Netflix continues to expand its gaming library, and I got to check out The Dragon Prince: Xadia and Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure during Summer Game Fest! Let’s dive in.
The Dragon Prince: Xadia
Based on the beloved animated series, The Dragon Prince: Xadia has players engage in hectic hack-and-slash co-op action through various dungeons and locales that expand on the show’s lore while taking players through MMO and MOBA-style bosses and raids. And it’s a mobile title. But the developers promised no microtransactions!
Players can join up with friends or get matched with others to explore various instances. The instances I played were quick and designed for short bursts of play, but the developers indicated that longer instances would be available in the full game for those who are so inclined. Our group of four selected our loadouts from a variety of available characters and were off!
Upon arriving in the instance, players can buy items or upgrades from a shop before proceeding to combat. We got dropped into a boss instance that displayed many of the game’s MMO inspirations: AOE indicators, tracking lasers that forced movement from players, and other genre staples that surfaced during this boss fight. As a mage, I spammed fire spells and an ultimate meteor attack from a distance while one of my party members — playing a melee/archery combo class — engaged in closer-ranged combat.
What stood out most from my conversation with the developers was their commitment to the game’s worldbuilding. The Dragon Prince: Xadia is canon, following new scenarios designed by the same creative team as the show to ensure consistency. I’m a lore nut who will fall down fan wiki rabbit holes to learn more about series I love, so hearing that the developers were considering this aspect while designing the game in conjunction with the show was encouraging.
The Dragon Prince: Xadia is shaping up to be a fun treat for fans of this world who just can’t get enough of it! The game will launch on July 30th for iOS and Android devices. If you have yet to see the game’s trailer, watch it below, and you can sign up for game updates on the official website.
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
This charming puzzle adventure follows a small-town misfit named Jemma as she leaves her town on a journey of self-discovery. And charmed I was! The art style is incredibly cute and oozes personality. The developers shared that they found aesthetic and narrative inspirations from the likes of The Legend of Zelda and A Short Hike, and that comfiness and warmth really shines through.
I got to play through the introductory segment of the game, with Jemma navigating her town as she bids her farewells and searches for a suitable place to stash all the old stuff around her house. We learn about the main movement mechanic in this world: players control Jemma and her surroundings on a sliding grid, with objects in the overworld interacting in unique ways. For example, while Jemma can normally slide to the end of a row or column and end up on the opposite side, a boulder placed at the end of a row or column will block her from doing so.
Much of the fun of the game’s puzzles lies in discovering how different objects interact or otherwise affect movement in the overworld. Monsters may be blocking a path, but sliding a sword onto the monsters will defeat them and open the way. You might have encountered a locked door earlier in town, but now you’ve found the key to open it. The puzzle becomes finding a way to slide that key all the way back to the locked door.
The demo ended with a boss battle against a giant serpentine monster whose weakness involved manipulating the game world to stretch and twist the monster around so that its tail end hits its face. After each hit on the boss, obstacles in the room rearranged in a way that kept the fight interesting throughout. The developers commented that they constantly sought to innovate with the puzzle design like this: to create new types of interactions like this battle rather than just iterate on earlier puzzles for the duration of the game.
I was engrossed with Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure during my time with it. The puzzles were innovative and unique enough to give me that feeling of satisfaction when I solved them, but not so difficult or obtuse that I felt stumped. The game even has options to skip puzzles if you’re just not feeling a particular one. And the story seemed heartfelt! I enjoyed meeting Jemma and the quirky characters of her town. The developers mentioned that the game may have a lighthearted tone, but players can expect this story to go to deeper places as Jemma’s journey of self-discovery unfolds. I’ll be looking forward to where it takes us.
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure will launch on July 25th on iOS and Android for Netflix members, and Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC, and macOS for anyone. Thank you to Netflix and Summer Game Fest for the chance to play these two titles!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.