As a '90s kid, I grew up with a Game Boy in my hands and had every iteration of the console up until Nintendo introduced the DS. I've got a huge collection of games that I'm adding to all the time and frequently revisit classic titles like Oracle of Ages and Seasons, as well as all of the early Pokémon titles. There's something incredibly wholesome about sitting down and playing handheld titles, and even though I've got a Switch and PS5 in the living room, I've been glued to my Chromatic for the past month playing a game that has well and truly got me in its clawed grasp.
I've grown up playing Zelda titles my entire life, relishing in the puzzles and interacting with NPCs to find clues and trade items. I've also played a lot of Pokémon and had to think about which potions and items to use and which attacks to pull off at the right time. Dragonyhm combines all of these elements and more while taking a few ingredients from RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Suikoden, which I think you can agree is the perfect recipe for any game.
I'm a fantasy nerd through and through, and with all the Eragon books on my bookshelf, anything with Dragons is always going to be a win. I guess that's why I'm so obsessed with Dragonyhm; the last game that got me this hooked was God of War Ragnorok, an AAA title on the most powerful home console around. Still, this 8-bit title from Spacebot Interactive has had me gripped from the very beginning cutscene and made me feel a sense of extreme achievement and terrible stupidity all at once.
I'm almost done with the last dungeon now and wanted to give you my thoughts on this epic game without giving too many spoilers away. I will warn you though, the pictures below will give away some information about the weapons and armour you can pick up through the game, so read ahead at your own peril!
NB: This game was purchased by myself and not sent to Retro Dodo for review. All thoughts are my own and taken from extensive (and I mean extensive) gameplay sessions.
Dragonyhm is an incredible RPG that fans of fantasy novels and old-school RPGs will soak up like a sponge. The narrative is perfectly written with mysterious characters and highly engaging battles throughout. The difficulty is high in certain areas with clues hard to come by, however, meaning it could leave some gamers feeling frustrated.
- Price: $44.99, £37.99
- Compatible With: ModRetro Chromatic, Game Boy Color, Analogue Pocket
- Available From: ModRetro
A Stunning RPG From Spacebot Interactive
Everything about Dragonyhm is made for fantasy lovers. From the moment you turn the game on and see an image of Kurtis looking out over the ocean, cape blowing in the wind, you're gripped by a sense of adventure and epic quests. You can tell that this is a modern game made for older systems as the puzzles and challenges are on a whole different plane of difficulty to other games that came out in the '90s. It's definitely something that fans of Breath of the Wild could enjoy as well as gamers who grew up playing early RPGs.
One thing I love is that there's no training session or introductory area where you practice your moves - games for old-school consoles stick to old-school values, which means you'll need to look to the included manual to figure out what's what. There's an opening cutscene that feels a little like the start of 'Lady in the Water' or 'The Wind Waker' to keep things in the world of gaming which draws you in, but as there's no voiceover, you'll find all the information you need about the characters and the storyline in the manual too. Ah, the good old days of opening the instruction booklet and smelling that new-game goodness!
What's In The Box
Before I get too far ahead of myself, let's take a look at what comes in the box. As with every game for the Chromatic, Dragonyhm comes with a manual, a physical game cart in a plastic insert, and a little charm to hang from your handheld. The little charm here is of a Quakzal, a small water-dwelling creature that you use to capture fish to sell in the game, and I'll come onto that in a second. The cartridge has a sparkly finish to it that reminds me a little of Pokémon Gold. It's all the kind of stuff that 90's me would have gone wild for and I really appreciate these little details.
The Importance Of The Manual
I think I've said the word 'manual' more times than I ever have in my life so far, and that's for a very good reason. I will say now that I should have read the manual a lot earlier to discover how to get my defence stat up rather than waiting till I was past Level 40 - that's a little hint from me if you do end up playing this game.
As well as having information about the plotline, the main characters, how to upgrade stats, what the different items mean, etc, the manual contains a guide on how to read both Classical and Modern Archendi. You'll need to refer to your manual to transcribe instructions in challenge dens along the way, uncovering specific instructions on how to obtain Dragon Scales. We've written a guide about how to get through the first translation puzzle to get you started if you need a little helping hand.
The Stats Screen
Everything you'll need to find about your progress can be found in the stats screen. This is where you'll go to change armour and weapons, look at your items, see how many fish you have, check to see which key items you're carrying, and test out your magic spells to see their effects. Just like in Pokémon and every other RPG, you'll get new abilities as you level up, and each weapon you pick up has different properties and special attacks.
