Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince was one of my favorite games in 2023. Obviously, I’m a fan of Dragon Quest, and pretty much anything that comes out under that banner grabs my attention. But Dragon Quest Monsters as a series is also one of the better monster collecting and battling games out there, with specific mechanics that are more fun and engaging than even Pokemon. But as an initial Nintendo Switch exclusive, there were some issues that were hard to ignore. Now, with the PC version (and mobile!), The Dark Prince feels like the real deal.
All of the frames, so many frames!
It’s probably not gonna surprise any readers that the major factor is performance. While there were some post-launch patches that helped, The Dark Prince had significant performance issues on Switch. It’s a common story for many games, but there are still recent examples, such as One Piece Odyssey, of games gracefully punching above the Switch’s weight and succeeding. With its simpler visuals and structure compared to other RPGs today, it seemed like an easy win in this category. Sadly, there were massive frame rate drops all over the place, especially at launch. You can read my original review for more context!
On PC, The Dark Prince runs perfectly, and has multiple options for frame rate caps and VSYNC to make sure your experience is consistent. Even on my laptop that is far from cutting-edge, it’s smooth sailing. I also tried the game on both a Steam Deck and ROG Ally (the Z1 Extreme model), and mostly had a great time out of the box so to speak. It was a little jittery at times on the Ally, but those things can be finicky as much as I like ‘em. Since games like this sing on portables, the Steam Deck is definitely the best experience for me right now.
The DLC dilemma
There’s another factor that makes this latest release of Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince a better experience than it was on Switch. Free DLC! That sounds silly, but if you aren’t familiar with this game, one of the DLC additions is practically necessary for an optimal experience. I’m talking about The Mole Hole, which still feels super awkward to type out! Basically, this DLC pulls a ton of weight when it comes to late-game monster fusing, which is a massive part of raising the toughest crew of critters on your quest to get revenge on humanity.
The Mole Hole lets you jump down into rooms that are ranked, just like the monsters you can catch. On each floor, monsters of said rank that you’ve captured before will spawn. They’re weaker in combat, which makes scouting them so much easier than it would be out in the wild. Some of the fusion chains in The Dark Prince can get pretty complicated, so this feature is a merciful shortcut past some painful grinding. The fact it was DLC in the first place was very problematic, but having it included for free, while the game itself is 40 bucks instead of 60, feels a lot better.
Wait, there was multiplayer?
This is all great news, but there is one notable drawback. Competitive multiplayer has been completely scrubbed from the game in this version. It’s fairly easy to guess why, as the multiplayer in the Switch version is bogged down by cheating and a very unbalanced meta game in general. Unlike Pokemon, Dragon Quest Monsters has never really been tuned for serious competition, and the latest iteration is proof enough. The real appeal is in mastering fusion and getting all the most powerful monsters, or at least going as far up that food chain as you’re willing. I purposefully avoided online play, because this series is all about the vibes for me. But if you’re the type that is worried about feature completeness or online competition, it’s an important note.
It’s a bummer, but as great as the Nintendo Switch can be as a hybrid portable, sometimes great games launch with not so great technical issues. Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince was one of those, with lots of nasty drops in performance. Plus, there was some crucial DLC, which never feels good on the consumer side. The new PC version addresses both of these problems, filling in what felt like a hole in the game’s foundation late last year. There’s a new issue in the absence of multiplayer, but that feels far less impactful due to that feature being more of a bullet point than a core part of the game. If you’ve been on the fence about trying the game due to performance woes or the price, now’s the perfect time to try a great alternative to the usual monster battling contenders.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile. A code for the PC version was provided by the publisher for this feature.
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replyLucas White posted a new article, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince on PC completes the experience
