Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince

GameBlastLucas Oliveira

9/10

With Psaro's journey, the Monsters subseries of Dragon Quest takes its boldest step yet.

MonsterVineSpencer Legacy

The soundtrack is largely comprised of familiar Dragon Quest music. I don’t mind, as the series’ soundtrack is iconic and I could (and often do) listen to it for hours on end. The same goes for the sound effects, which remain delightfully dated but as iconic as ever. In regards to the visual style, Akira Toriyama’s style will never get old for me, so The Dark Prince is another winner. The graphics could be a bit more detailed, but I rarely expect that from games on the Nintendo Switch, at this rate.

RPGamerAlex Fuller

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince offers a monster collector's dream with over 500 unique creatures to capture, train, and fuse in a world brimming with seasonal surprises. This charming adventure welcomes both Dragon Quest veterans and newcomers.

RPGSiteCullen Black

8/10

The Dragon Quest Monsters series makes a great return on Nintendo Switch, but in regards to its story it does very little to properly honor the legacy of the game it takes inspiration from.

ShackNewsLucas White

8/10

In a lot of ways for someone like me, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is weirdly validating for a video game product you purchase. This series has been living in relative obscurity for decades, either going unlocalized entirely or simply being seen as a niche within a niche destined for handheld gamers looking for more Pokemon. But there’s so much meat, life, and ambition in this one. It’s a console game, it’s got a story it wants to tell, it has ideas beyond “catch slimes, win tournaments”. I hope this is the direction Dragon Quest Monsters keep moving in. It’s no Digimon Story: Cyber ...

Impulse GamerBoouya

A brief history of the series

TechRaptorTyler Chancey

7/10

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince provides a solid JRPG monster battling experience, but lacks solid support characters, narrative punch, and engaging endgame content to keep you coming back.

Game Informeradmingi

7/10

Dragon Quest possesses so much history that any new game carries a degree of raised expectation. Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince delivers many of the conventions I’ve come to expect from the series: the vibrant opening song, the charismatic Slime, and the emotional storytelling I already associate with the franchise. But this game goes beyond those well-treaded territories, offering an intelligent and elegant yet simple approach to combat and dungeon design that makes it a solid spin-off experience.

TheGamerRyan Thompson-Bamsey

While held back by significant performance issues, The Dark Prince excels as a monster tamer.

Press StartHarry Kalogirou

6/10

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is a middling entry into a once legendary spin-off series. For every element or system the game nails, there's a confusing design decision that holds them back. While The Dark Prince is far from terrible, it doesn't reach the heights of recent entries into this storied franchise.

Digital TrendsGeorge Yang

The Dragon Quest series never quite reached the heights of popularity that its Square Enix brethren, Final Fantasy, enjoyed outside of Japan. The same can be said about its spinoff series, Dragon Quest Monsters, which many players consider a competitor to the dominant Pokémon franchise. In fact, the last Dragon Quest Monsters game, 2016’s Joker 3 for the 3DS, never even left Japan. It’s a niche within a niche.

Worth PlayingChris "Atom" DeAngelus

Unscored

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is an RPG that gives players the power to command and recruit various types of monsters to join them on an epic new adventure.