Any game showing off a dragon has my attention, meaning the Dragon Shelter demo had my full interest. After looking at early previews for the game, I imagined gallivanting around a farm and living with a dragon. I wanted to help rebuild a dying town, fix up my grandfather’s old home, and run an outdoor restaurant with my dragon companions. While the Dragon Shelter demo did hint at all of this, I never really felt the excitement I was expecting. The demo never lets you leave your home and village to explore, and besides one building, nothing else gets fixed.
A Dull Dragon
I don’t think a dragon should be dull, and this dragon didn’t start out that way. A bubbling pond and some growling sounds outside my home set the initial tone. I know what’s in the water, and after an in-game day or two, the dragon pokes its head out of the pond, and I give it a berry. That’s it, friendship achieved. Once found, I leashed up the dragon and had it tag along as I went back and forth from town. It was fun watching it prance around and interact with items, including cutting down trees to help gather materials. My problem with it is that it became a boring, automatic servant very quickly.
The dragon’s main job seemed to be running the kitchen and making the recipes I requested. The problem is that the cooking aspect was one of the things that interested me about the game. Once the dragon got going, I wasn’t necessary or even needed in the kitchen. I felt that we had separate roles; it in the kitchen, and me out gathering. This worked out well for my dragon friend and me, but made the entire cooking mechanic seem unnecessary if there was no need for my input.
The initial kitchen I received was also a bit too small and made me feel like I was in the way. I even broke the demo and had to restart my day because I decided to help out and became stuck. Turns out if you try cooking alongside your dragon, it’ll start on another recipe. I then used up all the counter space, picked up the matches, and had no place to store them, I then wasn’t allowed to leave the kitchen space anymore. After that, I didn’t see a point in stepping in and helping at all. I didn’t really do much else with the dragon, as it seemed content to stay confined to the kitchen.
Boringly Peaceful
After losing the need to work in the kitchen, the Dragon Shelter demo kind of lost me. I gathered materials, talked to townspeople for quests, and then took a day or two to complete them. This was a rinse-and-repeat process that was filled with lackluster busy work. One of those tasks had me put a recipe on a board, and the other had me put items into a building. That was it. I didn’t have to travel anywhere, do anything difficult, or even think about next steps.
One of my favorite things in these peaceful, farm-life, simulator-type games is decorating, but unfortunately there wasn’t much available. I put up a couple of street lights, but that was about it. My grandfather’s old house was never worked on, and once I placed a part of the kitchen down, there was no picking it back up. I placed everything down just to check out the space, only for every item to be stuck in place. I hated the way my kitchen was set up, which may be part of the reason I ended up giving it to my dragon.
Final Thoughts
I feel that the Dragon Shelter demo was lacking in excitement. I was so hopeful for a companion dragon that would run around and do things with me. Instead, it was so lackluster that I just left it in the kitchen. Even when it wandered around, I found that it would play for a minute before taking a nap. I did enjoy petting, feeding, and walking it, but felt it was much happier to be left alone to cook. Overall, the Dragon Shelter demo didn’t show enough to properly interest me in the full release. Either the game is going to need more draws to keep the player active and present, or the demo just didn’t show off enough to really create a strong impression.
