Actually... (UPDATED JANUARY 2021) – Draconius GO: Catch a Dragon! Review

I’m adding a star because at some point, the developers finally listened and had Champions not take over Arenas. This was the easy way out for them—the correct answer would have been to have yellow be the color of the NPC team, but I guess that would have been too much work—but I need to positively reinforce developers listening to users, and there just isn’t much reason to spend money in-game. Or to play the game at all. I’m glad that NPCs no longer assail me with the false hope that more people are playing this game, but that doesn’t fix the fact that more people aren’t playing this game. And I can’t really blame them. I think I’ve logged on twice in the past year. This is due in part to coronavirus—or, specifically, this game’s failure to pivot and make the game stay relevant or even compatible with players prioritizing their health during a planetwide plague. Spawn rates are too low, so I never knew that there would be more than one creature to catch without using items. And the bestiary has mostly stagnated for years(?) at this point, meaning that I’m almost positive that there’s nothing new to catch even if I do boost the spawns around me. And while Pokémon and other games increased the interaction radius around the player, Draconius Go failed to make any adjustments in this regard. This game started out as an ambitious rebuttal to Pokémon Go, when Pokémon Go was simultaneously the most popular and game-changing mobile game since the fall of Atlantis, as well as a cracked bowl of white-hot tumor soup. Throughout 2020, though, I had an awesome time with Pokémon Go because it kept evolving. Spawn rates improved, especially in rural areas. There are frequently interesting events and even something shyly glancing in the direction of a storyline. There’s connectivity with multiple Switch games. And I don’t want to hear about what a death sentence it is to develop indie Pokémon clones directly to the Switch console, because Nexomon Evolution is doing very well there and that’s the sequel to two smartphone games (one of which is one of my all-time favorite smartphone games). There are dynamic weather conditions, and they have a relevant effect on gameplay. And you know what they say: cosmetics are the true endgame, and Pokémon Go is slowly creeping toward parity with at least the earlier main-series games that offered character customization. Draconius Go is way behind in all these regards, and, other than an app icon update a few months ago, shows zero indication that anyone is really trying to make anything good or new happen here. Also, please bring back Clash & Go. It was a superior game and I miss it and Atlas Empires is doing the exact same thing with some success, so there really isn’t an excuse for having abandoned it.
Review by Monstevr on Draconius GO: Catch a Dragon!.