Info about Dragonkin: The Banished:

Official game description:
Digital Deluxe Edition
======================
About the Game
==============
**LIBERATE A RAVAGED WORLD:**  
In Dragonkin: The Banished, immerse yourself in a world corrupted by dragon blood, where evil creatures emerge from the bowels of the earth. Play as one of the legendary hero classes, driven by a singular mission: to hunt down and annihilate the dragon creatures. Each battle brings you closer to your goal of finding and eliminating the Dragon Lords.  
**JOIN THE DRAGONKIN ADVENTURE IN CO-OP**  
Experience the adventure of Dragonkin: The Banished with your friends in online co-op for up to 4 players. From your arrival in the City of Montescail through to the Endgame activities, the entire Dragonkin adventure can be played in co-op. Join other players and work together to upgrade the City of Montescail and unlock new services for your characters.  
**FOUR HEROES READY TO HUNT:**  
Choose the hero that best suits your gameplay. Play as the Knight and Barbarian for close combat, or play from a distance with the Oracle and Archer. Each hero has developed their own abilities and fighting techniques for facing the dragons. As you progress, your character, gear, Wyrmling and Ancestral Grid evolve.  
**A UNIQUE UPGRADE MECHANISM:**  
Discover the Ancestral Grid of skills, a brand new mechanism for transforming your character into a legendary fighter with unique powers. Acquire skills as loot from battles, and strategically place them in the grid alongside numerous modifiers. Optimize each slot to increase your power. Each hero has their own grid, offering a phenomenal number of skill and modifier combinations.  
**A CITY TO DEVELOP THROUGHOUT YOUR ADVENTURE:**  
Nestled in the heart of the mountains, sheltered from dragons, lies a great city: the last bastion of humanity. This city grows and evolves according to your decisions and discoveries. As you progress, you can choose priorities for its development. Upgrade your buildings, welcome new residents, and discover additional equipment and services that will help you transform this refuge into a true haven for humanity.

Release date: Mar 16, 2026

Categories: Action RPG, Character Progression, Cooperative Multiplayer, City Builder, Skill Tree Progression System, Loot-driven Combat System, Endgame Content, Character Customization

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 10; verdict: Fair / Pure; summary: The game is widely praised for its single-purchase model without microtransactions or pay-to-win elements. Reviews highlight the value for money and the absence of predatory monetization practices. However, there is a minor concern about potential future monetization through DLCs and updates.
- Steam Deck: score 55; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The game exhibits several significant issues on the Steam Deck, including graphical problems, controller mapping needs, launch and stability issues, and performance concerns. These issues collectively impact the user experience negatively.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $20.00 - $25.00
  - Reasoning: The majority of the reviews highlight that the game is worth its price, with several users explicitly stating that it is worth every penny or worth the price of admission. These positive sentiments suggest that the community finds the game's current price fair. Additionally, the repeated emphasis on the game's value for ARPG enthusiasts indicates a strong positive reception among its target audience.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 40.0h
  - Story completion: 20.0h
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: 85.0h
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides several key insights into the playtime metrics. The first quote suggests that a typical playthrough of the game can range from 20 to 40 hours, which can be considered as the game completion time. The second quote indicates that reaching the endgame content is a significant milestone, implying that story completion might be shorter than the total game completion time. The third and fourth quotes highlight extensive playtime, suggesting that players can invest a considerable amount of time into the game, especially if they engage in endgame content and multiple characters.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game starts slow and can feel overwhelming initially, but it becomes significantly more enjoyable as players progress and unlock more skills and systems. The unique skill system and progression mechanics are key drivers of fun once the initial learning curve is overcome.
  - Stance: Fun after initial grind
  - Anchor: Unlocking and understanding the skill system and progression mechanics
  - Time to anchor: 1h 0m
  - Friction: Slow start; Overwhelming initial experience; Basic early gameplay; Repetitive single-player format
  - Unlock drivers: Skill system; Progression mechanics; Multiplayer updates
  - Conditions: Co-op play; Shared city progression; Character customization; Exploration incentives
- Player Archetypes:
  - Veteran ARPG Strategist (buy)
    - Motivation: Seeking innovative mechanics and deep strategic gameplay.
    - Playstyle: Strategic and experimental, focusing on unique builds and mechanics.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: ARPG veteran; strategy enthusiast
    - Reference games: Wolcen; Last Epoch; Diablo
  - Newcomer ARPG Explorer (sale)
    - Motivation: Enjoying the initial experience and exploring the game world.
    - Playstyle: Exploratory and casual, focusing on enjoying the game's visuals and smooth gameplay.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: new player; casual gamer
    - Reference games: Diablo; Path of Exile
  - Classic ARPG Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: Enjoying classic ARPG elements with modern QOL features.
    - Playstyle: Balanced between classic grind and modern conveniences, enjoying both single-player and cooperative multiplayer.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: ARPG fan; classic gamer
    - Reference games: Grim Dawn; Titan Quest; Diablo II
  - Critical ARPG Grinder (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Seeking a balanced and enjoyable grinding experience.
    - Playstyle: Critical and demanding, focusing on identifying and addressing game flaws.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: critical player; grinder
    - Reference games: Diablo; Path of Exile


