The mobile and PC ports of Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince are perfectly serviceable
Last month, Square Enix announced that the once-Switch-exclusive Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince would come to PC, less than a year after its original release. While, frankly, the announcement of a PC port is not surprising at all given the precedence of several other Square Enix ports in recent years, it was less expected that Square Enix would also release the game for mobile devices at the same time.
We at RPG Site had a chance to check out both the PC and mobile versions of The Dark Prince. You can find our impressions below.
Dragon Quest: The Dark Prince - PC Version Impressions
Author: Adam Vitale
I have played a version of every mainline Dragon Quest title (save for Dragon Quest X, the MMORPG that was never released in English), and I've played several of the spinoffs, including the recent Dragon Quest Treasures. So, I think it's safe to say I'm a familiar fan of the Dragon Quest series. However, the Monsters spinoffs — a sub-series that has a relatively storied history of its own — is one that I have never had the opportunity to visit. With a new PC (and mobile) port now available for the most recent entry in Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, this Dragon Quest vet dove into the sub-series for the first time.
Cullen reviewed the original Nintendo Switch version of Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince earlier this year, and he is very thorough in discussing his impressions of the game's mechanics and systems. So, please refer to his text for a detailed overview of the game itself if you are looking for a full review. While Cullen — by his own words — went into The Dark Prince as a fan of Dragon Quest IV looking for another tale in that universe, I instead saw the Dragon Quest IV aesthetic more as a coat of paint - a dressing to what would hopefully be a compelling monster-collecting experience.
The original Switch version of The Dark Prince was plagued with performance issues, most notably in its framerate, reportedly struggling to hit 30 FPS in most areas around the game's launch. Unsurprisingly, the PC version fares much better in this regard, capable of hitting 4K resolutions and framerates well above 60 fps.
However, the game's PC configuration options are lacking. There is an option for low, medium, or high-quality graphics preset. There's an option for low, medium, or high anti-aliasing. There's a resolution & framerate section, a toggle for VSync, and that's about it. Of course, the game will have no problem running on most modern PCs — the recommended GPU is a GeForce GTX 950, a graphics card that was released almost ten years ago.
While the art style is charming and the presentation is colorful, it's abundantly clear that The Dark Prince is a Switch game at heart. Environments remain relatively simple, character animations are always a bit stiff, and most textures go for a flat cell-shaded look. In some ways, The Dark Prince even looks noticeably worse than Dragon Quest Treasures - another Switch exclusive brought to PC (and indeed, the configuration options for Treasures are at least a little bit more varied). Still, it's a clean-looking game that runs well, just don't expect top-notch visual fidelity.
As for the game itself, I come away from it with thoughts somewhat similar to what I felt about Dragon Quest Treasures. The structure of the game is quite different, going for a more step-by-step progression through the Circles of Nadiria instead of Treasure's more free-form exploration, but there's still a cozy charm to it all. I haven't yet completed the game as of the time of this writing, but I've found a rhythm in capturing monsters, coordinating my party composition, defeating the "Big Hitters" that stand in my way, and ranking up in the game's coliseum bouts. I hope the game gets a bit more challenging as I enter the back half of the game, but still, it's a comfortable if simple monster-collecting experience.
One key component to note is that while all the DLC of the original Switch release is included in the base price for these new ports, the 'online battle' feature of the Switch version has been removed entirely. While no reason is specifically given for this removal, I assume this decision was made because Square Enix could find dealing with cheating in these online matches to be more effort than it is worth. It's an understandable decision, I suppose, but disappointing nonetheless.
Even though the port is relatively basic, and the game itself isn't a powerhouse in terms of visuals, it's still an improvement over the Switch release. Ideally, Square Enix will release future games multiplatform simultaneously, and we can avoid having to wait months or longer to check out Square Enix's titles. Having more options is usually good, right?
Dragon Quest: The Dark Prince - Mobile Version Impressions
Author: Cullen Black
There was a fair amount of buzz around the state in which The Dark Prince launched on Switch last year. The framerate at launch was wildly inconsistent, and even after a much-needed performance patch a month after launch struggled to hit a solid 30 FPS. I was immediately intrigued by the idea of Android/iOS ports of this game given my experiences with the Switch version. As a surprise to absolutely no one, mobile hardware released after 2017 seems to be able to handle the game with little issue. Well ... mostly. For context, the phone I used for this impressions piece is a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 (released in 2023).
The graphics settings are similar to the Steam version of the game, but just a bit more restrictive. The only options on offer are the graphical preset, with Antialiasing, Frame Rate, and V-Sync controls being absent. It seems that they’ve tucked options around this behind the presets, but I can only estimate based on what I saw as I played. Your three presets are: Low, Medium, and High. Low seems to be a concession for just about any phone, but makes the game so blurry that I’d argue it would be basically unplayable. Medium’s graphics seem on par with Switch. High matches your phone’s display resolution, and for some reason is the only graphics mode where it seems to bump the Frame Rate up from a 30 FPS cap. One annoying difference from the PC release is that you cannot change your preset while the game is running. You’ll have to go all the way back to the title screen each time you want to tweak your settings. Is High giving you an experience that runs and looks just too good for your thermals to take? Better save, sit through some loading, navigate back to the title menu, lower it, and sit through some more loading before you get a chance to continue monster collecting.
For those interested in playing this version of the game with any sort of mobile doohickey dock or a controller, you will be disappointed. As of now, I found no way to play the game with a controller, as my attempts to launch the game with my Dualsense synced to my phone proved fruitless. The touch controls on the game are solid enough, but don’t work well for long play sessions exploring the large zones the game has to offer. I particularly found camera controls a bit rough, especially on a phone as wide as mine. Battles at least still work well with the touchscreen controls for the menus. It works well enough, even if the game’s scope might be just a bit much for the kind of casual experience associated with mobile play.
There’s a fun novelty in playing this game on a phone that I just couldn’t resist. While it isn’t the greatest port it could have been, it gets the job done. If you’ve bought a phone in the last few years, there’s a good chance your device will be able to run The Dark Prince much better than even an OLED Switch could, and have it look much better in every way. I wish they put just a little bit more effort into it. Vertical display options, more customizable graphics options (a framerate cap would be nice!), and controller support would be great incentives to have this be your go-to version of the game. It’s certainly compelling since this version of the game has content parity with the PC version and is available at a launch discount of $23.99 until 9/22/2024. For now, I think I’ll stick to the Steam Deck.
