This coming March, publisher Nacon and developer Eko Software brings us Dragonkin: The Banished, an Action RPG that focuses on action and fun more than anything else. For players burnt out on Path of Exile 2 grinding, this ARPG seems to give a relaxed and fun adventure that empowers you to have fun and destroy hordes of enemies in your wake. A demo will be available soon for all to try on Steam and Level1Gaming got a chance to try the game out early to get you excited for your own hands-on time with the demo very soon!
Putting the A in ARPG
I got an early look at Dragonkin: The Banished and the first thing that stood out to me was the pure chaos and action on screen at any time, the battles you were in felt enormous and busy, like an actual war. It was very well done, and like with Diablo 4, the team here has seamless cutscenes occurring while on the battlefield and then back into the action once again. I was very impressed with the quality of the cutscenes, writing and everything put on display here. I looked into what engine this was running on, and sure enough, it was Unreal Engine 5, the team makes excellent use of the engine here and I had no issues with stutters or performance, it ran at a fast framerate at all times.
The game provides 4 classes, with 3 available during the launch on March 6 when Early Access begins, the four clases the game will have include:
- The Barbarian – As leader of the armies of the Northern people who live in hostile lands, the Barbarian’s element is ice. Take hits like a true barbarian, freeze your enemies and deal huge melee damage with a devastating axe and hammer. The more damage you take, the more powerful your attacks.
- The Oracle – Transformed by Dragon blood, the Witch dreams of a world in which dragons and humans can live together. The Witch’s powers are based on the elements of electricity and water. With the Witch, you’ll want to stand back to charge your spells and deal damage from range rather than getting too close to enemies.
- The Knight – Tutored and trained by the finest warriors since childhood, the Knight wields fire like no other. With the Knight, you have the ideal balance between melee and ranged attacks thanks to your formidable lance, which also spits out flames.
- The Archer (Not in Early Access at Launch) – The personification of composure, the Archer boasts outstanding skill and can expertly manipulate the element of poison. If the arrow doesn’t kill the target outright, the victim will usually succumb shortly after. Ideal for ranged combat, with the Archer you can also create a poisonous area around you to become unreachable.
The demo gives you access to a fully leveled-out version of each class that you get to play as during the prologue of the demo. This was an extremely action-packed and exciting part of the demo and being able to try out each class at a high level felt extremely fun and each class was unique to approach. This was a great way to test each class to their powerful limits and help you decide which one to choose once it was finally time. I hope more ARPGs do this as I thought it was quite a great idea. Once you complete the prologue, you are then set to choose a lower-level starting character from early on in the game. They give you access to one dungeon to run through and level up this starting character. This was enough to get a good feel of my chosen class (Barbarian), level up, learn about the city building, and more.
Build a Hero
The Ancestral Grid that Dragonkin uses to level up your character is surprisingly innovative. Each time you gain more power, you decide how to combine your upgrades to fill up the grid in the best way possible for your build. Select from the abilities available and try out multiple combinations to optimize your hero and if your experiments with that build change leave you unsatisfied you can easily make changes. Based on your progress in the game and your preferences, you can also change your build whenever you want to adapt to new enemies as well. Each hero has their own unique grid and a wide range of possible combinations, meaning a second playthrough with the same class can play entirely differently.
The demo doesn’t include a large part of the world, but the final game is supposed to include a very large world to explore broken up by biomes in a similar way the Diablo games does this. As you travel across the world of Dragonkin, learn its story and confront whatever is threatening it, you will explore these biomes that contain volcanoes, tundra, swamps, and many other environments. And just like in Diablo-like games, the enemies you find and hunt in each biome are unique to those areas and their own smaller regions, all with unique monsters and specific resources. I am very excited to explore the world and seeing the next region or act is always a big driving factor in these types of ARPGs.
Build a City and Play with Friends
While this part was not a big part of the demo, there is an entire city-building aspect to the game. Your city grows and changes based on your decisions and discoveries throughout the story and your explorations in the various regions. During your adventure, as you gain experience and you get to decide which area of the city to development and focus on. Upgrade your buildings and find new inhabitants (who can provide new quests), equipment and additional services and vendors. The entire game, including the city building component, can be played entire in co-op both locally and online. Locally you can play with a total of two players, while playing online allows for a total of four players. Like I noted, the co-op adventure goes beyond completing quests and exploration, it also includes the city building. All players in your session can expand the city and unlock new content which will carry over to their own city. You can play the entire game from start to finish in co-op and the demo will also allow you to play with friends, there is also full matchmaking to get into a game right away when your friends are busy.
Final Thoughts
The demo for Dragonkin: The Banishes will release during the upcoming Steam Next Fest that begins on February 24th and the Early Access launches on March 6th. With an announced price of $24.99 USD, this title seems like a very promising proposition for any ARPG fan. The demo provided me with a fan and exciting time, with a great variety of classes, a unique upgrade system along with an innovative city-building aspect. The game is not as deep as Path of Exile 2 or the hardest modes in Diablo 4, but like I said, this has been a nice breath of fresh air, feeling empowered and satisfied in every session, with less a focus on grinding and more on exploration and story. I think Dragonkin: The Banished, is shaping up to be a fantastic indie ARPG to try out during Steam Next Fest and even consider a purchase given the attractive low price.
Leave a Reply