Like this Review? Follow The Cpt Froggy Club Curator Page for plenty more!

The Handler of Dragons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Handler of Dragons is a brand new work-in-progress story-driven, action RPG set in a mystical world where dragons, wizards, and trolls are a thing to behold.

I believe this game is a one-man wonder and this is still a work in progress. Therefore, I will keep that in mind moving forward with the review.

Right off the bat, you are greeted by a crudely made intro with a narrative-driven slideshow. And you are thrown right into the game, where you will be given one quest at a time to make things easier for you.

Which was a good choice since the world is divided into small playable chunks of land hosting a handful of quests until you move further into a new playable area.

The first two things anyone will notice about the game are its movement machines and the visuals. I might give the visuals a pass since this is a small development project and it works fine. However, there is no pass for a poor movement system; it's a damn RPG travel/exploration and movement a key feature here.

I would’ve enjoyed this game more if it featured a much smaller world with a better movement system.

Combat: Well, this was a pure disappointment. Walking and running are already slow and sluggish in this game and as I got into combat, it felt like my legs got ten times heavier!!

So, you won’t be able to do much moving and dodging away from enemy strikes. But what you can do is let the enemy chase after you until it hits the end of its parameter/ invisible wall, and then you can hit without receiving damage or have enough time to step back.

The game features a decent number of weapons but all of them only have one type of attack animation. I believe there is a parry/block system in place but I couldn’t make them work and got killed repeatedly.

Inventory system: Surprisingly, this game features a handsome inventory system with many unique and useful items. In addition, it has a proper character equipment menu!

World design: The Handler of Dragons features segmented chunks of land and as you progress you unlock more of these lands. Each of these chunks will cover a few quests until you have to move back to the previous chunk or progress to a new one.

These chunks of land/structures are unique-looking and provide their own sense of identity, but visually they look crudely made, as if in a hurry, with many issues. But for now, I can look past all of the issues since it’s fairly new and a work in progress.

Music and sound effects: Well, there’s not much background music here. And if you want to turn off the existing repetitive tune, you will have to turn off the in-game volume as well. There’s no dedicated music volume slider.

I can work with the current state of the sound effects. It's nothing special but works fine as intended.

Positives:

+ Decent plot
+ Interesting world design
+ Good understanding of Dragons
+ Spells and potions
+ Decent inventory system
Negatives:

- Poor movement system
- Poor visuals
- A lot of bugs
- A lot of Invisible walls
- One type of melee attack type per weapon
- Parry/Block does not work

An impressive beginning for a lone creator, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.
5/10

Key provided by the developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!

READ EPIC REVIEWS FROM “THE CPT FROGGY” AND MATES, UP NOW ON ZEEPOND, THE HOME OF THE ALMIGHTY FROG![www.zeepond.com]
FOLLOW THE CPT FROGGY CURATOR PAGE HERE

Edit 10.04.2024: I believe enough is enough and I have to swtich this to Negative. It didn't leave EA, none of those tiny promises for features were implemented (or no news of such being done), no news for 3 years and all dev profiles are dead for 2 years. I'm not mad as I knew what I paid for but it doesn't mean I'll sit around and support such practices. Abandonware is abandonware regardless of what I think about it. The below is now...for archival purposes.
__________________________

Edit 08.07.2022: This may be an abandonware at this point given it was supposed to be in EA for just 3 months tops and since a few days after releaste there is radio silence from the dev on both steam news and forums. Please read carefully and be very mindful of what you're paying for.



From which way should I bite it to be honest... It's so easy to bash a huge game for disproportionately bad designs, bugs and whatnot but then there are games like this - a one man's passion project which is still smaller than what we receive these days under the "Indie" banner; but let's give it a try!

At first glance it may seem like one of those pesky asset flip garbage games that offer nothing but stealing your money (I'm looking at you Dragon: The Game...and you're one of many) however I'm glad to inform this is not the case here and I'm happy to see a project where store assets (credits do say many come from Epic Store) are actually put into a good use...but this intro is already 2 paragraphs too long ^^"

If I was to compare it to anything else I'm familiar with I'd say this a miniature Divinity 2: Ego Draconis with Witcher 3 inspired menus and interface. Yeah, it plays like a game from 2009 and earlier considering the movement and combat which reminded me of Divinity 2 specifically which isn't bad at all - I've seen so much worse in other games. Hot-bar, skill tree and inventory look pretty much like those from W3 but I'm fine with that - at least it's clear and readable even if a bit empty.

