I'm playing Dragon Quest Builders 2 on the Switch (it's also on PS4). I picked it up after playing the free demo. And I must say, this game is FANTASTIC!
I nearly missed it, too — I wasn't on the hype train until it was leaving the station. But Builders 2 is an incredible experience, and I'm going to try and break down why.
First, you should know that I'm not a Minecraft fan. Yet I love this game! That's because this game ISN'T a Minecraft clone.
Builders 2 is, in fact, a tightly structured and story-driven JRPG — one stuffed with characters and quests, loops and loot, and real-time battles where your allies follow you in the field, whacking baddies and leveling up. But what sets it apart from other JRPGs is your ability to build stuff. This is the connective tissue that allows for a degree of creativity and flexibility as to how you approach situations.
With your mallet, you whack and crack blocks — demolishing them in confetti bursts of debris (punctuated by a pang of rumble) and collapsing them into candy-coated icons that fly onto your toolbar at the bottom of the screen with a satisfying rat-a-tat-tat. And whacking a structure like a door, fence or table doesn't reduce it to material — rather, the item returns to your inventory, so there's no need to re-craft it.
You can pack away these icons in a bottomless bag (acquired early on) by simply scrolling to them on the toolbar and tapping Down on the D-Pad. Alternatively, you can call them up by selecting an open slot and tapping Up to open your inventory. It's quick and easy!
Similarly satisfying is the act of plopping blocks into place or positioning fixtures and pieces of furniture. You can toggle between third-person and first-person views with a click of the right stick, and in first-person view you place things where your cursor is aiming, even if you're far away. Its position and placement is outlined in bright orange, so there's no ambiguity as to what goes where. Everything snaps together with a stickiness that is tight and precise.
But again, this is NOT Minecraft. It is a proper JRPG, one that is highly scripted and dialogue-heavy. The writing is endearing — funny and full of sensory details, so that you know what a town smells like, or how the food tastes.
Everything is FOCUSED. You always have an objective to follow, clearly marked on your compass and map. There are characters with lively personalities, backstories and arcs where they change and grow. There is history and lore to the world — a world where the very act of creation itself has been forbidden by cultists worshipping a god of destruction.
You see, you start out on a slave ship manned by a literal skeleton crew. This is the game's tutorial and first half of the demo. Then you're shipwrecked on a barren island (which is where you resume the full game if you keep your save data from the demo — no need to repeat the tutorial). This island is an open-ended sandbox to which you'll return with residents and resources, building it up to your heart's content. It's also a multiplayer hub for up to four players, local and online; you can even record blueprints of each other's structures for easy reproduction in your own game. But this island is largely optional.
The critical path follows several OTHER islands — each rich in resources, with its own climate, its own town to develop, and its own story and cast of characters. And it's here where the JRPG framework comes into play. You nearly always have one (or several tasks) to follow; you're never left to amble aimlessly. You know where to go from your map and compass, and the mechanics make it fun getting there.
For example, you have a stamina-based dash, and later a cape that functions like a paraglider — both clearly inspired by Breath of the Wild. In another nod to that game, there are environmental puzzles peppered throughout the world, reminiscent of Korok seeds, so there's a continual sense of discovery if you keep your eyes peeled. For example, you might see some ruins with an empty pool, and a brook dammed up by a single stone. Demolish it to fill the pool, and you'll receive a prize.
You also activate fast-travel points that you can warp between freely without penalty. On the Switch version, there's a minute-long load upon first booting the game, but after that, load times are short (and accompanied by snapshots taken by other players), even when you're warping between distant points on the top-down map. So you can quickly reach faraway places — and here you'll meet new characters, learn new mechanics and more.
You can outfit yourself and your allies with crafted weapons and armor. They help you retrieve materials and fight enemies. Unlike BotW, your tools and weapons are indestructible. As you battle — whether out in the field, or fending off the occasional wave attacking your base — you level up, increasing your health and stamina. As you level up, you learn new recipes — items you can build with the right materials. And as you fulfill requests, you will also learn recipes for new features in town, such as rooms with specific purposes for the NPCs (i.e. a bedroom, barn, bathhouse, outhouse, kitchen, etc).
As you do this, your townspeople go about their daily routines, breathing life into town. The villagers will eat breakfast and dinner if you fill a chest with harvested crops and provide them with tables, stools and supperware. They will sleep at night in the bedding you provide them. They will till the land and water crops in the fields you restore with the help of a giant earthworm. They will line up to use the outhouse and leave "night soil" for you to collect from the toilets. They will patrol the pathways and guard the farm.
And no matter what they do, the villagers drop "hearts of gratitude" for you to pick up. The hearts are how you level up your base, ringing the town's bell when you fill the meter. Leveling up your base helps advance the story, and also rewards you with a bounty of new recipes and skills for the townsfolk, further streamlining the busywork of running a farm. You also attract new residents to town whenever you level up the base, which means more helping hands.
I find myself grinning each time I level up the base. It's adorable watching the chibi-style townsfolk pump their lil' fists in the air while going "Haha! Yay! Haha! Yay!" This game is incredibly charming. And while it's continuously introducing new ideas and new gameplay, it's never overwhelming, and I find myself eagerly engaging with each new item and option. The many interlocking systems are intuitive to follow, and multiplicative in how they enhance one another.
And the atmosphere... *chef's kiss* There's nothing cozier in games than wandering the lush gardens of your town at night, the torches burning brightly (even in the rain) while your townsfolk sleep soundly in their beds. There's a sense of wonder to the world as you climb to a high point (or build one yourself!) and survey the vast draw distance of the world around you.
I've seen footage of slowdown on Switch, but so far I haven't encountered much — and when I have (after setting up hundreds of light sources on my farm), it's still perfectly playable. Personally, I find Builders 2 utterly absorbing on a handheld, even if it drains the battery at a comparable rate to BotW (within 2-3 hours). But you can't go wrong playing either version.
There's so much to say, but I think I'll end it there. It's been awhile since a game has gotten its hooks into my mind like this. It killed my productivity this weekend when I was planning to get ahead on my stories for work. Instead I was up all night until six in the morning, scurrying around my town, slapping sconces on the walls and setting up fences, trying to make the place feel just a bit more like home. :-3
