If you thought the gorgeously designed and artfully engaging beat 'em up title from Vanillaware was going to be a fairly short affair due to all the high-end, hand-drawn visuals diminishing the length of the game, think again. Dragon's Crown will clock in at a very, very, very impressive 20 hours.
The game is nearly a full fledged RPG, and the 20 hour mark for a single run through of each character puts it on par with other top-tier games like The Last of Us, Deus Ex or Assassin's Creed (if you decide to go skimpy with the side-missions). This is definitely great news for anyone who might be looking forward to Dragon's Crown but wasn't entirely sure about whether or not the price of admission would be worth it.
According to DualShockers, Atlus Japan confirmed the length of the game and noted that there are a ton of unlockables and hidden content sprinkled throughout the game like a well seasoned steak with hidden flavors right down to the bone.
DS wrote that...
Replayability is also granted because certain elements will be unlocked only after clearing the game once, and by additional features like the PvP Arena. Of course the fact that characters play radically different also helps extending the game’s longevity further.
PvP arena? Hmm, that sounds very interesting. Reminds me a lot of the progressive unlocks for the game Castle Crashers.
I love the idea of jam-packing a game with lots of content for gamers to unlock and enjoy over a period of time, as opposed to throwing everything and the shark out there and then trying to quickly follow it up with some poorly thought out DLC that ends up having gamers question if it was simply stripped form the game and resold at a premium price.
Atlus also rolled out a few more details on the game's multiplayer feature as well, indicating that in addition to the local cooperative play the game will also have two different online multiplayer modes, including a “Friend participation” option for people who are only on your friends list as well as a “Random participation” option for people who don't mind PUG'ing it up. Had this game been on the Xbox One at least you would know the PUG (or pick up group) would be moderated and standardized by the Troll Trap system. However, as it stands, you'll be dealing with a Wild West match making system on PSN.
You can look for Dragon's Crown to launch for the PS Vita and the PlayStation 3 this August for $39.99 and $49.99 respectively.
Need to learn more about the gameplay? Check out Gaming Blend's hands-on preview of the game or scope out the beautiful artwork and animations on display with the trailer below.