There are three types of attack; Normal Attacks, Strength Attacks which use Strength Points (SP), and Magic Spells which use Mana Points (MP). These get used up very quickly in the heat of a battle, so you'll need to make sure you visit a shop to stock up with different medicines every time you go into a dungeon (and also multiple times when you're in a dungeon too.
The Gameplay
This is why you came here - the gameplay in Dragonyhm is incredibly addictive and makes it impossible to put down. I started playing at 8 pm once and looked at the clock what I thought was a few minutes later, only to find that it was well after midnight!
One thing I will say before I go on is that this is a difficult game. In the beginning, I thought it was a little too difficult, but it's that difficulty and that persistent refusal to give up and wanting to understand why I couldn't get any further that kept me from going to a different game. I wanted that sense of victorious achievement and to beat the game!
There was only one time that I put my Chromatic down in anger and went to watch TV, only to pick it back up again 5 minutes later - that's the sign of a good game right there. There's also the option to increase the difficulty by collecting certain items through the game, but as most of the enemies I faced in the early stages sent me packing back to my in-game bed within minutes, I think I'll be passing on that opportunity!
You really have to look in every nook and cranny to discover how to get ahead in this game, and while in games like Zelda the clues are a little easier to understand, Dragonyhm requires you to piece together snippets from different areas and to employ a 'trial and error' way of getting through some of its puzzles. You know the phrase 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try, and try again?' Well, that should be the tagline for this game, but at least you'll level up a lot in the process.
Saving and Recovering
RPGs all seem to have one thing in common - heading to an inn or hotel to save the game and sleep off any ailments. You'll find the same thing in Suikoden and Holy Magic Century/Quest 64 too - just make sure you're wearing the right outfit when you head in otherwise you might get a frosty reception!
You'll find inns in the main cities, but you can also use save shrines in key locations like your house and dungeons. It's possible to recover from these shrines too, and you'll need to head back to these multiple times throughout levels in order to get your health back and save your medicine for key battles (cash is hard to come by in this game, and I'll come on to this soon).
Now, here's the other main reason why I'm not giving this game a full ten out of ten bar the difficulty; when you die, you go back to your house or the last inn that you slept in. It's very annoying and I'd much rather come back to the beginning of the dungeon that I'm in or the room that I was last in. Having said that, it's probably one of the reasons that I've been so determined to finish levels through sheer anger at having to trek back to the dungeon that I was just in every time - I will not be beaten!
Farming For Fish
You'll get a little Quakzal early on in the game from a fisherman. It looks a little like a platypus and could well be the cutest character in the game, hence why ModRetro have chosen to turn it into a little charm for their handheld. While you can get money from battles with enemies, they tend to only drop 2 or 3 coins per battle, meaning that you have to defeat a lot of them if you want to stock up on medicines, balms, and herbs, Having said that, the most expensive item is around 8 or 10 coins, so items aren't super expensive either. It's the kind of world I would love to live in.
Fishing is the easiest way to get money in the game; just head to a spot where you can see fish jumping out of the water and set your Quakzal loose. You'll need to move your Quakzal from the water to eat the fish, and you can only hold 15 at any one time before you need to go and sell them. Fish are worth 1 coin each, but selling 15 at once a few times will give you enough for all the items you need.
The Graphics
Graphically, Dragonyhm is beautiful. From snowy scenes to rainy lakes, every element of the game has been crafted perfectly. The character sprites are all very different and hold their own unique personalities. They're incredibly detailed too, and Kurtis' armour sets all provide a different vibe to your gameplay session.
Areas load very quickly too; there's no waiting for things to render or glitchy elements that detract from the overall gameplay. The cutscenes are all amazing too; capturing the tension of jumping up through a volcano while a dragon flies around you on an 8-bit title must be quite difficult, but Dragonyhm does it in a way that you forget you're actually holding a Game Boy at all. As I said, it's a game for fantasy lovers, and you get lost in the story very easily.
Final Thoughts
- Beautifully crafted sprites
- Amazing storyline with exciting battles
- Lots of puzzles to solve
- Full colour manual that you'll need to refer to throughout the game
- High-level of difficulty
- Returning to your house or inn after every defeat can get a little tiresome
If you haven't already guessed, I've thoroughly enjoyed playing Dragonyhm. Spacebot Interactive have made an incredible game here and put all of their passion for 8-bit RPGs into it. It's managed to capture me in a way that many modern titles haven't and has me thinking like a military tactician when battling.
You will definitely struggle in the dungeons, but part of the fun is sticking with each puzzle to the end and coming out the other side victorious. Remember to battle often, stock up on protective balm, and fish regularly and you'll be fine. Oh, and watch out for the Skullheads; those things are brutal!
