It’s easy to forget that gacha isn’t a genre. It’s a game mechanic. While the vast, vast majority of gacha games are swords and sorcery RPGs, the mechanic fits just as well in other kinds of games. Arcade bullet-hell shooters, …
It’s easy to forget that gacha isn’t a genre. It’s a game mechanic. While the vast, vast majority of gacha games are swords and sorcery RPGs, the mechanic fits just as well in other kinds of games.
Arcade bullet-hell shooters, for example. Dragon Flight, from LINE Games, takes the conceit of unlocking new characters to bulk up your army and applies it to the classic arcade shooter genre.
The result is a gacha game that might just be palatable to those of us who are in danger of becoming burned out on mages, archers, and warriors.
Action-wise, Dragon Flight sees you moving vertically up the screen, blasting enemies that enter through the top. Ordinance automatically flows from your craft – a dragon, naturally – in a perpetual stream of burning death, so all you need to do is swipe left and right to get enemies into your sights and avoid oncoming hazards.
In each mode you’ve got a single main dragon, dishing out the majority of the pain, and two smaller hatchlings to flesh out your assault. You can swap out the pilot of your main dragon, as well as the hatchlings, allowing you to optimise.
Dragon Flight has the basic presentation and gameplay of a bullet-hell shooter, but a simplified one, since it doesn’t let you move vertically.
However, while the shooty action is simpler, everything else is a million times more complicated. This is where the gacha stuff comes in.
In essence, each run in Dragon Flight is both an attempt to get as far as you can and a looting exercise that lets you earn gold and other items with which to increase the size and strength of your dragon pilot army, so that you can get further next time.
There are several different modes in Dragon Flight, including Arena, League Battle, and Squad. League Battle is the principle gameplay mode, and it sees you either competing with other players for a higher rank or taking part in stages.
As with any good gacha game, each session typically involves doing a round of different modes to collect all the loot that you can, and the stages are likely to be your first ports of call.
Objectives vary, from taking down a couple of very robust opponents to swooping, swerving, and shooting your way through a proper bullet-hell stage, complete with hulking bosses and patterns of missiles to dodge.
League Battles, meanwhile, are also akin to traditional bullet-hell stages, but these are much tougher. They’re subject to Cataclysm Effects, too, which are elemental and change every day.
For instance, the Cataclysm Event for today might be Hatchling Fire Attribute Enhancement, so it you equip a fire hatchling you’ll enjoy a buff.
Each new day brings its own monster type and boss type, too, so you need to stay on your toes.
Squad mode is like a miniature guild feature, letting you get special rewards for playing against other squads. The Arena, meanwhile, is a straight PvP mode where you compete with other players to finish stages.
Dragon Flight is an odd but enjoyable mix of all-out action and deep inventory management. There are all sorts of items to collect, use, equip, enhance, and so on. Plus, new heroes and hatchlings to summon and cultivate.
There are garments that you can equip to your heroes for various effects such as final flight duration, increased character attack, increased hatchling EXP, and a million other things. There are weapons, too, plus food to level up your hatclings, and you can research and equip Crests for additional perks and abilities.
In other words, Dragon Flight is a rich, fully featured gacha RPG as well as a rich, fully featured shooter. And it works. Outside the fairly straightforward loot-hoarding stages, the gameplay is legitimately challenging, and it’s satisfying to beef up your dragons, tweak your squad, and reap the rewards as your once-feared enemies disintegrate like paper.
Dragon Flight is a double threat, with something for RPG fans and shooter fans alike. If you fall into either category, or even if you’re up for trying something new, it’s well worth checking out.
There’s also a code for all new players that allows you to claim 100 crystals for free up until the 31st of November. Simply enter DRAG-ONFL-IGHT-GLOB on the Coupon page – accessed via clicking the ‘Other’ option on the right side of the screen.
Download Dragon Flight now via Google Play or the App Store.