Alright, but what's actually in there? After experiencing a very corny and seemingly forced intro quest we very quickly dive into dragon business which entails either helping them out or dooming them. Game is pretty much story based and always circles around dragons through every map we play on either by interacting with some dragon directly or by getting some lore by other means and this is by far the strongest aspect of the game which I, as dragon lover, just adore.
There is a bit of combat of difficulty dependent on did we care to level up or not. We can either go melee or magic, both are functional and unlike some reviews say the parry/counter does work and so does magic, although fireball gets buggy with lock-on which may result in a soft-lock. Most interestingly what arsenal we can have depends on how we interacted with the dragons and other NPCs.
All maps are looking very nice, just some of them are oddly bright. There isn't that much to explore but granted every location has a side activity which is either a side quest or something to find. Sadly I had to play on Low settings to keep up stable frame-rate but in fact I found no bugs (aside that fireball issue) throughout multiple runs and no crashes or other stability issues.
Probably the most noticeable feature of this game is the auto-generated dubbing. I don't hate it, it works well more often then not, but when it doesn't then things get awkward (remember I mentioned intro quest was corny?). I'm actually amazed how many different voices there are and how much it helps to give every character a personality even if sometimes making them also seem comedic because the intended emotion fails to align with what is actually said. The game's narrative is designed to have this dubbing so if someone hates the idea I wouldn't expect it redesigned into pure text at any time.

As of other things that didn't fit anywhere: Game's very short - 2,5H was my very first run. About 2 runs required for achievement completion. About 50/50 seriousness to lighthearted ratio but I can't tell how much of it is intended and how much comes with dubbing choice and some, hm, unexpected word choice and grammar. Story feels rushed in terms of pacing and exposition but nonetheless is nice and satisfying for what it is (just like whole game pretty much). I think it takes guts for just 1 person try to make an Adventure(seems to me)-RPG and I admire that, just how many Indie devs try that? But this is also why game is how it is - this genre is a massive and demanding table to fill out but then amazingly even if it's not so feature-full it's also NOT completely screwed up like it usually goes with too high ambition and scope.

I need to summarize this somehow...It's not easy to judge one man's work with so many other games done by whole studios to compare. However the Handler of Dragons is small, a rather bare-bones for modern standards Adventure-RPG centered about dragons and I did come for the dragons and what I got was satisfying at the end of the day. I could talk for days how much this could be improved/expanded due to my inner professional approach but, so what? I played through it multiple times with a blush for those dergs and to help them :3
It's surely a nice albeit small treat for a dragon lover. I'm just not sure is it worth the whole asked price (and I'm leaning to say no for now). However the game is supposed to receive more content and I can't wait to see it. If you wish to support someone's passion project and from what I can guess a just starting out dev - go for it. I don't regret getting it at the end of the day ^^

It is beyond obvious that this old-school low-budget indie game is a one-man job. To begin with, there is no way to manually save so you have to keep repeating the same lengthy sections over and over again. This is because attacks from enemies do a ton of damage and blocking and spell casting are almost completely ineffective. Graphics also look pretty bad in some areas, especially in the city where bloom is cranked extremely high with no way to disable that washes everything out in light tones of brown. Voice acting as mentioned by others is dreadful and is obviously computer generated. There are also constant frame rate drops unless you lower the graphic settings way down. In addition, there are lots of invisible walls and your character has a tendency to get stuck in several places. I also found that adjusting the volume and mouse sensitivity didn't seem to do anything. Quest markers also seem to disappear in-game and trying to follow the map to quest markers was also very confusing. I cannot recommend this game at all.

the story and idea would be good but the graphics, the voice acting, and the game mechanics really need a lot of work. This game needs a lot more development and better voice actors as the ones doing it now sound robotic and they sound like they are just learning to read for the first time and can't pronounce words correctly, Voice acting can really make or break a game and this one is really bad. I purchased it and then after trying to play it for an hour couldn't take the bad acting any longer. I have asked to have a refund and I am a person that love dragons and normal love games that allow your character to interact with dragons. This one was a big disappointment

Straight from the start, you gotta realize that this game is made by a solo developer, so no matter what, this game CAN'T be as good as other RPGs made by a team (or teams) of devs. So get the idea of this game being as good as others straight out of your mind. If you're looking for 'Oblivion' or 'Skyrim' then look elsewhere.

