Defender's Quest 2: Mists of Ruin Steam Charts & Stats

[i]Defender's Quest 2: Mists of Ruin[/i] is a game marked by [url="https://www.fortressofdoors.com/i-lost-my-son/"]a great personal tragedy in Lars Doucet's life[/url]. As tacky as it sounds, it's true that this [b]real, heart-breaking[/b] tragedy spawned a [i]tiny, petty[/i] tragedy: DQ2 is going to be the last follow-up to DQ1 ever made. [h1]Good core game coated in colossal disappointment[/h1] Let's ignore any hopes we might've had from the previews across 12 years of development: Nobuo Uematsu's completed track lost to a licensing kerfuffle, the alluring plot scrapped when James Cavin was poached by [i][/i] the studio behind [i]Temple Run[/i](?!), and the artist behind original cute Final-Fantasy-Tactics-esque sprites disappearing so completely they're not even mentioned in [url="https://www.defendersquest2.com/faq"]the FAQ[/url]. The grass is always greener in the concept art, game dev is a rocky road, and DQ2's situation is dire enough. [h2]Gameplay is great[/h2] The core gameplay of [i]Defender's Quest 1: Valley of the Forgotten[/i] [b]is still there[/b]. DQ1 started to truly shine in Hero Mode, and DQ2 is made for it from the ground up. While there's only 8 hero towers (and only 2 of them aren't just takes on the archetypes from DQ1) followed by 4 simple minions, [b]all of them[/b] are versatile and interesting. The maps and the mobs alike offer satisyfing and varied challenge, and the progression feels buttery smooth (shout out to the developer mauve!). Even the infamous [i]"two characters only, two paths, hardest Perfect in the game"[/i] level makes an appearance, but this time it's fun, [i]not[/i] an excercise in developing ulcers. Many people complain that all weapons and armors are 100% stat sticks - but I don't think more complex gear would have a room to breathe in DQ2 as it is; it was correct decision in the context. Unfortunately, all these praises don't extend to the Final Mission ([i]put a pin in that[/i]), and it's all downhill from here. [h2]Plot is bad[/h2] DQ1's plot was all-around solid, but what made it truly stand out was [i]genuinely the best video game antagonist I've ever seen in my 20+ years of gaming[/i]. Unfortunately, DQ2 [b]doesn't have a new Man in Red[/b], and falls at the many things DQ1 did right. (Well, maybe except likeable quirky characters; I'll grant it that.) DQ2 has no character hook for the protagonist. Evni Hunt has sworn some nebulous oath that's never elaborated upon, but she constantly keeps referencing as she rushes into a suicide mission to do the impossible; despite having that clear goal, she scoffs at being offered no-strings-attached, demonstrably competent help. By all accounts, she's just a dipshit with a halberd following an obvious trail. DQ2's "Big Bad" is a MacGuffin with no presence. The Dream King would make no appearance for 99% of the game if not for the intro; he's a man failing the Sexy Lamp test; yet, he's still sort-of treated as a character by writing and gameplay. DQ2 fails to be smooth. There's a string of cutscenes in Ch.3 that was completely incoherent; Ch.6 and Ch.7 have generally weird character moments that felt wrong; several big revelations break suspension of disbelief when the writer takes an obvious literary shortcut. DQ2 doesn't end with a bang. Both the Final Mission ([i]put a pin in that[/i]) and the ending are the worst parts of the game. Xalavier Nelson Jr. is - [i]supposedly[/i] - a talented writer, so it's strange that the story sucks so much. However, he may not be to blame; by all appearances, he had to salvage a bad hand under pressure, which is made obvious by how... [h2]Art style is WORSE than you thought[/h2] ...DQ2's story is severely undercut by its art. Everyone points out to the art style being garish and off-putting. That's true, but I got used to it (even a certain Ducky looking like a clipart), and [b]it's mostly functional[/b] during gameplay - at a glance you can tell each and every tower, mob, status effect, and spell apart. Emphasis on mostly: all towers get a single attack animation, and armor break lost its visuals. The plot, on the other hand, is pushed into [i]"tell, don't show"[/i] territory by [b]noticeable budget cuts[/b]. DQ2 has only [b]1.5 NPC sprites[/b]; as in, there's Giovanni (the trader in the store page's screenshots), and two different Anonymous Peasants that use the exact same sprite (it isn't even recolored?!). Instead of seeing the suffering people we're supposed to care about saving, we only get three sentences in an exposition (that one chef could've made for such a good, haunting scene!). The game would've greatly benefitted from a couple of splash screens, but there are none. The dialogue [b]sends conflicting signals about how the Mirk works[/b] - which is bad for the hallmark of the setting [i]that's in the game's title[/i]. Sometimes it seems the ships are airtight, other times characters get antsy about not having a helmet inside the ship; it seems like the party has already dove under the Threshold, but then the Mirk's rising from the ground; first they're so deep down in the Mirk there's an enormous pressure, but then they're disappointed that a river is full of Mirk, not water. Two or three illustrations would go a long way. And there are two separate plot-changing tapestries that reveal detailed history and world-shattering revelations. Somehow. Made me feel like [b]watching a B-movie where an egyptologist smoothly narrates entire backstory from hieroglyphics[/b]. And we don't get a visual to set the feel. There are also little things. Like plot establishing that all items are going to be constructed from scrap, but