If we look realistically at the state of action RPGs, it’s pretty clear who dominates the genre. Diablo, of course, for years now, even decades. There have been games that tried to shake the devil off his throne: Path of Exile, Lost Ark, Titan Quest, and Last Epoch are just a few examples, and I have to say they’ve all managed to gather their own loyal player bases. But within that chaotic ARPG landscape, Eko Software tried its hand years ago with Warhammer: Chaosbane, which performed fairly well both critically and among players. Still, that was a licensed title, so I imagine Eko Software spent years wanting to create something of its own. Over the past few years, they finally got that chance. In collaboration with the French publisher Nacon, they released Dragonkin: The Banished in Early Access on Steam last year, and the console version, which we had the chance to play, is arriving in just a few days. And I have to admit, we really enjoyed it.
First, I need to clarify a few things regarding the impressions you might see on Steam. The game launched about a year ago in a very early stage of development, where Eko Software wanted to improve it with the help of the community. And judging by everything they’ve released, changed, and improved over the past year, they absolutely succeeded. Not only did they listen to the community, but they also created an excellent, truly excellent and incredibly fluid and fun hack-and-slash ARPG that might even steal more than a few players from Diablo. Or at least, that’s what I’m hoping for.
Let’s start from the beginning. The story of Dragonkin: The Banished takes place in a dark fantasy world that has been devastated for years by wars against ancient dragons and their followers. In that world, humanity and other races survived only thanks to rare warriors known as Dragonkin, fighters who harness the power of dragons to oppose that threat. However, that power comes with a twist: every Dragonkin carries a piece of that dragon energy within them, making them both saviors and potential dangers to the very world they’re trying to protect.
At the beginning of the game, you take on the role of one of those exiled warriors, a fighter separated from the rest of the world and forced to battle the growing evil spreading across the continent. As your adventure progresses, you discover that the monster attacks are not random but part of a much larger threat emerging from somewhere deep beneath everything you see and know.
The setup is quite interesting. Of course, we shouldn’t expect Blizzard-level cinematics here, but even the ones present in the game are surprisingly good. They manage to intrigue you and even send a chill down your spine in certain moments. There are also many side stories that help complete the bigger picture of the disasters unfolding in this world. While the story itself is linear, it serves its purpose well, especially for what comes after finishing the campaign.
Honestly, I didn’t expect the game to hook me as much as it did, at least when it comes to the narrative. But after a very strong prologue, I immediately decided to start with the campaign. The game does offer an Adventure Mode, essentially similar to what you’d find in Diablo, alongside the campaign, and I highly recommend finishing the campaign first. At first glance the game may look like something you’ve already played before, but it hides so many different mechanics and systems that set it apart from everything familiar. That’s both refreshing and a bit overwhelming at first, because learning all those new systems takes time. But once you understand them, you realize they’re unique, specific, and, best of all, they work extremely well, even if at first it feels like the developers are just complicating existing systems to appear different.
Let me briefly go back to the prologue, because it’s an excellent tool for showing how all four classes work. I genuinely wish more games of this type had something like it. The story is presented interactively as you briefly take control of each ancient hero and learn their abilities. That way, during the prologue you can practically determine which class suits you best.
There’s the Knight, a classic fighter who can also summon units to assist him, something like a mix between a Paladin and a Necromancer. Then there’s the Barbarian, a brute-force character whose movements and animations will feel very familiar to ARPG fans. The Tracker is the ranged class, somewhat similar to a Rogue, and extremely fun to play. And finally there’s the Oracle, essentially the game’s sorcerer, the class I used to finish the game and enjoyed every second of it. All four classes play very differently, but what’s great is that each one is fun in its own way. Animations are excellent, attacks and spells look fantastic, and special abilities are beautifully executed, which means choosing your starting class is actually quite a difficult decision.
And now we arrive at the gameplay itself. I have to praise this part as well because Dragonkin: The Banished deliberately does something many other games would avoid. At first, through animations, attack effects, enemy deaths, and item drops, it strongly gives that Diablo vibe. More precisely, it allows you to relax and settle into something familiar before gradually introducing its own mechanics and systems.
For me personally, that feeling worked perfectly. I recognized something familiar, just slightly refined, which immediately drew me in. And just when I started thinking, “Okay, maybe this is just another Diablo clone,” the game suddenly flooded me with information and mechanics that I wasn’t prepared to process at that moment.
The best part is that the gameplay itself is challenging and fun. Of course, it’s not especially difficult at the beginning while you’re simply trying to level up quickly and become a more capable warrior. But the core gameplay loop is addictive, fluid, and satisfying. There are no broken mechanics or strange design decisions, just pure progression and fun. Slaying dozens of enemies in minutes, leveling up quickly, and collecting gear, the core essence of every ARPG is here. You truly feel your character growing stronger, slowly transforming into a warrior capable of saving this world.
The pacing is excellent. At first the game feels friendly and approachable, but gradually introduces more systems you must learn and adapt to. Over time you begin to understand the world better, spend more time experimenting with the mechanics available to you, and before you realize it the game has completely pulled you in. And that’s really the whole point of games like this, to lose yourself in them and forget about everything else.
