Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is a novel roguelite bullet heaven game that, so far, feels like a solid mobile experience to kill a few minutes with, while offering enough gameplay variety and story elements to keep players engaged.
When it comes to mobile games, I’ll be the first to admit that, outside of emulation and game streaming, I don’t really partake in games made specifically for the platform. Saying that, however, I am a huge fan of the Dragon Quest property, and a fan of the roguelike genre, including the still relatively newly minted “bullet heaven” genre, made popular with games like Vampire Survivors. Dragon Quest Smash/Grow takes some of those popular roguelite elements, transmuting them with that iconic Akira Toriyama/Bird Studio aesthetic, in a fun and familiar package that fans will surely appreciate.
Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is a one-finger affair, with levels featuring long vertical hallways or carefully constructed outdoor environments, often featuring obstacles, such as bodies of water, rocks, and other elements that go beyond simple stage hazards. Instead, stage obstacles present themselves as fun avenues for players to ricochet or pinball enemies between, using the game’s titular Smash mechanic.
Attacking in Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is simply done by placing your character in proximity to the enemy, while a small circular gauge on the bottom right side of the screen gradually fills. Once the bar is filled, players can unleash devastating attacks, which not only deal a ton of damage, making it suitable for end-stage boss encounters, but also send enemies flying into the often small spaces, causing them to zig-zag and ricochet into other enemies.
The physics-based special attacks are Dragon Quest Smash/Grow’s hook, taking the otherwise familiar structure of the genre in a fun and zany direction, indicative of the series itself. As far as other elements, Dragon Quest Smash/Grow features your standard set of mobile-game incentives, such as gacha, or luck-based dailies, various gems and items that can be earned via playing the game, or, for those inclined to do so, purchase to expedite the grind.
Although light on story, Dragon Quest Smash/Grow features enough exposition to keep fans who care about the lore of DQ interested. The game explores time-travel elements, while placing players into the shoes of what appears to be some form of order of knights or guild, which is an interesting enough premise for a mobile romp.
“The physics-based special attacks are Dragon Quest Smash/Grow’s hook, taking the otherwise familiar structure of the genre in a fun and zany direction.”
As far as the roguelike elements are concerned, Dragon Quest Smash/Grow gives players a swath of power-ups. These include homing missiles, or rather, magic-infused daggers, an AoE of magical orbs, invulnerability frames that buff your character, healing items, and other powerful boons that add to that familiar and addicting RNG loop found in a good roguelike experience.
Stages are sometimes bookended with powerful boss encounters, which feature iconic Dragon Quest monsters. While these fights start off simple enough, almost to a fault, later levels can get dicey, as the game imposes tight time limits on top of enemies that can take huge chunks out of your health pool. Thankfully, eventually, players can recruit two additional heroes for their team, which can be swapped at any time during a level. Additional heroes include slightly different approaches to combat, such as having a mage that focuses on ranged attacks, which can make staggering enemies into a corner a more viable strategy when low on health.
“Graphically, Dragon Quest Smash/Grow looks the part, featuring that distinct Akira Tomiyama art, brought to life in a cel-shaded aesthetic.”
RNG and gacha elements are prevalent in the game; however, they don’t seem to impose too much on your success rate in a level or dungeon, instead offering those inclined with the draw of rare, and often iconic weapons from the annals of Dragon Quest, the option to do so. Graphically, Dragon Quest Smash/Grow looks the part, featuring that distinct Akira Tomiyama art, brought to life in a cel-shaded aesthetic that looks and runs well for a mobile effort, at least on my Samsung S24 Ultra.
Ultimately, Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is shaping up to be a solid mobile roguelike, one that feels distinct thanks to its respect and proper use of the Dragon Quest license, made better with its fun Smash mechanic that sets the screen ablaze with enemies. Dragon Quest Smash/Grow will see release sometime in 2026 on both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
