Developed By: ginolabo
Published By: KODANSHA
Category: RPG
Release Date: 01.07.26
Price: $13.99
Many years ago, Fairy Tail was the first anime that I truly loved. I thought the characters, humor, and action were great, so I heavily invested in the series and its media. I played both of its big RPG titles and enjoyed them, but I had no idea that there was a new game called Fairy Tail Dungeons. It came out on Steam in 2024 but I only found out about it now because the Switch version came out last week.
So of course I had to try it, and I was quite surprised. First, I should point out that the game is a huge change of scenery from the RPG titles, but the nostalgia and references to the series are solid. In a nutshell, the game is a roguelite deck builder that features characters and magic from the world of Fairy Tail.
The game takes place in a series of dungeons that mysteriously appear beneath the Fairy Tail guild. There’s a decent story here but the gameplay is the main draw. When in the dungeons, characters lose all their magic abilities and must rely on cards to fight. It’s very similar to games like Slay the Spire but with a few extra bells and whistles.
The first dungeon is where you build a character. Pick who you want to play as and fight through each level by moving around a small map. Each tile triggers a different event such as fighting a monster or acquiring cards and Lacrima. You can also upgrade your cards and health or receive other buffs. Once you beat the boss of the level, you move onto the next.
As you progress through the dungeon, you build up your tome. This is a book of all the cards, buffs, and stats that you acquired during a run, and it saves at the end and is locked to that specific character. Once you’ve built up multiple characters and tomes, you can take on more challenging dungeons.
Combat is straightforward and rather simple to learn. Every turn you have a certain amount of action points to use and a hand of four cards. There are attack cards that deal damage, defense cards that offer block, and all sorts of support cards. Pick cards in the order that will do the most damage while also keeping an eye on what your opponent will do during their turn.
Combat is fun but can sometimes feel disheartening. There were times where I was battling the boss and realized I upgraded the wrong cards. Other times I realized the tomes themselves weren’t good enough and that I had to build better ones from scratch. The game was a lot of fun but there’s a lot of grinding involved.
Overall, Fairy Tail Dungeons is a solid game. Good gameplay and soundtrack, fun characters, and a decent story. If this was an original game without the Fairy Tail nostalgia, it would still be solid. For $14, it’s a decent pickup for fans of Fairy Tail and games like Slay the Spire.
4/5
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