Dragon Quest Builders 2

 Switch
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 205 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 169 out of 205
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 205
  3. Negative: 21 out of 205
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  1. ImperialKnight
    Jul 21, 2019
    6
    Great game but buy it on PS4 if you have the choice. Hot laggy mess as you progress further into the game, to the point of unplayable.

    Lots of tiny little technical problems and design choices prevents it from attaining greatness. Like unable to control camera zoom, so if the camera decides you need to see the Buider's hair folicles, you've had it until the camera finally decides you    Great game but buy it on PS4 if you have the choice. Hot laggy mess as you progress further into the game, to the point of unplayable.

    Lots of tiny little technical problems and design choices prevents it from attaining greatness. Like unable to control camera zoom, so if the camera decides you need to see the Buider's hair folicles, you've had it until the camera finally decides you can have a better camera angle.

    And also a certain character's dialogue CANNOT be skipped. and the game designers decided we are all dyslexic and need 30 seconds to read a single word.    … Expand
  2. sariaxmagus
    Jul 23, 2019
    7
    Game: Wonderful sequel that improves on the original in many ways.
    Platform: (Switch) - If handheld mode isn't important to you, try the PS4 version. Switch version suffers from frequent very noticeable frame rate drops in docked mode (haven't tried playing it in handheld mode).
    Side note: Another reviewer stated that you cannot control the zoom. This information is incorrect.    Game: Wonderful sequel that improves on the original in many ways.
    Platform: (Switch) - If handheld mode isn't important to you, try the PS4 version. Switch version suffers from frequent very noticeable frame rate drops in docked mode (haven't tried playing it in handheld mode).

    Side note: Another reviewer stated that you cannot control the zoom. This information is incorrect. Pressing the right stick allows you to toggle between first person and fully zoomed out. Holding in the right stick allows you to manually adjust the zoom by pressing the left stick up or down.    … Expand
  3. TsukasaHiiragi
    Aug 30, 2019
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pros

    Addictive
    Base Building
    Interesting Story
    co-op

    Cons
    Literally everything else

    *warning spoilers*

    DQB2 is a poor sequel in my honest opinion, the gameplay is almost identical to the original just with extra building components and even more vague quest/missions which range from being extremely simplistic in nature, through to mind-numbing aggravation.

    The gameplay structure is near identical on each of the islands, with build then defend and find new resources then repeat until you reach the end of chapter boss then move to a different biome set, with the exact same mission structure. The final two islands being more annoying than fun, Moonbooke being quite annoying with constant attacks and fairly useless base building thats almost constantly destroyed as the waves get more annoying, the final island building the escape ship serves really no purpose but to get buggy buggy and kill the final end of game boss in a Shmup style shooter in which you really can't lose the boss battle and the ending is so....lame is almost lazy in design.

    DQB2 also suffers from frequent frame rate drops, which is very noticeable later in game where you have constructed a more larger base on the Island of Awakening, which is really unfortunate because this part of the base building is very much piecemeal in its access, quite often you'll be away from this island for days in real time as you progress through the story.

    The explorer islands also serve no purpose except to pad out the gameplay further with islands that change each time you visit, as you explore to tick off checklist items which make or may not be even present on the island at all resorting in having to leave the island and return in the hopes that one or two items actually have spawned.

    Suffers from numerous issues, including camera issues which often forces the play to have to swop between first and third or vice versa to fix, sometimes cut scenes have camera stuck behind walls or blocking view entirely of whats going on.

    Many building combinations are vague, new elements like building several buildings together to form a single large building are completely trial and error, so much trial and error actually that most of the time, you'll just hit up guides for combinations instead of getting frustrated.

    Overall, its not a horrible game but its not great either. Far too many issues really hold the switch version back, the gameplay mechanics are dodgy in places and the extremely linear nature of the missions and side quests gets repetitive. The ending is very unsatisfying too, which doesn't really help and you'll question why you pumped many hours into the game just to really unlock the full potential of building your utopia on the island.    … Expand
  4. RedPixel
    Jul 31, 2019
    6
    I loved DQB and looked forward to DQB2. I finished DQB2, but found the gameplay largely tedious. The game unrolls in a very linear fashion, and for the most part, you're given your errands one at a time and with specific instructions about how the errand can be completed. You 'build' very elaborate structures in this game, but you don't do most of the design or building in this game...I loved DQB and looked forward to DQB2. I finished DQB2, but found the gameplay largely tedious. The game unrolls in a very linear fashion, and for the most part, you're given your errands one at a time and with specific instructions about how the errand can be completed. You 'build' very elaborate structures in this game, but you don't do most of the design or building in this game... instead they are done for you. They are clearly targeting younger players with these changes, and I dunno, overall maybe that's a good move. I guess I enjoyed this game enough to finish it, but it always felt at least a little bit annoying. I can't imagine playing it through again, unless I decide I just want to build things and not play the game. (I played DQB twice, and can imagine playing it again.)

