A potential MMORPG hit for mobile, if more work is put in | Open Beta Preview - Dragon and Home

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Dragon and Home is a MMORPG sandbox crafting game that already been released for PC in 2021 and is currently on Open Beta for mobile devices in the North American Region.

🟩Pros

+A mix of sandbox-style crafting gameplay and MMORPG elements

+The visuals and soundtrack exceed my expectations

+Lots of content and huge world to explore

🟥Cons

-Grindy progression

-Boring introduction and new player experience

-Touchscreen controls need refinement

Dragon and Home is a sandbox-style MMORPG that combines crafting, Minecraft-style blocky graphics, and traditional MMORPG elements to create a fun and lighthearted game. Reminiscent of games like Hytale and Minecraft (but in third person). For the purpose of this article, I played the mobile version open beta.

The game starts off by allowing the player to create their own character and naming it themselves. The premise of the game is reminiscent of a typical Isekai story, where the player wakes up in an outpost as the hero chosen by the Tree of Life to save the world. The player is aided by the somewhat rude Witch Sakura, who teaches the player survival skills and helps them embark on an adventure to retrieve the Seed of World, which is needed to sustain and save the dying Tree of Life.

Immediately from the start, what I noticed about Dragon and Home was its clean smooth graphics. For a game with Minecraft-style blocky graphics, the graphics are actually quite impressive. The lighting is well done, with even motion blur and smooth anti-aliasing baked in, which I suspect is thanks in part to the Unreal Engine powering it. I was able to play the game on my 2018 flagship phone without any performance issues, which was a pleasant surprise. The soundtrack also exceeded my expectations, with its fantasy classical/upbeat tones, and I found it to be more catchy than I anticipated. The voice-acting, while sounding a little bit kid-friendly is actually decent.

The gameplay starts off by teaching the player the ropes, including how to gather resources, survive, and craft items like Pickaxes and axes to chop down trees and rocks for resources. The player is also taught how to hunt and combat various animals for food and additional resources. Pretty typical mechanics for a crafting/survival game, but slowly being infused with MMORPG mechanics.

The first few hours of gameplay are dedicated to learning the ropes and focusing on crafting and survival, which can be a bit slow and unenergetic. The game lacks action in the early stages, and the new player experience could benefit from more excitement to captivate players.

The game features three classes, which are the typical archer, mage, and warrior classes. The maximum level is only 20, but from what I've learned and experienced about this game so far, this game is grindy all the way through, with heavy focus on endless crafting and farming. Microtransactions are available at a certain level, which can heavily impede the player's progress.

Most of the fun is gated and geared towards the higher levels, and the first couple of levels can be rather boring. As for the three classes: The warrior class focuses on tanking, gear, and defense, while the archer class focuses on DPS and making the game primarily a shooter. The mage class provides early game action and a variety of spells to use, although spells can take time to cast

One of my main gripes with the game was the controls. The position of the on-screen left stick can be quite frustrating, as it is strictly on the tiny part of the left side of the screen, causing me to accidentally move the camera quite frequently. The controls need more refining, especially with the position and behavior of the on-screen left stick, which needs to be configurable.

Dragon and Home’s crafting elements, Minecraft-style graphics, and MMORPG gameplay creates a lighthearted and kid friendly gaming experience. The game offers a lot of content, with a heavy focus on crafting and farming, and players can expect to sink many hours into the game if they enjoy these types of activities. The graphics and soundtrack are both above expectations, and the game runs smoothly on most mobile devices if I'm judging by its performance on my old android phone.

Conclusion:

Despite its combination lighthearted tone, crafting elements, and MMORPG gameplay. There are various issues in the game that need more refinement. The new player experience needs improvement, and the game is super grindy requiring many hours of crafting and grinding, with microtransactions on top of it hindering progress. The controls also need refinement, especially with how the touchscreen controls are handled. Ultimately, the game has potential, and with further development, it could become a popular MMORPG especially with its future availability to both mobile and PC platforms and a child-friendly presentation.