then there are several [b]magical weapons[/b] (doesn't seem like the heroes know magic) or a spear "taken off from an enemy" (when we haven't fought any spear-wielders). Or like the "movie viewer" having tabs labelled I to VII, despite DQ2 having 10 chapters - as if that part hasn't been updated since DQ1. The worst offender, however, is the plot point of Evni Hunt's crew (initially) doing bad things to undeserving people. It is [i][b]the main driver[/b][/i] of character conflict that reverberates throughout the entire game, 2+ chapters revolve all around it, and... ..it [b]happens ENTIRELY OFFSCREEN[/b]. We don't get any missions, we don't get to see the beaten up captains lament, we don't get a splash of a trail of burning ships or settlements. We're simply told that [strike]Ron is a Deatheater[/strike] Evni is secretly evil, she says she isn't, and we're supposed to have an emotional reaction to that. Lastly, parts unaffected by budget cuts are [i]not all that good[/i]. Intraparty dialogue has a healthy amount of art for all the heroes in several poses, yes, but two of these - Evni Hunt doing a "clearly, you don't own an air fryer" smirk, and her going Goblin Mode - [b]completely undercut emotional moments[/b]. The maps, while technically impressive, are too abstract to have a strong feel of space. I vividly remember the monastery stairs or the caves from DQ1, but in DQ2, all's the mush. [h2]The ending SUCKS[/h2] Fittingly, I'm running out of (word) budget, too. So: Final Mission [spoiler]anticlimactic another "every enemy type" mission in a row; worse take on the final mission from DQ1 - Dream King stands in a single spot, and there's neither gameplay nor story reason why barrier breaks; unfinished?[/spoiler] The ending itself feels like a peanut gallery [spoiler]heckling the ending of DQ1[/spoiler]. Epilogue is a milquetoast montage, but has a personal touch. [h2]In conclusion,[/h2] DQ2 is a good game where the great gameplay struggles against bad everything else. It would be quite celebrated if it was a mod or a spiritual successor to DQ1 from another studio. Unfortunately, it's both the sequel and the final entry in the series - so it has to bear the full weight of unfulfilled expectations.

Defender's Quest 2 is a tough game for me to review. Between the first game's cult classic status, 10 years of waiting, and the creator's personal tragedy, its tough to just take the game for what it is and evaluate it on its own merits. That said, I honestly think it's a good, if flawed game. Its not Defender's Quest 1, but I think that's completely ok. It was always meant to be a sequel in the spirit of Final Fantasy sequels -- new story, new art, new mechanics, but a general thematic and stylistic thread running through the games. I think that's exactly what we got. DQ2 is still an RPG/Tower Defense hybrid, with the RPG mechanics being fairly light. Your characters are your towers, and as they level up, they open new tiers of abilities for combat, and you can fill in skill trees. Where the first game give you something like 6 units of each class to work with, DQ2 has each character as a completely unique tower. The upshot is, you get 12 unique towers/units instead of 7. So, DQ2 trades scale for a bit more focused and diverse setup. I think the trade off worked for thematic reasons, but did leave you with a bit too few variables to play with in combat -- you generally want to deploy everything you have on every map. I found the level design and challenge here to be quite good, with the advanced versions of missions frequently taking a couple of tries to figure out unit placements and upgrade orders. There are active abilities that are frequently very important, but require balancing their resource cost with upgrading your towers. All in all, it's not my favorite tower defense gameplay, but it's competent and satisfying. I've seen some mixed opinions on the art, but I actually really enjoy it. There's an indie graphic novel style to it that fits the game's weird science-fantasy biopunk setting perfectly for my money. The music is straight up excellent, but that shouldn't be too surprising. Kevin Penkin reprises his role from the first game. In the intervening 13 years he proved himself to be one of the best composers in the anime and video games space, with multiple best score wins at Crunchyroll's yearly awards for shows like Made in Abyss. The sound track here is varied, with sections of songs bringing to mind Nier and other sections making me think of Muse, and much of the music just being great choral and orchestral work. Xalavier Nelson Jr. took over as the primary writer in 2023, and he, as always, delivered a strong story with excellent characters, that had an uncanny ability to make me feel emotions. I love the cast. They are all strong, dynamic characters, that feel well fleshed out. The dialogue did a feel a bit on the nose every now and then and some of the quips felt a bit forced to me, but it was good enough otherwise that I wasn't too bothered by those issues. The bizarre underwater, reality-bending setting is great. I enjoyed the overall narrative and world building as well, though I do wish things were a bit more fleshed out in the end. I only experienced one noticeable bug during my playthrough -- a hard crash to desktop halfway into the final battle. Unfortunate timing and frustrating, but not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. At the end of the day, I really enjoyed my time with the Defender's Quest 2. It's not the evolution of DQ1 that I hoped for after 10 years of waiting, but, judging the game on its own merits, I'm absolutely happy with the unique experience it offered.