Dungeon Hearts DX Review

Dungeon Hearts DX

Release: November 10, 2016
Publisher: Wolfgame
Developer: Wolfgame
Genre: Indie, Puzzle, Strategy, WiiU Categories
PEGI: E
Comments:

 

Comment

I love puzzle games. I love strategy games. So any game that decides to blend those two video game genre together has my attention! Enter Dungeons Hearts DX for the Wii U. This game is part puzzle game, part strategy game, with a bit of rhythm thrown in. It sounds like Dungeon Hearts DX is a very interesting game…but is it?

Dungeon Hearts DX has short intro movie that tells you what the game’s story is all about. The story is kind of interesting but a little too vague for my taste. Plus, the introduction doesn’t tell us who are heroes are. We have to wait until we get to the pub to read up on them a little. I’m disappointed that the pub doesn’t have conversations/dialogue to further the story along and help us get to know our heroes more. The pub is a glorfied character select screen instead of the story advancing area that it should’ve been.

Dungeon Heart’s story is pretty weak overall. But, of course, even weak stories can be saved by excellent gameplay! So, how is the gameplay in Dungeon Hearts DX?

The battle system in Dungeon Hearts DX is pretty interesting. At first, I didn’t understand the battle system because I went through the tutorial too quickly. I recommend taking your time with the tutorial and reading through it carefully. Though, even if you do that, you still may find yourself struggling with the battle system a bit. I’ll get to the reason why soon. First, I want to talk about how good the game’s controls are!

The controls in Dungeon Hearts DX are good. The game completely uses the Wii U touch screen to select your characters, direct the flow of battles, and for everything else in the game. Touch screen control works well and makes sense for this game. I’m also happy to report that you can play the game on the TV or on the Wii U gamepad only. Basically, the TV screen is mirrored on the gamepad. Its too bad that the game didn’t have a special two screen experiance, but its not a big deal. So the controls are not an issue at all when it comes to how hard this game is. The gameplay itself could definitely use some fine tuning though.

Once you get use to the battle system in Dungeon Hearts DX, the battles tend to get a lot harder. If you get knocked out in battle, when you get back to the pub your character will still be knocked out. You’ll have to use other character(s) to take the previous persons place. Unforuntely, if a lot of your party is knocked out, you’ll just have to start the game over. There is no way to heal your party in the pub! I think your characters should be healed right away when you enter the pub. The difficulty of this game really makes it hard to make any progress.

There really isn’t much progression to Dungeon Hearts DX. You just do battle after battle and you can’t heal up in the pub nor do you get a good sense of where the battles are headed. Dungeons Hearts needed more than just a good battle system. It needed more to do in the pub, more direction as to where the story was going, and just more things to do in the game period. As it is, Dungeon hearts DX feels like a demo for a full game. I hear there might be updates for this game and I wonder if those updates will unlock the full game and how long we’ll have to wait for that. I wish Dungeons Hearts DX had been a finished product when released. There is potential with this game. Dungeon Hearts isn’t a horrible game. For instance, the game’s graphics are good and probably the best aspect of the game!

Dungeon Hearts DX has good graphics. In fact, the graphics are the best part of the game. The pub where you recruit your team looks great and the battles graphics are good too. I do think the backgrounds for battles are a bit too static and uninteresting, but most of the graphics are better than I expected for this type of game. I wish the whole game was this good!

As for the game’s soundtrack, its not bad. There are some pieces of music that are pretty good and others that are a bit annoying. The game’s sound effects are alright. Dungeon Hearts DX, in the end, is just an alright game. Its not a bad game, there are good elements to it, but it feels like an unfinished product.

Dungeon Hearts DX could have been a great game. There are things to like about the game, such as the graphics and unique battle system, but the game’s difficulity, lack of progression, and weak storyline hold it back from being a game everyone should buy. I won’t tell you not to buy Dungeon Hearts DX. If you like puzzle/strategy games, you may find something to like here. And of course, if this game sells well, maybe the developer will add more to do in the pub and other things to the game. Even so, I wish the game felt like a great game from the very first day! For now, Dungeon Hearts DX is just an ok game.

Thanks to Wolfgame America for providing a copy of this game for review. Dungeon Hearts DX is now available on the Wii U eshop.

Positives

• Interesting Battle System
• Very good graphics
• Excellent controls

Negatives

• Weak Story
• Too Hard
• Unfinished Game