Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Review

Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai

Release: September 23, 2023
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Game Studio, KAI GRAPHICS
Genre: Action, Adventure, Genres, Nintendo Switch Categories, Role-playing, Switch Reviews, Video
PEGI: 12
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Dragon Quest is one of the best rpg franchises out there. There are many spinoff games too. The newest is Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai. Is the game any good? Here is our review of Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai for the Nintendo Switch!

Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai is based on an anime/manga of the same name. Its also based on the Dragon Quest video game series. It stars Dai, a young man who ends up being trained in the ways of the warrior and along with some friends he goes on an adventure to save the world. There’s much more to the story than that, but we don’t want to spoil anything. The story is pretty complex and there’s a lot of it. In fact, there is too much story and not enough play in the main part of the game.

You’ll be watching a lot of cutscenes in this game. Sometimes most (or all) of a story mission will be a cutscene with only a little or no gameplay. The gameplay that we do get in the game is pretty good though. Infinity Strash is an action rpg with fast combat and easy use magic and items. However, Infinity Strash isn’t an open world rpg, you go to each mission via a map, so there isn’t much exploration to be had. Most of the time you’ll be fighting in one small area though sometimes you’ll get a bigger area with some places explore but its nothing compared to what we’ve seen in other Dragon Quest games. The game does control really well though. The camera can be a bit of an issue sometimes, though lock-on targeting helps you keep your sights on the enemy your attacking. Its a fun combat and it does get its own showcase outside of the story.

The best part of Infinity Strash is the Temple of Recollection. This special temple is a roguelike dungeon that changes every time you visit. The random nature of the Temple of Recollection makes it super addictive and you get a lot of rewards from it, such as new “memories” that help in combat and being able to upgrade your powers permanently via the dungeon entrance. The deeper you go into the dungeon, the more you’ll get. Of course, if you die, you’ll lose everything you get. There is a lot of risk to going deeper into the dungeon. Its worth it though!

There is one negative thing to say about the Temple of Recollection: each floor of the dungeon is just one room, you do get to pick which room you want to go into next but this isn’t the random dungeons of Dragon Quest 7 or 9. Oh if only it was! That said, the Temple of Recollection is still pretty addictive.

Is the Temple enough though? Well, for Dragon Quest fans and Infinity Strash fans, it might be. This is a game that can only be recommended to the hardcore fan. It does have pretty great graphics though!

Infinity Strash has great graphics. We don’t get to see the regular graphics as much as we’d like but when we do, the game looks excellent; the characters are a bit cel-shaded looking while the environments are a bit more realistic. Most of the cutscenes are sort of animated and sort of not: they are more like slightly moving drawings. They look really nice, especially if you are a fan of Dragon Quest or the anime/manga this game is based on. There are some nice-looking CGI cutscenes too. Infinity Strash is a game that fans of the series will enjoy more than anybody else.

In the end, its difficult to fully recommend Infinity Strash. The game will likely only appeal to Dragon Quest fans and/or fans of the anime/manga. The game is very story focused and doesn’t have enough normal gameplay for non-fans. Maybe even fans might want more gameplay. Even so, the Temple of Recollection is very addictive and may be the thing that keeps you playing if you love the series. The random nature of the Temple means there is almost endless gameplay to be had there. Infinity Strash is not a bad game but it has a limited audience compared to other games in the Dragon Quest franchise.

Thanks to Square Enix for providing a digital code for this review. Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai is now available for the Nintendo Switch.

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