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Innovative skill system (weight 0.52): The skill system is noted for its depth, originality, and extensive customization options. Players find it unique, inventive, and well-made.
- Enjoyable and smooth combat (weight 0.43): The combat system is frequently praised for being fun, fast, and satisfying. Players appreciate the smooth and responsive mechanics, which contribute to an overall enjoyable gameplay experience.
- High build variety and customization (weight 0.26): The game offers a wide range of build options and highly flexible customization, making it very addictive and appealing to players who enjoy theorycrafting.
- High-quality graphics (weight 0.24): The game features detailed, sharp, and beautiful graphics. Players consistently highlight the impressive and stunning visual quality.
- Significant improvements by developers (weight 0.16): The development team has made major improvements to the game since its initial launch, enhancing the overall experience significantly.
- Excellent quality-of-life features (weight 0.16): The game includes numerous quality-of-life features that enhance the overall gaming experience, making it more enjoyable and user-friendly.
- Adjustable difficulty levels (weight 0.15): The game offers multiple difficulty levels that can be adjusted at any time, encouraging progression and catering to different player preferences.
- Satisfying endgame content (weight 0.13): The game features enjoyable and complete endgame systems that provide variability and keep players engaged.
- Good value for money (weight 0.13): Players find the game to offer a good quality-to-price ratio, making it a worthwhile purchase.
- City progression system (weight 0.13): The city building and upgrade mechanics add a layer of progression that applies to all characters, enhancing the overall gameplay experience.
- Promising potential (weight 0.12): The game shows a lot of promise and potential for growth, indicating a positive outlook for future developments.

Common complaints:
- Poor graphics and optimization (weight 0.33): Many players criticize the game for its mediocre, outdated, and low-resolution graphics. The visuals are often described as bland and ugly, with poor optimization and uninspired character designs.
- Poor leveling and quest design (weight 0.19): The game suffers from poor leveling design and chaotic balancing, with quests that are often boring, spammy, and poorly designed.
- Buggy gameplay experience (weight 0.18): The game is noted for being relatively buggy, with reports ranging from minor bugs to disastrous ones that significantly impact the gameplay experience.
- Clunky and stiff animations (weight 0.16): Animations in the game are frequently described as clunky and stiff, lacking fluidity and needing significant improvement to enhance the overall experience.
- Limited class and gear variety (weight 0.15): Players express dissatisfaction with the limited variety of classes and gear, as well as class balance issues, which restrict gameplay diversity and customization.
- Insufficient content and replayability (weight 0.14): The game is often criticized for having very little content and lacking replayability, with maps that need more diverse elements like villages or NPCs with side quests.
- Boring and unengaging gameplay (weight 0.12): Many players find the game not very fun to play, with boring gameplay mechanics and a lack of engaging elements.
- Short and unsatisfying story (weight 0.11): The story is criticized for being incredibly short, leaving players wanting more depth and length in the campaign.
- Lack of bosses and multiplayer (weight 0.11): Players note a lack of bosses and stronger enemies, as well as the absence of multiplayer options, which detracts from the overall experience.
- Unimpactful and poor loot (weight 0.11): The loot system is criticized for being immature and unimpactful, with poor quality loot that does not enhance the gameplay experience.
- Complex and uninteresting skills (weight 0.11): The skill system is noted for its complexity and lack of synergy, with many uninteresting skills that do not enhance the gameplay experience.
- Flawed skill mechanics (weight 0.11): Skills in the game have various issues, including poor damage effects and bugs in skill synergy, leading to a flawed and unsatisfying combat experience.

