The Dragon Quest series is no stranger to spin-offs that step away from the main titles’ sword-and-sworcery dungeon-crawling and world-saving. The various Monsters games are the best known, but DQ has dipped its feet into rougelikes, first-person rail shooters (or sword slashers, in this case), musou beat-em-ups, and Minecraft. Surprisingly, Dragon Quest hasn’t dabbled in tactical games too heavily, unlike its rival Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest Wars is an initial, and oddly under-the-radar attempt at breaking into the strategy RPG (SRPG) genre.

Dragon Quest Wars was originally released in 2009 as DsiWare. The game was a co-production with Intelligent Systems, best known as the developers of Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. The game’s producer, Taichi Inuzuka noted that Wars was intended to be an introductory game for players new to strategy games. A direct sequel to Wars never materialized, but it seems to have a successor in the mobile game Dragon Quest Tact.

(Author’s note: I was unable to screencap the game properly with my 3DS, so the screenshots used in this review are from the Dragon Quest Fandom wiki.)

Dragon Quest Wars is a fairly simplistic SRPG. The player has control of up to four monsters from  DQ’s memorable bestiary on a grid. The monsters have to be picked up using the DS touchscreen to move them around the grid, then one of their actions can be selected: attacking, buffing, healing, and so on, depending on the monster. The basic smiling slimes, for example, can do a standard physical attack as well as cast Frizz. My favorite units, the Hammerhood, can attack multiple enemies in a 3-square adjacent row at once, or set up to counter. The more fragile Dracky can cast magic in diagonals or shove enemies back, while the Golem hits hard but hurts itself while attacking. Stages are usually completed by defeating all of the enemies, but later criteria include taking over the enemy’s ‘home space’ or beating as many enemies as possible in a limited number of turns. There’s no story to the game; instead you can play through 10 stages, which then unlocks the ability to play with people online (RIP online servers), local play, and a free play mode where you can use custom parties to fight teams generated by the computer.  

Wars is a creative strategy game with cute use of the series’ signature monsters. While I’m not the biggest SRPG fan, Wars manages to be approachable and engaging by being mechanically basic (though some might argue it’s bare-bones). The progression through the stages gradually ups the difficulty while teaching the basics of strategy games. I learned multiple times that trying to be overly aggressive in a game where most of the units can only take one or two hits max is not the best idea. Likewise, sometimes it’s better to make a rush for the enemy’s home base rather than attempting to wipe everything off the grid. The last few stages really test general prowess at maintaining a good offense with a good defense. Even though the game could get a bit frustrating, the need to power through and keep trying more off-the-cuff ideas so my Drackies weren’t getting wrecked or to ensure my Hammerhood would be left standing. It helps that the stage grids and number of enemies present is small, so it doesn’t feel as punishing to restart stages. The game is good at keeping a balance between its simple SRPG mechanics, while still managing to maintain a challenge that’s satisfying to overcome.

Wars has a few noticeable issues. The game is rather short – the main stages can be completed  in an hour or two, depending on how good you are. I had some trouble with stages 8 and 9 because I suck at SRPGs, so I took closer to 1.5 hours. Since this is a DSiWare game, and games from that service were intended as shorter, pick-up-and-play experiences, I wasn’t especially disappointed. However, the game’s short length and limited number of monster types had me thinking about a ‘fuller’ version of the game. Sure, the aforementioned Tact exists, but I think it’s a shame the only alternative is a F2P gacha game. There’s also some fiddlyness with the touchscreen picking up monsters for placement – again, DSi-era, back when developers really wanted players using the touchscreen. I had a few minor issues getting certain buff spells and healing to activate with correct timing, since the game can sometimes be picky with moving monsters vs using spells. I picked up on the intended action order after a point (or worked around it), though it’s probably something that could be ironed out in a larger game.

Pros: Short overall playtime and can be finished in an hour or two. Very cute and creative use of monsters from the Dragon Quest games. Mechanically simple, but easy to grasp. Smaller stages make it less frustrating for trial-and-error attempts.

Cons: Game’s last few stages can be a bit tricky. Very small amount of usable monsters. Some DS-era touchscreen finicky-ness. Timing spells correctly can sometimes be annoying. Makes me crave a fuller version of this game that doesn’t exist outside of the mobile game.

Dragon Quest Wars was released as a digital-exclusive game on the DSi and 3DS eshop. Due to the closure of both storefronts, the game can no longer be purchased legally. With SRPGs like Fire Emblem and Devil Survivor often taking as long as they do, Dragon Quest Wars is a breath of fresh air. The added simplicity of the game’s systems is also very nice, and having the familiar DQ monster delights of slimes and golems adds to the charm. It might be a bite-sized adventure, but Wars is a comfortable detour.