    There's some shoddy game design and/or programming in play here, such as:
    1. If you do something before you've been told to, the game gets tripped up, and a task can get stalled. It's not always 'go get the 10 things' again to get it out; sometimes there's an intermediate thing that you were expected to do along the way that has to be triggered.
    2. The game crashed on me three times, though only once did I lose a hunk of time (about 20 minutes).
    3. There are these randomly generated scavenger hunt islands that I kind of love (totally optional), but oh hey, it turns out that the island is not necessarily going to be generated with all the things on your list. (Possibly this is by design, but it's super annoying when you're searching high and low with a sort of trust that you can complete this task.... and you just can't. And then you have to go back and forth on the ship to reset the island, and it's just tedious.)
    4. You get a vehicle late in the game, and you're able to drive it into a pit you can't drive out of. You need the vehicle to get back home, so, um, what? I had to dig the vehicle out. Maybe I deserved that or something, but I guess the thing is that it's just inconsistent with how hand-holding the rest of the game is. Every once in a while they forget to hold your hand.

    On the one hand, DQB had the weird chapters thing, where they didn't really connect to each other, and in DQB2, there's a solid backbone of a story. On the other hand, the story is fairly clumsily executed. At the core, it's the yin and yang of creation and destruction, and gosh in the right hands that could unfold beautifully... but alas, not here. There is also way too many blah blah blah blocks of text to click through, and really annoyingly, some of them are animations so you can't click through them and just have to wait for the words to scroll by. The pacing of the story is also enormously weird for each of the islands/chapters... you build up to a big thing that feels like a finale, and then there's another big thing, and another big thing. Just clumsy, to my mind.

    The battles are melee style, likely also to appeal to younger players. For the most part, if you have enough food and remember to eat, you'll be fine. Just a couple of times I didn't have enough companions or strong enough weapons or enough things to eat to make it through a battle.

    I suggest you play through the free demo before making a purchase. If you don't find that overly tedious, go for it.    … Expand
  5. Zoltar238
    Oct 7, 2020
    7
    Analizando por partes, la parte de construcción es muy buena y es el principal atractivo del juego, el combate es muy simple y solo puedes tirar básicos y 2 habilidades, la historia es muy plana y poco interesante en mi opinión, y es el principal factor que lastra al juego ya que te la cuentan a base de diálogos y es muy tedioso saltártelos. La parte mas divertida del juego es cuando eresAnalizando por partes, la parte de construcción es muy buena y es el principal atractivo del juego, el combate es muy simple y solo puedes tirar básicos y 2 habilidades, la historia es muy plana y poco interesante en mi opinión, y es el principal factor que lastra al juego ya que te la cuentan a base de diálogos y es muy tedioso saltártelos. La parte mas divertida del juego es cuando eres libre de hacer lo que quieras tras pasarte la historia.… Expand
  6. my__opinion
    Jul 31, 2019
    5
    I feel like the game wasn't meant to be in first-person view. I keep finding myself staring at a wall with voices around, unable to pop to third-person view. Anything that happened in that scene is lost on me. There are other times in the game as well where I am just suddenly forced to third-person view and it does not revert to first-person (the left+a attack, is one). These are symptomsI feel like the game wasn't meant to be in first-person view. I keep finding myself staring at a wall with voices around, unable to pop to third-person view. Anything that happened in that scene is lost on me. There are other times in the game as well where I am just suddenly forced to third-person view and it does not revert to first-person (the left+a attack, is one). These are symptoms of what seems to be a distinct lack of polish.

    The controls in general seem to have issues (and, again, this may be because I am almost exclusively in first-person view). There are times that it will select every single block around me except for the one that I want. This is especially true when trying to plant crops when there are already seeds planted in the adjacent squares. Most times, jumping, looking down, and hitting the button to place works. However, again with planting, it sometimes just refuses.

    There's also the matter that, much of the time, there is a follower who feels the need to be almost inside of you. The same button to talk, interact, and switch tools is used. This means that, in tight quarters, trying to change tools is an exercise in absolute frustration; I've had to run around the area in a circle to be far enough away from everyone and everything to change tools when searching for minerals that required breaking many blocks.

    The performance has also been an issue at times when docked (I almost never play in a mobile fashion). On the third island (to do with minerals), especially toward the end, I had some issues with things chugging pretty badly.

    A couple of things that maybe are more subjective or do not apply to everyone. There is no colorblind mode. This can make a few things frustrating since I know there are supposed to be outlines where something's area of effect is (based on seeing it in areas where the colors differed). The pacing also feels way off for me as well. After completing some of the island that has minerals/mining, there is an event that I feel completely kills the pacing (not mentioning to avoid spoilers).

    I've been playing the Dragon Quest games since the first one in the '80s. Whilst they were never perfect, I've come to expect more in this day. I was ultimately let down. I keep playing it, but I constantly find myself wondering what it might have been.    … Expand
  7. Oliver213
    Nov 8, 2022
    7
    recommended by friend to purchase this game. I have to say that it is really fun -- RPG + sandbox is definitely an ace. I fully recommend it to someone enjoying sandbox games like my friend. However for RPG-only persons like me would feel a little boring as long as game finished (although many say the end of story is only the beginning of this game).

Awards & Rankings

21
#21 Best Switch Game of 2019
35
#35 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019
30
#30 Most Shared Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. Nintendo Insider
    Jun 23, 2020
    80
    Despite my issues with overbearing objectives and combat, Dragon Quest Builders 2’s charm and sense of adventure shines above all else and even with some framerate issues is a great fit for the Nintendo Switch.
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  2. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 28, 2020
    90
    If you're an adventure game enthusiast, this series will be a breath of fresh air for you. [Issue #41 – September 2019, p. 66]
  3. Edge Magazine
    Aug 15, 2019
    80
    The essence of the classic JRPG distilled into an unlikely form. [Issue#336, p.114]
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