Developer: Chromatic Games
Publisher: Chromatic Games
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Dungeon Defenders: Awakened (Switch) – Review
Last year, we took a look at the PC version of Dungeon Defenders: Awakened, the latest entry in the Dungeon Defenders game series. We weren’t really pleased with the results, as the game had a lot of issues at that time that really made the game not fun to play. After more than a year, this game has made its way to the Nintendo Switch, but has the game received its much-needed dose of polish to actually be enjoyable on Nintendo’s hybrid console?
The first improvement compared to our last visit to the world of Dungeon Defenders: Awakened was immediately noticeable as the creators have added some story content that will appear after you finish the last level. Aside from that, the game’s story remained the same. Even though it might have been a small addition, it still shows that the game has not been abandoned.
Graphically, the game is a massive downgrade compared to its PC counterpart, but that is sadly necessary for it to be playable on the Switch. Nonetheless, even with these cutbacks, the loading times for this game are awful. When booting up the game, it takes several minutes for the game to reach the main menu. Everything is less detailed and we also noticed a lot of frame drops when the playing field gets more crowded.
The interface has been changed since its initial release on PC, and it has definitely been improved a lot. Now, inventory management is more efficient, and finding a better piece to equip is much easier due to sorting options. We also noticed a new menu option: Build Suggestions. We guess that you can find a lot of professional tips and tricks for building your hero, but for some reason, when selecting this option, a new page in the browser gets opened with the notification that the page can’t be displayed.
With the port to a console, every action is now mapped to the buttons available on the Switch, and the controls can be quite confusing for a while. The game definitely lacks a good tutorial that shows you how to play the game, and where you are able to spend your money gained from selling unused weapons and armor. It’s best to check all the controls before you start playing, or you’ll even have problems with a simple thing like upgrading your defenses.
Sadly, the game also has some problems with bugs that were solved for the PC version, but have returned in this version. While playing this game with others makes it a lot more fun, the game currently has an issue that won’t let players level up when they’ve joined someone else. We tried playing the game co-op from the start, but sadly, we had to quit after the first stage as this problem wouldn’t let the other player level up, which made him unable to build better defenses, grow stronger to deal more damage, and equip newly looted weapons and armor with a higher level requirement. This is a very big problem for a game that encourages you to play online with others.
Aside from these problems, the game is actually pretty fun to play. Walking around and fighting on one side, while your defenses protect the other side of the arena, is very fun. You’ve got seven different classes to choose from, each with its own abilities and its own defenses. Combining the powers of multiple classes with other players is definitely more fun than just playing on your own. We hope the level-up bug will soon be fixed as this ruins the core concept of the game: multiplayer fun.
Conclusion
We can’t really say that the port of Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is a big success at this point. The game sometimes has some performance issues and the game takes a long time to start up. The bug that prevents other players from leveling up when they join you is also very annoying at this point, as it makes playing together less fun. Some bugs that were present in the early stages of the PC release have been fixed, and the interface has improved a lot, which definitely makes it better than when it launched on the PC. This game could definitely be fun to play with more players, but we recommend waiting for a while until some issues have been fixed before buying this one.
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