But even the most satisfying combat wouldn’t matter if the progression system wasn’t well designed. Fortunately, one of the most interesting progression mechanics in Dragonkin: The Banished is the so-called Ancestral Grid system. This system acts as the central mechanism for developing abilities and builds for your chosen class.
Instead of a traditional skill tree where you simply unlock abilities, here you place fragments of power you find during gameplay into a grid. These fragments represent various bonuses, increased damage for certain attacks, new effects for abilities, or modifiers that change how skills function. As you progress through the game, you acquire more fragments that can be arranged within the grid. Their placement often matters just as much as the fragments themselves. Some fragments gain additional bonuses when connected to certain types of modifiers, while others strengthen entire groups of abilities if positioned correctly.
Because of this, the Ancestral Grid isn’t just a passive upgrade system, it’s more like a strategic puzzle where you constantly experiment with placement to maximize your build. And once you manage to connect the maximum number of fragments for a particular attack or spell, you unlock a fragment-ability symbiosis, which is essentially the ultimate version of that ability.
What’s even more interesting is that the grid expands as you progress through the game and develop your city, giving you more space for combinations. This means that two players using the same class can have completely different combat styles depending on how they arranged their fragments within the system. That flexibility makes the Ancestral Grid one of the most important aspects of progression, constantly encouraging experimentation.
You can also freely rearrange the grid if you get bored or want to try something new. It’s a wonderful system, though it does take time to fully understand how fragments interact, where they provide the best bonuses, and how to optimize them.
Throughout the game you also develop a small companion you receive early on, a tiny dragon known as a Wyrmling. As you level up your character, you also level up the dragon, improve its stats, and even combine its abilities with your own. It’s not just a decorative familiar; the synergy between your powers and the Wyrmling’s abilities adds another layer of depth to the combat system.
Another crucial system is city development. The main city, Montescail, isn’t just a simple hub between missions, it’s essentially the center of your entire progression. At the start it feels like a fragile refuge with only a few buildings and merchants. But as you progress through the campaign and complete activities, the city gradually grows alongside you.
Each new city level unlocks additional NPCs, workshops, and mechanics that directly affect your build and equipment. Montescail literally changes visually as you upgrade it, new districts open up, workshops expand, and more characters arrive to help fight against dragons and monsters threatening the world. You’ll spend a lot of time there between missions upgrading gear, experimenting with builds through the Ancestral Grid system, and preparing for future challenges. If you play in co-op, other players can even contribute resources and materials to help develop your city further.
Speaking of materials, the game also includes a crafting system. At first it feels like a minor feature, but it becomes extremely important later, especially in the endgame. Once you start collecting rare materials, you can craft fragments and other upgrades, or even insert Ancestral Grid fragments directly into weapons and armor for additional bonuses. The sheer number of ways you can improve your character is impressive.
And now let’s briefly talk about the endgame.
Once you finish the main campaign, the game actually begins to reveal its full potential. Like most great hack-and-slash ARPGs, the endgame is designed to constantly bring you back into battle against tougher enemies, with better rewards and challenges that test your build. One of the main activities consists of Hunt missions, accessed through the Hunting Board system. There are six boards with ten hunts each. These are focused missions where you clear monsters, collect resources, and eventually face stronger enemies, often champions or mini-bosses. Hunts usually last around ten to fifteen minutes, making them perfect for gear and material farming. There are also Dungeon Purification activities, which function as repeatable dungeon challenges filled with increasingly dangerous enemies and valuable loot. Another interesting endgame mode is Test of Will, where you face endless waves of enemies while receiving temporary buffs and debuffs that constantly change the battle dynamics. The longer you survive, the better the rewards become.
All of this ties directly into the progression system and gear upgrades. Endgame in Dragonkin isn’t just about killing more enemies, it’s about constantly refining your build, hunting rare items, and finding the perfect combination of abilities through the Ancestral Grid system. In other words, the campaign is just the introduction; the real grind begins afterward.
Technically, the game looks fantastic on the Xbox Series X and runs flawlessly. At no point did I experience stuttering, and despite the large number of enemies and visual effects on screen, everything remained smooth from start to finish. I haven’t completed every Hunt or dungeon yet, but based on what I’ve seen so far, performance should remain stable even during later activities.
We would like to thank Nacon for providing us with a copy of the game for review purposes.
Dragonkin: The Banished (Xbox Series X)
In the end, I can only say that Dragonkin: The Banished truly surprised me. I’ll admit I didn’t expect much at first. I followed its development and saw that early versions were somewhat shaky. But what Eko Software managed to accomplish over the past year is impressive. They already introduced interesting systems during Early Access and continued refining them into what we have today. Overall, this is an excellent hack-and-slash RPG adventure that can easily pull you in and offer dozens upon dozens of hours of gameplay. For the current price of around 25 euros on Steam, $40 on Xbox and PlayStation, it’s an absolute steal, and definitely not something you should miss.
