Dragon Quest Builders 2

Dragon Quest Builders emerged seemingly out of nowhere as Square Enix’s answer to Minecraft and other similar games about wandering a blocky world, eating food, avoiding monsters, and of course, building things. Aside from the Dragon Quest IP value, the big hook was that, unlike its more open-ended peers, Dragon Quest Builders was more structured and story-driven. Some fans refer to it as “Minecraft with goals,” as the core game is more about maintaining resources and following blueprints rather than sandbox play (although that’s an option too). It seemed to be a success, as Square Enix almost...

Dragon Quest Builders 2 improves upon the original title in a variety of ways, making for a superior sequel for the building based spin-off series.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is an admirable RPG and an admirable building game which seems in most cases to have gotten the best bits of both of its parent genres. Clunky, overly straightforward combat and unintuitive controls drag it down a little bit, but it still manages to soar above all of the less ambitious Minecraft clones we’ve seen over the years. Even with the main story behind me, I’m still itching to spend time exploring its excellent environments and make them my own.

Lighthearted frolics hide a deep RPG.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 takes just about everything that made the original so enjoyable and improves upon it.

Despite some unforgivable frustrations created through some of the quests though, the overall experience of Dragon Quest Builders 2 is very gratifying. It builds on the success of the first game by adding a range of new features and materials. Building feels effortless and allows for the player to be as creative as they can be, while each island offers a whole new world of adventure. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is close enough to being the building canvas you have always hoped for, and it gives you the power to be the creative builder you’ve always wanted to be.

Fun from the ground up.

With a smarter UI, much-needed quality of life improvements, and a couple of new mechanics and features, Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a much leaner, more organic, and more enjoyable Builders experience, and feels like a proper realization of the experiment that the first game was.

Most of the time the game is working properly, though, humming along with an endless series of pleasant tasks to chase after.  Find slimes to get oil to make torches as a component for lamps, or smelt silver into ingots to craft into building blocks fitting for an ornate stage.  There's a marker on the map with a main quest point, plus another with a subquest, but there are also people in town sleeping in the dirt, so maybe saving the world can wait a minute while fixing the place up.  Combat is simple but gets the job done, while building out each new town has endless options to experiment wi...

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a block-building good time, which offers a fun story and lots of creative freedom to make the world you want.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a delightful sequel that -- pardon the pun -- builds on its predecessor in a lot of welcome ways. This isn't a huge leap forward by any stretch, but if you enjoyed the first Dragon Quest Builders, then you're probably going to love this.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a marked improvement on its predecessor. Although the combat is still underwhelming, the rest of the package is sharp, charming, and loaded with stuff to build, crops to farm, and settlements to manage.