First Impressions of Dragon Quest Walk

It's not often that a mobile game grabs my attention but the release of Dragon Quest Walk was one I was very excited for, especially coming off the back of Dragon Quest 11.  Before I go any further I have to warn you that as far as I know, this game is Japan only so if you don't live in Japan and don't care about how cool my new toys are then you may as well stop reading now

For those that do care however, Dragon Quest Walk is probably one of the best mobile games I've played ever.  It's got a decent amount of content considering it just launched, it's running special events already and if you're looking for a way to sort of "gamify" your power walks, this is a great way to do it with.

The way you play is very simple.  You start a quest and the game will ask you where on the google map you want to place your goal.  You then have to physically walk to the place you set the goal, fighting monsters along the way and when you arrive you'll be given a story tidbit or you'll fight a monster or something.  Rinse and repeat until your lean as fuck from all that walking.  If it sounds a bit repetitive that's because it is but DQ Walk strikes me as a game that is a fitness app first and an RPG second.  Unlike Pokémon Go, where you can sit in one place with a lure and catch monsters all day, DQ Walk DEMANDS that you be constantly moving.  Sitting in one place waiting for monsters to spawn means that you'll be quickly running out of HP and MP and eventually things to fight.  Keeping moving however and you can tap "heal pots" on the map to recover and get items and enemies will spawn at an increased rate.  The game also has a "milage" systems where every week you are tasked to break a certain number of pots, fight a certain number of encounters and walk a certain number of steps to acquire points which can then be traded for goodies.

There's other systems as well such as raids which I can't comment on because I've yet to do one.  There's a house system where you put an icon on your map that is your home and you can decorate it with furniture and whatnot and players are incentivized to visit your house because each house will have an item on the floor for you to get.  There's also a gatcha system which might make some people groan but at time of writing the gems and tickets for the gatcha are plentiful and getting a 5 star piece of equipment seems to be a fairly common occurrence.  There's some other things I haven't mentioned but if I tried to mention every little feature I'd be here all night

If you live in Japan and you're looking for an excuse to get out of the house and burn some calories, then DQ Walk is a good place to go.  If you don't live in Japan then I'm sorry for you and I really hope that the game gets an overseas release because for a free little mobile game about hitting slimes with swords, it's REALLY good.