Let me start this review by stating I never played Dragon’s Crown when the title was first released back in 2013. I never knew about the title until earlier this year. But I’m honestly happy about that because I’m not sure I would’ve given it the time of day back then.

So Dragon’s Crown Pro is the remastered version of Dragon’s Crown, which is a dungeon-crawling side-scroller set in a medieval world that has you embarking on quest after quest until you uncover the secrets surrounding an old dragon that’s threatening the world as you know it.

This game is developed by Japanese gaming studio Vanillaware. If you’ve looked at anything they’ve made before, then this game’s look and animation should come as no surprise to you. It’s very simplistic, yet intricate all at once. The character designs have a lot put into them. Especially the female characters..

Dragon’s Crown is not a game I would typically find myself playing, but I can say that I definitely enjoyed myself the entire time. You’re given the choice to pick your main character out of about six class types: Fighter, Amazon, Elf, Dwarf, Wizard, and Sorceress. On my first playthrough, I chose the Amazon. Each character type obviously offers a different experience, so I’m going to need to take the time to go back and try a different class. The Amazon offered a pretty simple gaming experience. She had basic attacks, strong attacks, and certain skills that boosted her strength and also her rage depending on the battle conditions. She wasn’t difficult to control, so I didn’t have a hard time going through the story.

Speaking of the story, that’s where the game kind of lacks. There is a myriad of quest for you to partake in here, but none of them are super significant story-wise. You’ll go through a dungeon, fight many goons, finish it off with a big boss, then take your loot and keep it moving to the next one. Not to say that isn’t fun, but as someone who enjoys RPGs with strong stories and many characters to get invested in, I felt like that could have been improved on.

Something I enjoyed was the variety of things present. You were given the option switch out your weapon after every weapon for one with a higher rank. You could find old bones in dungeons and take them back to the temple and resurrect a new companion for your next mission. DIfferent enemies required different weapons to beat them (ex: spirits could only be slain with a torch). One thing I suffered from during battles was losing my character on the screen. There would be so much fighting happening that my character seemed to just disappear in the middle of it all, but after a second or two I’d find her again.

As I mentioned earlier, this game has a huge variety. But it’s deeper than that. There’s a big emphasis put on Making your character as special to you as possible. You level up quite often, and each level up gives you a skill point which can be applied to a specific skill that will make your adventurer better suited for the next mission. You get more gear, more weapons, and runes, which can be used as enchantments that allow things like golems to help you in your next fight. They’re very helpful in certain boss battles, and it’s very impressive to look back at everything that went into this title, even though this is just a revisiting of the original game.

While this game is clearly a remaster, it’s going to be some people’s first time checking it out, and I can definitely recommend it. It’s not so difficult that you can’t jump into it without playing a game similar to this prior to picking this one up. I’m basically proof of that. As I said, I wish the story was a bit more fleshed out, but I feel like Vanillaware knew what they were doing and focused more on all the options you have then a fully cohesive tale. And in all honesty, it didn’t hurt them too much.

Dragon’s Crown Pro is set to release tomorrow on May 15, 2018, on PS4

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