Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 254 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 172 out of 254
  2. Mixed: 43 out of 254
  3. Negative: 39 out of 254
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  1. The_BlueRose
    Mar 11, 2020
    7
    Musou clásico basado en el mundo de Dragon Quest.
    - Historia clásica del bien contra el mal
    - Buen diseño de personajes
  2. psvitaqueen
    Oct 15, 2015
    7
    By far the best game that Omega Force has made. I'm very pleased by the character animation and character moves in this game, a step up from Omega Force's previous games. It's not the best DQ game but it's good enough to own and play.
  3. Tridus
    Nov 4, 2015
    7
    I had a lot of fun playing this game, but it was despite a number of issues with it. The good news is that the combat itself works well. The diverse monster cast from Dragon Quest mixes things up quite a lot. The antagonist is pretty fun, and there's some witty jokes in the writing. Performance was as great as you'd expect on the PS4, and animations are smooth.

    The bad news is that the    I had a lot of fun playing this game, but it was despite a number of issues with it. The good news is that the combat itself works well. The diverse monster cast from Dragon Quest mixes things up quite a lot. The antagonist is pretty fun, and there's some witty jokes in the writing. Performance was as great as you'd expect on the PS4, and animations are smooth.

    The bad news is that the overall story is pretty basic and easily predictable. With such a large cast, many characters get very little screen time and unless you know them from their respective Dragon Quest game, you'd never have any particular reason to care who they are. Some are much more combat effective than others, and the ones you don't use fall behind in levels gradually, making it even harder to try them out later.

    Also, the lack of multiplayer is a clearly glaring omission. There's only a few variants in terns of mission types, and you'll see them quite a lot. Some of the maps are quite small, as well.

    I can forgive all of that stuff because I was having fun, and I do hope they bring the sequel over. I also hope they take the opportunity to improve some of the shortcomings.    … Expand
  4. RandomName1234
    Oct 19, 2015
    7
    My biggest issue with the game is the lack of variety in mission objectives and the horrendously claustrophobic field of view. Other wise the action is fun and the characters (abilities) are fun. Terrible story and clunky outpost.
  5. wesker2012
    Jul 26, 2016
    6
    It's a shame the overall game's objective is so repetitive, because there is a lot to like in this game. The presentation is top notch with great voice acting and great visuals. The characters are also lovable. I didn't mind the story as it was light hearted and relaxing to watch. The enemy design is awesome. The gameplay is also fun and strategic. The problem is you are pretty muchIt's a shame the overall game's objective is so repetitive, because there is a lot to like in this game. The presentation is top notch with great voice acting and great visuals. The characters are also lovable. I didn't mind the story as it was light hearted and relaxing to watch. The enemy design is awesome. The gameplay is also fun and strategic. The problem is you are pretty much doing the same thing every single mission. This is also a very long game, so the burnout rate is high. If this game was more condensed, I would have given the game at least an 8.… Expand
  6. tomvs123
    Dec 17, 2016
    6
    Old-school DQ fan here (1-4). DQ 8 on PS2 was good too, but I never played the others. This game has three things going for it:

    1. Dynasty warriors-type fighting. 2. Dragon Quest Nostalgia / fan service. 3. High production value. The game play consists of a series of about 10 different maps where you fight hordes of weak enemies with your overpowered DQ heroes (just like Dynasty    Old-school DQ fan here (1-4). DQ 8 on PS2 was good too, but I never played the others. This game has three things going for it:

    1. Dynasty warriors-type fighting.
    2. Dragon Quest Nostalgia / fan service.
    3. High production value.

    The game play consists of a series of about 10 different maps where you fight hordes of weak enemies with your overpowered DQ heroes (just like Dynasty Warriors). There's three different objectives depending on the map and scenario:

    1. Kill everything
    2. Kill the boss
    3. Protect a target

    The story is very basic: DQ heroes are pulled in from other dimensions and you must kill the bad guy (along with his hordes of monsters). There's quite a bit of "power of friendship" thrown in as well. So if you like good, mature, thought-provoking stories, this is not the game for you. Though if you don't mind cartoons aimed at 8-12 year olds, or could care less about the story, then you should be fine with this one.

