Dusk Diver 2 Review

Game: Dusk Diver 2
Genre: Action, RPG
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam (Windows & Linux) and PS4)
Developer|Publisher: WANIN International | Idea Factory, Reef Entertainment
Age Rating: EU 12+ | US Teen
Price: US $49.99 | UK £44.99 | EU € 49,99
Release Date: August 30th, 2022

Review code provided with many thanks to Reef Entertainment.

Dive In 

The original Dusk Diver, like many anime looking games, developed quite the following on its original release. An RPG with action fighting mechanics managed to impress the world enough that a sequel was greenlit and now here we are today. I’ll do my usual, lay my cards out on the table and admit I haven’t played the first game which might automatically irritate this game’s dedicated fan base. I guess for those fans I can probably say with confidence that if you liked the first game you’ll probably already own the sequel and I hope it was everything you wanted. For me, I was generally quite impressed with the game except for one major area of gameplay. But let’s dive in shall we?

By Day Student by Night Chaos Beast Slayer 

As to be expected Dusk Diver 2 continues the story from the first game. Since I’m an outsider I was initially quite lost in the plot. You play as a young girl, Yumo, who enters another dimension called Youshanding to fight these chaos beasts. Only in this realm she has glowy hair like she became some Dragon Ball Z character. After I defeated the first dungeon-like area I then returned to the real world of Ximending, a district in the city off Taipei. Here I had to go to school, as well as help run a small store in the city which was owned by a ceramic bear shaped money jar called ‘boss’. So for me it certainly ticked all the boxes of ‘anime as heck’ plot.

After playing through this the game then decided to unlock a gallery to inform me of the plot of the first game. Why this wasn’t just available from the start seemed a bit odd. The game has likable characters. My favourite is Leo, who is one of the main runners of the store you work at and often accompanies you on quests. He often has plenty of supportive things to say and unconditionally has your back. If only I had a dude like that at my place of work I’d be a lot happier.

I did find myself getting quite caught up in the plot of these young folk taking on the Chaos Beast menace. But you can still expect plenty of rather pointless dialogue moments where characters will talk about their thoughts, feelings or lost items which adds little to the story but is kinda part of the course with these anime-like RPGs. Voice acting is in Japanese only with English subtitles. 

Explore the City Before Dungeon Diving

The general flow of the game is that you roam around the district of Ximending. You complete side quests and get to the odd combat encounter which you can choose to engage with or avoid. You can look for collectibles and eat at a plethora of food stations. These provide you with stat buffs before you enter a dungeon or main quest. Main quests often have you heading into the Youshanding dimension exploring a dungeon like environment. You seek out chests and loot and of course you try to complete the objective.

During your exploration you’re regularly interrupted with enemy encounters where you are locked into an area you can’t escape until you dispatch all the nasties. You then repeat this until you face up to the inevitable boss encounter. It’s another example of thank goodness for the Switch’s suspend feature since some quests can go on for an exceptionally long period of time before you reach a save point.

Experience from encounters can be used to level up specific perks for each character so you can tailor them to your liking. Be cautious though because you need to spend this experience between all party members; it’s not exclusive to each individual character. Saving, leveling and strangely inventory management are handled at designated spots of the game world. It’s a little odd you have to use these spots to map potions and revive crystals to your characters, rather than just letting you do that in the pause screen. 

Get Ready, Fight!

For me, the combat has the biggest praise and the biggest issues. Let’s start with the good. The 3D combat to control is satisfying and a lot of fun. You have multiple moves to play around with from the usual light and strong attack to a generous amount of special moves to activate. That is, provided you have enough stamina. More moves can be unlocked and even upgraded as the game progresses. Each playable character has a distinct move set which is enjoyable to experience and experiment with. You can satisfyingly knock enemies against the walls and perform an additional move to cause more damage. While fighting you can build up a meter to then activate a sort of rage start, which lasts for a short duration. All these moves feel different for every character. Switching characters during battle is easy but takes a bit of time to switch back, which is a shame as it feels you could do some neat juggling combos if you change instantly. 

So where’s the issue you ask? Well it’s the enemies, dear reader. Enemies take far too long to destroy. So much of the game is spent repeating the same moves over and over because the darn enemies just won’t KO already. As predicted this problem worsens further in, boss battles take forever to take down. You may complain about the ending to Return of the King in the Lord of the Rings but it has nothing on this. It just adds up to an experience which is tedious and boring. And it’s such a shame too as the game does so much right to falter at this significant gameplay hurdle. 

Tickling the Nostalgia

Graphics are pretty good. Characters are vibrant and diverse with various different tastes in fashion. The district of Ximending feels alive and lived in with NPCs wandering about their day. The Youshanding dimension is darker and more depressing with a technological feel to it and most certainly a feeling of dread and loneliness as you explore. The music is fun and pumping with a sort of disco feel to it at times. I was very fond of the sound effects made during combat which sounded exactly like the combat moves in the original Streets of Rage on Mega Drive, bringing back all sorts of nostalgia for me. Performance is good for the most part on TV and handheld. There are noticeable drops in frame rate in places and NPCs will turn into colourful silhouettes the more distance you move from them. But none of this interfered with gameplay for me. 

Conclusion – Good But Not Quite a Knockout 

Dusk Diver 2 wasn’t quite the 1, 2 punch it could have been. The biggest critique of the experience lies in its enemies and boss battles with enormous health bars leading to incredibly boring encounters marring the overall game experience. If I move this aside the game does so much right. An intriguing cast of characters and a plot I felt invested in. The combat system itself is fun to experiment with, with multiple unique playable characters. If you’re a fan of the first game I can see you overlooking the game’s flaws and finding incentive to return to this world. If you’re new and curious I would probably suggest trying the first title before jumping into the sequel. I like Dusk Diver 2 but I would have loved it if the combat was less of a chore. 

Final Verdict: I Like it