A swirl of digital distortion clouds your view, reality skewed through a lens of sheer delusion. A vast dream-scape of swirling lights, woven together with error codes, popups, and just about everything in-between floods your vision. Dizzy and disoriented, you step back.
How the hell did you get here?
“What happened?” You asked yourself in sheer bewilderment.
“You fell into a Cocoon.” A thick, intelligent voice thrummed behind you unexpectedly. Turning, you find yourself frozen in place, half in awe, partially in fear. Before you looms a magnificent beast, scales of red and blue shimmering in the warped neon lights.
A dragon.
“A-a…” Words elude you, and somehow you find the distance between you and the hulking behemoth have grown in a very small span of time.
“A Cocoon… is a distorted pocket of space caused by Cognitive Pollution…” The amusement in the creatures tone is unmistakable. It shuffles cautiously, closing the gap, it’s beautiful wings flaring- a dizzying array of beautiful azure membranes stretching in response.
“All will be explained in due time. Come, human. We have a pact to make…”

The first Dragon you make a pact with: Zorye.

Dragon Spirits 2is the sequel to Dragon Spirits, created by an indie developer who goes by the handle FHNBHJ. The prior works they have listed are all predecessors of the Dragon Spirits Titles. While I have not played the former, I am a sucker for a good monster collector/battler, so I was absolutely excited to take a look and see what the game has to offer. I will say immediately, this feels much more akin to a visual novel-so while there is combat involved, players looking for something akin to Pokémon may want to try out the demo before committing. If you can, however, imagine immersing yourself in a story line that feels similar to something out of a Digimon game, presented in a style closer to Danganronpa- this might just be for you.

Western localization could certainly use some help.

One thing to note going into Dragon Spirits 2, as stated above, as it is more of a Visual Novel style game: There is a LOT of reading. If you’re looking for a title jam packed with loads of action and adventure: You won’t find it here. Not in the way you want. Slow readers may be frustrated, or skip the dialogue all together. In the same note, the localization of the title is rough. While entirely readable, the mentality of the wording, use of phrases, and other aspects are very obviously geared in the native language (Chinese).The translation provided is really for sole functionality- not for a native English speakers enjoyment. Some players might find this harder to follow, as there is a lot of philosophical deviation, and it can become distracting to the plot. There is an obviously a huge influence here from other familiar titles, as mentioned above. You’ll absolutely get Pokémon, and BLATANT Digimon vibes, mixed with the visual novel approach of Danganronpa. Interestingly enough, I personally felt there was some inspiration from Shin Megami Tensei works as well (Persona, Digital Devil Saga, Nocturne). This begs the question, for all the inspiration, how functional is the title?

Your main method of movement.

As far as exploration, Dragon Spirits 2 feels fairly linear, while still allowing you some room to “explore”, in it’s limit capacity. Most movement is dictated thought prompts, or some map-like menus. There are specific location that will have random encounters (and I do say “random” QUITE loosely), and some locations where you can battle with other “users”. Other locations are littered with point and click prompts to further give narrative to the world Dragon Spirits 2 takes place in. Some are merely text, others provide you with items, or full heal for your team. While far from perfect, the core overall interface is really functional, and gets the job done. Generally screen are in a circular loop, allowing you to pan left or right depending on the circumstance, collecting items, speaking with NPSs, and engaging in random encounters as you go.

A standard encounter.

When it comes to managing your dragons, I was pleasantly surprised with how well done the menu is. Again, far from perfect, and perhaps missing some QOL polish most of us have come to expect, but I was thoroughly impressed for an indie title. Dragons level through gained experience, or by bottles of “will” that act as instant exp boosters. As dragons level, they gain stats as well as additional abilities, all of which are managed through your menu. At any given time, a dragon can have 4 equipped abilities, as well as one trinket slot. It’s very easy to use, leaving no real room for confusion. Overall, when it comes down to technical management, I think it’s quite well done for an indie title. Technical aspects aside, there is also some solid game play.

Managing your dragons is surprisingly easy and straightforward.

Behind a lot of dialogue, there is some fairly creative combat at play. Mechanics are about as standard as you would expect for a creature battler, with a fairly straight forward game play loop. However, the main thing to keep in mind is, this is a very “lite” version of a creature collector visual novel. Select from 4 attacks (you have many more to select from, each having different effects, as well as damage types) as well as a trinket to equip. You can have a team consisting of 4 dragons which you collect by making pacts. Pacts are effectively defeat conditions: Beating them with a certain damage type, beating them while they have no specific status ailment, or owning a specific item, for example. In total there are 80 dragons to collect, each one you gain also unlocking a Steam Achievement. (Completionists, beware!)

By far one of my favorite examples of some of the quirky visual style Dragon Spirits 2 brings to the table.

Overall, Dragon Spirits 2 is a shockingly well crafted game, considering how small of a development team they have. I was surprised by how cohesive it was functionally, though the story was not nearly as engaging as I had hoped. While I see a glimmer of interest there, I think for native English speakers to really grasp on to what the story really is, it will absolutely require additional support. While translated LITERALLY, it isn't translated in a way a Western audience would find immersive, hence potentially limiting it's own scope. The art is stunning and beautiful, from character design to the dragons themselves. If you are a sincere visual novel enthusiast, achievement hunter, and creature battler, this is a game you very well may enjoy, though more casual gamers may opt to give this title a pass.

Dragon Spirits 2 is available on Steam for $13.99 USD.