    More about the combat: It's very good and there's a wide variety of skill types and characters to choose from. Characters have weak and strong attacks that can be done in different sequences to perform different types of attacks. Characters also have 3 magic attacks and 1 support skill, all of which are useful, satisfying to use, and different per character (for the most part). After you hit enough stuff, each character also has a powerful special skill, which normally clears the entire screen.

    Blocking is done amazingly in this game. As long as you're holding down the block button before something hits you, you will block it, even if you're in an attack animation. Other games should take note (those games where you can't block until your attack animation is done).

    But for the most part, it's a monster cleaning game. You hit these cute monsters over and over and over until you can use your special skill to clear the room/area. Then you move on to the next area.

    The game is very easy for an experienced action gamer. It's rare you'll die or fail an objective until you get one specific quest (pre-end), or get to the post-game content.

    I played about 35 hours in total, beat the game and did a few post-game levels (where I died repeatedly for the most part). I didn't feel like grinding for levels and better items, so I moved on to the next game.

    Not a bad game at all. Just know what you're getting in to. The combat is fun, but it's very repetitive and has a juvenile / "power of friendship" story.

    At least your kids will like it. My 4 year old is pretty good at it :)    … Expand
  7. Kaprawiec
    Mar 2, 2016
    7
    Nice graphics, mechanics but a bit boring, and worst of all - story is .... just bad. No. Its awfull. HORRIBLE. It may be ok if Youre 10 years old max. But then again...Im not so sure about that either... I just felt bad that I actually finished this game... this amount of time wasted... I write this down to remember to never do that again with DQ franchise.
  8. Amleida
    Aug 19, 2021
    6
    DQ Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below is a decently entertaining, hack and slash game that left me mildly unimpressed after playing through it. Beyond it's quite basic and unspectacular combat mechanics, charming character and world design that we've come to expect from the developer, the game is absolutely riddled with clichés and an uninspired story. Maybe I have highDQ Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below is a decently entertaining, hack and slash game that left me mildly unimpressed after playing through it. Beyond it's quite basic and unspectacular combat mechanics, charming character and world design that we've come to expect from the developer, the game is absolutely riddled with clichés and an uninspired story. Maybe I have high standards when it comes to writing and story, but the writers really let me down with the story and dialogue in this game. It's some of the worst, most predictable writing I've seen anywhere over the past decade, and I think I can safely sum it up as "light vs dark, good vs evil, the power of friendship conquers all". without being afraid of spoiling anything, while actually spoiling the entire story.

    DQ Heroes isn't bad, but I can't imagine someone who's not already a massive fan of the Dragon Quest series would thoroughly enjoy this game, and based on how shallow the story and characters are in their presentation, I can't imagine the developer had high ambitions for it either. The game is simple and effective in what it does, but I can't help but suspect that they cut corners in the process of getting the game out on the shelves, as the final product is, in my opinion, quite embarrassing for a DQ title. I wouldn't personally recommend this game to a Musou/Dynasty Warriors fan, as the combat in this game is more slow paced and limited overall, compared to other Musou titles, but if you're desperate for a very basic version of that type of game - then this might not be the worst alternative out there.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

78
#78 Best PS4 Game of 2015
72
#72 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2015
28
#28 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 59 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 75
  3. Negative: 2 out of 75
  1. CD-Action
    Jan 12, 2016
    80
    Dragon Quest meets Dynasty Warriors and provides dozens of hours of fun (one dozen less would have been beneficial though), tons of side quests, all Japanese DLCs and plenty of special attacks to discover. If you’re looking for a Japanese action RPG and you’re not allergic to Warriors, you should give Dragon Quest Heroes a chance. [13/2015, p.54]
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Jan 4, 2016
    84
    Simple and fast-paced tactical combat game, with heavy influences from the Dynasty Warriors series. Dragon Quest fans should feel right at home here. [Dec 2015]
  3. Gamers' Temple
    Dec 22, 2015
    80
    Dragon Quest Heroes isn't the best game of the holiday season, but it sure manages to carve out a nice niche for itself.
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