Gameplay feedback:
- Deep skill and crafting systems (weight 0.56): The game features a unique and extensive skill system with customization, crafting, and progression elements. Players can swap skills, combine them, and utilize a hex grid system for character development.
- City building and upgrades (weight 0.27): Players can build, improve, and navigate cities, which also tie into character progression through city upgrade mechanics.
- ARPG gameplay with Diablo-like elements (weight 0.26): The game is an ARPG with classic hack and slash mechanics, similar to Diablo, including isometric views and familiar gameplay loops.
- Character progression and customization (weight 0.26): Players can progress and customize their characters through various systems, including meta progression and skill trees.
- Variety in builds and classes (weight 0.21): The game offers a variety of builds and diverse build options, though there are some class limitations and disparities.
- Large maps with exploration (weight 0.19): The game offers large and varied maps that encourage exploration but may require repetition due to their size.
- Fast and intense combat (weight 0.19): Combat in the game is described as fast, fun, and intense, contributing to a satisfying gameplay experience.
- Endgame content with quests (weight 0.18): The endgame features multiple maps with quests, bosses, and mini-adventures, providing varied activities.
- Dynamic and replayable gameplay (weight 0.16): The gameplay is smooth, fun, and dynamic, with adjustable difficulty and high replayability.
- Visual and enemy design (weight 0.15): The game features pleasant graphics and a variety of enemies and scenarios, enhancing the overall experience.
- Loot and gear system (weight 0.14): The loot system includes gear upgrading and acquisition, though some players find the loot unimpactful or boring.
- Multiple game modes (weight 0.13): The game supports both multiplayer and single-player modes, including co-op functions.
- Pet and companion system (weight 0.09): The game features a pet/familiar system with synergy mechanics, adding another layer to gameplay.
- High mob density and encounters (weight 0.08): The game involves high mob density and frequent mob encounters, which can impact gameplay dynamics.
- Grinding and farming mechanics (weight 0.08): Players engage in grinding for loot and farming for gear, which are core aspects of the game's progression system.

Performance notes:
- Graphical and optimization issues (weight 0.22): Players report mediocre graphics and optimization problems, including shader issues and graphical improvements needed.
- Smooth performance and stability (weight 0.2): The game runs smoothly with good performance and minimal crashes, providing a stable experience.
- Frame rate and FPS issues (weight 0.18): Players experience FPS drops and frame rate issues, particularly during boss animations and with certain skills.
- Technical and network problems (weight 0.14): There are various technical issues, including connection problems, network issues, and crashes.
- UE5 optimization and performance (weight 0.13): The game uses Unreal Engine 5, with mentions of optimization and performance on different hardware.
- Steam Deck compatibility (weight 0.11): The game runs well on Steam Deck with specific settings, providing a good experience on handheld devices.
- Driver and GPU settings (weight 0.06): Mentions of driver updates and GPU settings affecting game performance.
- Feature completeness and depth (weight 0.04): Even in early access, the game is more feature-complete, performant, and deep than its competitors.
- Shader rendering problems (weight 0.04): There are issues with non-stop shader rendering in loading screens, which can cause lag.
- Slow controls (weight 0.03): Some players report very slow controls, affecting gameplay.
- Difficulty affecting gameplay balance (weight 0.03): The difficulty settings affect the gameplay balance, which can impact the player experience.
- Screen freezing issues (weight 0.03): Players report issues with the screen freezing during gameplay.
- Bugs with invincible monsters (weight 0.03): There are bugs reported with invincible monsters, affecting gameplay.
- Anti-aliasing implementation (weight 0.03): There are reports of bad anti-aliasing implementation affecting visual quality.
- Character performance variability (weight 0.03): Performance can vary depending on the character, being slow, fast, or fun.
- Initial problems with the game (weight 0.03): There are initial problems reported with the game, affecting the first impressions.
- Ragdoll physics options (weight 0.03): There are mentions of ragdolls in the general options, affecting gameplay physics.
- Subpar effects and movements (weight 0.03): The effects and movements in the game are criticized for being subpar.
- Upscale technologies (weight 0.03): Mentions of upscale technologies being used in the game.
- Shimmering issues (weight 0.03): Players report issues with shimmering in the game.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for ARPG fans (weight 0.36): The game is highly recommended for fans of ARPG games, particularly those who enjoy titles like Diablo 4, Last Epoch, or Path of Exile. It is suggested as a must-try for ARPG lovers and is considered worth the money for enthusiasts of the genre.
- Worth the price (weight 0.2): Many reviews indicate that the game is worth the price of admission and is considered to be worth every penny. It is seen as a valuable purchase for those who enjoy the genre.
- Worth trying despite flaws (weight 0.11): The game is recommended for those who can overlook its flaws. It is suggested to give the game a try and see if it meets your expectations.
- Hope for future improvements (weight 0.1): Reviewers express hope that the game will find its audience and gain more recognition. They also look forward to the full release and more promotion.
- More content needed (weight 0.09): Reviewers suggest that the game could benefit from more skill combinations, crafting options, and endgame content. These additions could enhance the overall gameplay experience.
- Potential with updates (weight 0.07): The game has potential if the developers continue to provide frequent updates and do not abandon it after release. This could make it a worthwhile investment in the future.
- Co-op and mechanics suggestions (weight 0.06): There are suggestions for the addition of online co-op, LAN co-op, or Steam co-op, as well as weapon enhancement mechanics similar to Knight Online. These features could enhance the gameplay experience.