Pros: #1. The graphics actually look very good, in a 'Two Worlds Two' kinda way
#2. Extremely fast load time from desktop to in-game (just like 8seconds)

Cons: #1. Spellcasting (and normal attacking as well) is always interrupted when taking damage. This makes spellcasting significantly weaker than a melee-character
#2. The voice acting is rather terribru and sounds like it all was done with a TTS emulator (I'm 99% sure it WAS actually)
#3. Many, many, many grammatical errors (likely because dev isn't a native english speaker, and hasn't hired a proof-reader)
#4. No 'Mute audio when focus lost' option
#5. The 'exit' or 'esc' button does nothing in many interfaces
#6. Lots of missing tooltips (on skill, weapons, armors, consumables, etc.)
#7. $12 is too much for this game

So... the game is significantly worse than 'Two Worlds Two', but what did you expect? The fact that this game is created by a solo dev has to enter into the decision whether or not this is a game worth $12.... with that being said, I don't think that this game is worth $12... I simply think that $12 is too much, and that a price like $5 would be much more appropriate. Just like how the player has to curb their expectation for quality on this game, the dev also has to curb their expectation for what their product is worth. I would MUCH rather spend $20 on 'Two Worlds Two' than spend $8 on 'Handler of Dragons', so until the price of this game is dropped, I simply can't recommend it, ESPECIALLY not in early access... perhaps the dev can ask $12 for the game in 2years time when it's much more polished, but right now there's no way that this can stand up to other games that cost $12 or less on Steam... I mean, 'The Witcher 1' is just $10, so how can you ever be expected to choose THIS game, over the fantastic 'The Witcher 1' for just $10... you can't, that's the simple answer. So I'll check back with this game in a year or so, but I honestly don't see how this game will be worth $12 by then. It's not a terrible game, but it's simply not worth $12.

Here's 1 hour of raw gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b85zRpPlas
My wishlisted games if you wanna be a bro: https://store.steampowered.com/wishlist/id/lfpg
For more reviews, visit my curator page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7851637/

Ok so i stumble on this randomly, looks good, read negative review of someone crying about looks of game and the voice acting...The devs response, apologising and explaining is one-person project got me interested, as i like games like this and indie projects...
Now after having finished this game, i have this to say : YES the voices are a bit wonky x3 but i like games that offer that chunky and gritty old-school medieval RPG feel, kinda makes me nostalgic, and i feel in that optic the game DOES NOT DISAPPOINT
If you are used to and biased by High-end games with HD graphics, textures, sounds,etc.....and feel those are absolute requirements for a game, u might want to steer away...
HOWEVER those who can enjoy a good old classic RPG feel, like medieval fantasy worlds and DRAGONS, and are looking for a short but fun and enticing adventure, at the price it is offered, i would definitely RECOMMEND this little gem, i had so much fun playing it, and background music really are relaxing, but at same time put you in that adventuring/questing zone....
My conclusion would be that the negative review that has lead me to try this game is IMO exaggerated, and this game is worth the price it stands for <3

Have fun figuring out the very complicated controls and menus.

The dialogue can't be serious. It must be satire or parody. It was slightly amusing. The voice acting is monotonous but is that part of the joke?

I didn't play very long, I found the prompts and text hard to read. Was that a 3? G? &? E? Hard to tell with small and cursive text.

what is this and why did I pay money for this? I need to make better choices in my life....

👍

The only reason i can't recommend this game is it's price for what it is. otherwise it's got a nice message in its "story" and game play isn't to bad. its not great but not bad. i'd say if you wanna give this game a go, wait to see if it goes on sale for $1 that's what i bought it for. I beat the game in 2 hours and some change. There's no voice acting. The dev used TTS for the voices and it doesn't sound great, There's no character customization, hardly any loot, you cant really do all that much with the dragons if you go the "good guy" route. idk what happens if you "be the bad guy" i didn't play through again for that route. What i can give the game is that even at $12 you still spend more time in the game then a real life arcade for that money lol (but please do not spend $12 on this game its not worth it) from what i understand from others also is the game is abandoned. so keep that in mind as well.