Dislyte Review: A Unique and Upbeat Gacha RPG

For the longest time, gacha RPGs have plagued my free time in the best way possible. I can’t fathom how much time I’ve spent playing games like Genshin Impact and Cookie Run: Kingdom. The only issue I’ve had with the hardcore genre is how draining gameplay can be. It takes weeks, if not months, of grinding to reach end-game content, and for fickle people like me, playing for that long feels exhausting. So how do we gacha fanatics satiate our urges to roll for characters we’ll most likely never get? We transition and play another gacha RPG, featuring similar mechanics, with a fresh game design. Luckily for me, there’s a new title that’s kept me addicted to the genre for days in the stylish form of Dislyte.

Dislyte is a gacha RPG that twists on the genre with upbeat music, pop-influenced characters, and an alternative take on the classic elemental ability system. It features PvP and PvE gameplay modes, with a long list of characters to acquire through its gacha rolling mechanic. With a well-written storyline on top of everything else, Dislyte sets itself apart from the many mobile RPGs already on the market.

Image Credited to Dislyte | Lilith Games

As soon as you touch down in Dislyte, you’re introduced to the emergence of the Miracle, a mystical formation that is the source of Espers—humans chosen by mythological gods and imbued with magical power. The Miracle has given gifts to normal humans, but because of its emanating power, it’s also birthed catastrophic monsters that destroy cities and hurt innocent people. Funnily, although Espers possess godly powers, they live out their lives as millennials in a cyberpunk-themed world, earning an existence as singers, dance stars, and celebrities. This unexpected setup provides the main design hook in Dislyte.

The story starts with a band duo, Sieg and Brynn. Sieg has gone missing, and players, taking on the role of Brynn, need to get answers and track him down. Brynn, the embodiment of the Norse warrior known as Valkyrie, joins the Esper Union, a crime-fighting organization of Espers that protects the world from chaos. As part of that group, Brynn discovers the Esper Union’s dark opposite, the Shadow Decree, the antagonist he suspects kidnapped Sieg. The story unfolds from there, with more characters joining your team or opposing your journey to find Sieg.

Image Credited to Dislyte | Lilith Games

Although I’ve seen plenty of RPG stories playing off of similar tropes before, Dislyte’s classic tale crackles comedic riffs in the dialogue and unique dynamics between characters throughout the journey. I found the dialogue between Brynn and other characters well-written, amusing, and worth the journey in and of itself. As with most mobile RPGs, you can skip the dialogue, but I was so invested in Brynn’s journey towards finding Sieg that I just kept reading, which was something I didn’t expect from a gacha RPG. I’m absolutely the type to normally ignore lengthy in-game conversations due to my own impatience, but here I gladly took in all of the text.

Dislyte’s single campaign features twelve chapters, each full of new encounters as you progress. Most of the modes in the game require blending a team of five together to take on an opposing force. Those teams need to be balanced between fighters, healers, and support characters. Dislyte features an array of acquirable characters, but you’ll receive your first five naturally as you move through the story.

Image Credited to Dislyte | Lilith Games

To collect more characters, you’ll need to roll through the gacha mechanic called Echo. As you progressively get more characters, you’ll slowly create an ideal team suiting any activity in Dislyte. Characters come in three tiers of rarity that affect their overall power: legendary, epic, and rare. The hardest-to-get and best-performing units are legendary. You can level characters, enhance their abilities, and ascend and resonate them to make your character generally stronger. Ascending is enhancing abilities or upgrading their effects on your character, while resonating increases primary stats like HP and such. You can also equip relics with unique effects and stats that boost your character.

Sadly, like all gacha games, the pity system is exponentially high. You’re assured a legendary character after a hundred-twenty-one roll. That means that in order to guarantee yourself a legendary roll, you’d need to purchase at least $500 worth of gems to convert to gacha tickets. This egregious monetization is only forgivable because Dislyte’s gameplay is relatively well-balanced, so using epic or rare characters is viable. And they do offer a single legendary for beginners after ten rolls; it’s really only after those first ten turns that the pity system turns into a major headache. Thankfully, mostly every other achievement you make in the game rewards gold records, which are used to roll for characters. Additionally, gems are frequently given as a reward across most of the game modes and missions.

Image Credited to Dislyte | Lilith Games

If story doesn’t interest you, Dislyte also features various non-campaign PvE modes called Trials revolving around different ancient Miracle structures birthing all sorts of monsters. These game modes allow you to test your mettle against world bosses, supreme monstrosities, and other characters through one-off battles and floor-climbing challenges. From the get-go, the PvE activities were so fun. I enjoyed challenging strong enemies and the massive monster waiting at the boss level over and over. I think the greatest thing about Dislyte’s PvE modes was how rewarding they were when climbing the floors; I always received many resources after finishing a difficult level.

Dislyte also features two PvP modes: Arena and Point War. Arena allows you to battle other players, while Point War is a point-collecting activity requiring you to face real players and defeat them to acquire more points. Dislyte’s PvP modes didn’t pull in much of my interest. The Arena served as basically a training ground for me to test my team against others. Point War was pretty interesting, it definitely isn’t something I haven’t seen before since gameplay requires you to play against offline player’s accounts. There was usually not a major gap in power across players, but when there was a chance to face more powerful player, I never turned back from a challenge.

Image Credited to Dislyte | Lilith Games

I usually go into gacha games expecting bugginess or weird glitches in their first couple months, but Dislyte has mostly dodged those flaws. The biggest adjustment I had to get used to in Dislyte compared to similar games was just how it handles the layout of battles. Most games of this type have the two groups facing off on the left and right sides of the screen, but this one employs a more stylish vertical screen layout, with one side on the top and one on the bottom. I found this perspective unusual at first, but I got used to it eventually.

Besides that minor visual quirk, the only obvious struggle Dislyte faces is its gacha rolling system, but thanks to the beginner advantages the game provides and the gameplay consistency, I felt pretty satisfied with the balance overall. To be honest, I was genuinely surprised coming across Dislyte. It possesses all the qualities I love in gacha RPG titles, but it also changed my perspective through its unique, music-infused game design. Dislyte definitely marches to the beat of its own drum, but I would easily recommend it to anyone who loves gacha games or who happens to be looking for an RPG with a little more rhythm to it.

SCORE: 5 STARS OUT OF 5

PLAY IF YOU LIKE:

• Genshin Impact. If you loved the world-recognized title by Hoyoverse, then you’ll love Dislyte. Both games have a long list of characters to acquire, all with unique abilities, design, and combat styles that’ll keep you chained to your chair, playing endlessly.

• AFK Arena is made by the same developers as Dislyte, Lilith Games. If you loved that auto-play gacha RPG, then you’ll likely adore Dislyte. They’re distinct games, as AFK Arena features more fantasy-based characters, while Dislyte focuses on an upbeat cyberpunk theme, but both games follow a similar approach to the overall design.