''Dragon Star Varnir'' is a 2018

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

developed by

Compile Heart is a Japanese video game developer founded on June 2, 2006 as a subsidiary of Idea Factory. The company was formerly managed by Compile (company), Compile's former executive Masamitsu "Moo" Niitani, most well known as the creator of the ''Madou ...

and published by

Idea Factory is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher founded by former Data East employees in October 1994. A division of the company makes otome games under the name of Otomate (see Idea Factory#Otomate games, list below). An ...

. It was released for the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

in Japan in October 2018 and worldwide in June 2019, for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

in October 2019, and for

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

in 2021. The game follows a knight named Zephy who is tasked to fight witches and dragons, but is turned into a witch by his enemies in order to save him from death by the hands of a dragon. The game received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised its battle system as an improvement from past Compile Heart games but criticized other aspects of its presentation.

Reception

''Dragon Star Varnir'' received "generally favorable reviews" according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. Matt Sainsbury of ''Digitally Downloaded'' rated the game 90/100, saying the game "ratchets things up" from the developer's "budget, fanservicey JRPGs" with a "rich bit of storytelling", and saying that "battles ..never become rote". Zach Wilkerson of ''RPGFan'' rated it 79/100, calling the battle system where the game "truly shines", though criticizing the story as "never reach ngthe potential of its engaging premise", and saying that "too much happens at the beginning", with every major character introduced in the first half hour, hurting their character development. Brian Santana of

IGN Spain ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former edit ...

rated it 65/100, criticizing the plot as simplistic with "flat characters", but praising the battle system and its tactical components.

Notes

References

{{Reflist 2018 video games Censored video games Compile Heart games Japanese role-playing video games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Single-player video games Video games developed in Japan Windows games Idea Factory games