Drakkhen
System: SNES
Release Date: September 1991
Developer: Kemco
Publisher: Seika Corporation
Genre: RPG
It’s a battle between the human world and the hybrid dragon-man world in Drakkhen! 8 gems have been distributed to the princes and princesses of the realm. It is up to you to collect all eight in order to revert control to the magical Dragon Gods. You must traverse the four elemental regions of the Drakkhen Island and complete quests for the inhabitants. Are you up for the adventure?
Begin by creating your party. You will have a fighter, scout, magician, and priest. Five values are randomly rolled with 3d6 that you can assign to power, agility, intelligence, knowledge, and physique. If you don’t like your rolls, you can press the B Button twice to reroll, but then you’re stuck with them. Unless you want to start party creation all over… or save scum. All stats except knowledge are important to everyone, but knowledge is exceptionally important to the magician and priest.
Once your party is set, you begin on the overworld map with an exposition dump and a castle in the distance. Movement is in a first person perspective, with obstacles, roads, and water. As you walk around, you will come into battle with various creatures. Your party comes on screen and automatically attacks based on their set tactics. They gain experience based on damage they do in battle. By the end, expect your fighter and magician to be at the highest levels. Hit Points and Magic Points regenerate as you stand around with the party on screen, but this is dangerous to do on the overworld, as enemies will just show up randomly. You can use this to auto battle and gain experience, but only if your tactics are set up properly. If you die, you must seek out one of the four temples to resurrect and be on your way. You can check the map to find your position relative to all the temples, castles, and inns.
Castles are simple mazes that you typically travel until you find one of the Drakkhen. Some of them are friendly, but not all of them are. Over the course of your journey, you’ll uncover a plot that pits two sides of the monarchy against each other. It’s up to you to help the good side. Castles are a nice place to steal armor for your usage. You’ll also gain a lot from drops that guards will leave behind. The overall economy is difficult to get ahead in. Merchants are few and far between and their wares are very expensive. But you have to be careful, as your armor can be destroyed in battle, leaving you defenseless if you don’t have backups. You’ll spend a lot of time in the inventory menu shuffling items around.
The game world is really weird. The stars can come to life and send difficult enemies your way. If you find yourself in a losing battle, rapidly tapping the L and R Buttons will run away from battle. Running into a grave summons a hellbeast. Death reverts you to your last save, so if you’re prudent, it’s not a big deal. There are roads connecting most of the main paths, but it can take time to get from one side of the island to the other. Luckily, there are teleporters you can use if you’re interested. Really, it all comes down to going where you’re told and killing whatever is in your way. If you do this enough, you’ll collect all 8 gems and save the day.
Graphics: 3.0
I really like the overworld and how it scrolls smoothly. The character sprites are interesting, as well.
Sound: 3.5
The music is really good and I think you will enjoy it.
Gameplay: 3.0
It’s a lot of go there and kill that guy, but it works well enough.
Difficulty: 3.0
The quest isn’t hard, but some of the random enemies are ridiculously difficult.
Fun Factor: 3.5
I played for about four hours straight and then came back later to finish it off. I think that should tell you I enjoyed it.
Overall Rating: 3.2
Drakkhen earns a B+. I was dreading this due to things I’ve read over the years, but it ended up being pretty good, so give it a shot!