-based format and means that you'll have enough preparation kitting out your party with new equipment, while there's just as much moment-to-moment variety, ensuring you'll be engaged with each battle.

The similarities to the Survivors genre come from the blessings, which add the bullet heaven element. Firing off homing frizz projectiles or bouncing crack arrows complements your heroes' regular attacks nicely, and means even when you have to book it across the arena, you'll be able to do some damage.

Each level sees you making your way through the Rifts, fighting iconic monsters from the Dragon Quest franchise before eventually making your way to the alpha (boss) monster at the end of each level. Oftentimes, it’s a larger version of the more familiar monsters, but sometimes, it’s a recognisable boss-tier creature from the series, such as the golem. Each have their own distinct attack pattern and challenge that makes it feel like a true boss battle.

After each adventure, you'll either move onto the next quest, or head to the forge where you'll 'advance' your weapons, armour and other equipment using materials gathered in each battle. Memories are the distinct upgrade here, and are gathered by defeating certain monsters, while coming in different grades, you 'ascent' by combining duplicates.

So far, so typical of the genre on mobile and otherwise, although the upgrade system can get a bit tedious after a while, with it insisting on informing you of the specific upgrades each time.

If there's anywhere that Smash/Grow truly shines, it's in its audio. You'll have not only the familiar sound effects, but music drawn from the Dragon Quest series that make it an exciting and nostalgia-fuelled throwback for fans. And if you've never heard it before, the swelling orchestral soundtrack definitely stands out from the crowd. I'm not ashamed to admit I had a real pang of nostalgia hearing the intro score for the first time.

Meanwhile, with the return of Akira Toriyama's iconic designs and the appearance of all the recognisable monsters from the series (yes, we have Slimes), there's really nothing to be said about the graphics you can't already see. It's colourful, easily readable when in motion and most importantly, appealing to the naked eye, with the details of the cartoonish anime-style characters stylised enough to be fun and quirky while having some occasional intricate details to catch the eye.

Each 'dungeon' or level is also great fun to explore, and you'll find that each set of stages has its own distinctive look and feel. With the Flats giving way to the Caverns and beyond. It makes it feel as if you're progressing from your average JRPG starting area to something more serious. And the best part (for me at least) is that none of these atmospheric arenas will strain your hardware.

My old Samsung S20 is often a good litmus test for how well a game runs. And I'm happy to report that Smash/Grow is quite impressive in that regard. It ticks over at a fairly reasonable FPS while not making my phone overheat, even if left idle for a significant amount of time. Loading can be a tiny bit slow, but nothing altogether noticeable, although when you're moving from screen to screen quickly, it can become tedious.

What I really didn't like

However, all that being said, DQ Smash/Grow is one of those rare examples of something where I can pinpoint the moment that it lost my attention entirely. And that was when, a few levels in, they introduced auto-battling elements. Yes, just tap a button, and your hero will move and fight on their own! No input necessary!

Now, if you're a Vampire Survivors fan, you know this is entirely at odds with the appeal of the genre. All the positioning and visceral upgrades that make it so fun to eventually go from desperately dodging between enemies to sending them flying en masse are completely wasted. Since you're just going to try and automate the decision-making out of your own hands anyway.

Of course, this isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card. Certain enemies still have attacks that need active dodging (like those damn purple orbs thrown by the ghost), and your in-built automation isn't all that smart. But any mechanic that encourages you not to actually play the game is a self-defeating idea at best. And once you've unlocked this, it's only a matter of time before more elements get that chillingly familiar 'do this automatically' feature.

Final thoughts (and gripes)

Ultimately, the automation is where it all came tumbling down for me. And it made the other flaws all the more apparent. The tedious upgrade process, the confusing UI and lacklustre level design, where you only ever fight relatively small numbers of foes, means that the initial surge of nostalgia wore off pretty quickly. I'd have much preferred open battles like, well, Vampire Survivors.

The fact that you have a trifecta (if even just that) of means of upgrading your character by either levelling your hero and their equipment or equipping memories quickly becomes unnecessarily complicated. And as you might expect seems poised to push you towards summons or microtransactions for more goodies and growth materials.

Ticketed training quests grind my gears as well. Not only does it actively alienate you from the actual gameplay, but it basically signals 'yes, we know that this is tedious, and we know you want to grind to get it out of the way, but we'll also gouge you for a few extra moments of your finite time on this earth'. And unfortunately, it also emphasises how shallow the core gameplay can feel after a while.

Ultimately, Smash/Grow never seems to live up to its potential. And the decision to automate the main gameplay, to me, signals that Square Enix didn't know what they wanted out of Smash/Grow either. After an initially dazzling showcase, Smash/Grow ultimately left me feeling rather cold, and while I've no doubt many of you will find something to enjoy here, it simply isn't for me.