Other player notes:
- Skip official characters for better experience (weight 0.04): Players suggest starting from scratch instead of using official characters to enhance gameplay experience.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.41): Players are frustrated primarily due to optimization issues, frequent game crashes, and various bugs affecting gameplay. Additionally, the skill imbalance, repetitive combat mechanics, and tedious progression systems contribute significantly to this frustration.
- Excitement (weight 0.33): Players are excited about the game's potential and the anticipation of future updates and the official release. The unique progression system, engaging endgame content, and the freedom for build crafting are also significant contributors to this excitement.
- Disappointment (weight 0.29): Players feel disappointed due to the game's lack of innovation, repetitive gameplay, and numerous bugs. The high price point and the feeling that the game is unfinished and unpolished also contribute to this disappointment.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.29): Players are satisfied with the game's extensive customization options, enjoyable combat mechanics, and the responsive development team. The skill system and progression, along with the engaging story and fun end-game activities, are also highlighted as positive aspects.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.18): Players enjoy the game's smooth and satisfying combat, the flexibility of the skill system, and the overall gameplay experience. The unique mechanics and challenging gameplay, along with the dynamic and impactful combat, are also mentioned as enjoyable aspects.
- Hope (weight 0.16): Players are hopeful about the game's potential and future updates. They believe that with more content and improvements, the game can become a standout title in its genre.
- Excited (weight 0.07): Players are excited about the game's improvement and addictive gameplay. The anticipation of future content, the depth of the skill system, and the positive aspects of the story narrative are also contributing factors.
- Surprise (weight 0.07): Players are pleasantly surprised by the game's quality and the amount of features it offers. The graphical quality and gameplay have exceeded their expectations, leading to a positive impression.
- Satisfied (weight 0.06): Players are satisfied with the game's story, skill hexes board, and the overall value for the price. The combat feels snappy, and the updates are heartwarming, contributing to a positive experience.
- Hopeful (weight 0.05): Players are hopeful for future improvements and updates. They believe in the game's potential and anticipate that the developers will continue to enhance the game based on feedback.
- Disappointed (weight 0.05): Players are disappointed with the lack of content and the clunky, repetitive gameplay. The game does not meet their expectations and is seen as a waste of time and money.
- Hopefulness (weight 0.05): Players are hopeful that the developers will listen to fan feedback and improve the game. They see great potential in the game's foundation and look forward to future updates.
- Positive (weight 0.04): Players have an overall enjoyment and appreciation of the game and its unique systems. They find the game enjoyable and see its potential for future improvements.
- Boredom (weight 0.03): Players experience boredom due to the monotonous maps, lack of variety in skills and monsters, and repetitive dungeon design. The initial experience with the game is also mentioned as boring.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.03): Players are enthusiastic about the game's unique approach and customization options. The depth of the gameplay mechanics and the potential for growth are also contributing factors.
- Frustrated (weight 0.03): Players are frustrated with the clunky combat and camera issues, as well as the unbalanced boss fight mechanics. The tedious skill item management and confusing UI also contribute to their frustration.
- Enthusiastic (weight 0.03): Players are highly enthusiastic about the game's features and mechanics. They provide detailed and positive analyses of the game's unique systems and potential.
- Happy (weight 0.03): Players are happy with the game's quality of life improvements and the guild city system. The optional prologue and overall enjoyable gameplay experience contribute to their happiness.
- Anger (weight 0.03): Players are angry due to the game's poor mana management and skill damage issues. The misleading official characters, difficulty curve, and disastrous bugs also contribute to their anger.
- Admiration (weight 0.02): Players admire the game for its superb DA and graphics. They are impressed by the developers' efforts and the overall quality of the game.}