Drop Duchy Review
Imagine Tetris, but with a Settlers of Catan theme. Drop Duchy alters as much as it takes inspiration from the Tetris formula with a very unique take on the geometric block dropping gameplay that was catapulted into the mainstream in the late 80’s.
Drop Duchy brings enough fresh ideas to the timeless genre with the addition of medieval land management, clashing armies, deck-building, and rogue-lite mechanics in addition to what you are already familiar with. The gameplay feels great, there is a deep level of strategy to master and it’s wrapped in a charming minimalist art style.
The biggest weakness of Drop Duchy is that it lacks that addictive and engaging gameplay loop that the rogue-lite and deck-building genres thrive on.
I want my rogue-likes and deck-builders to be impossible to put down. That feeling you get where you venture just a little further than the last run, or you managed to finally defeat a boss that has been a thorn in your side, or you finally unlocked that new item that will drastically change how you play. Drop Duchy is missing that unmistakable feeling largely due to the extremely slow progression system.
What is Drop Duchy and why is it good?
The premise of Drop Duchy is fairly simple to what everyone is familiar with dating back to 1989. Try to line up blocks on the grid as they drop down into place and get rewarded for creating lines. In Tetris, you were trying to make lines disappear, in Drop Duchy, you are trying to align blocks that are synergistic, such as aligning farms with fields to harvest the most wheat or a ranger outpost with a forest tile to produce the most archers
Blocks of color have been replaced with different types of terrain, including forests, fields, rivers, mountains and plains with the goal being to harvest the most resources from these lands to create the ultimate medieval kingdom
One of the biggest strengths of Drop Duchy is its variety. There are three factions in the game, each with their unique faction quests, three acts each with its own unique boss, over a hundred and ten cards, which can all be upgraded multiple times, five difficulty levels, and over one hundred missions.
Drop Duchy also offers plenty of strategic depth as you need to properly build your deck, upgrade the right cards, collect new ones, unlock slots on your deck to bring the best hand and this is before you even begin dropping geometric medieval blocks.
In true rogue-lite nature, the gameplay is separated into three acts and you will travel along a map that is reminiscent of Inscryption with its low-fi style and layout. On your journey, you will find two types of grids, as well traditional genre staples like shops and rest stations. The unfamiliar is the resource grids and the battle grid.
On the resource grids, you are trying to create lines, which give you the resources of the blocks that are on that complete line. In the beginning with the first faction, you will only need to be concerned about food and lumber. To maximize your harvesting of lumber and wheat, you will need to use of specific blocks, which in these cases would be the farm and the lumber mill. Maximizing your resource gathering during these grids is essential as you will then use collected resources to upgrade cards, purchase items, unlock slots for a bigger deck, heal and many other useful things.
Battle rounds are the pinnacle of the strategy in Drop Duchy as you will need to manage aligning blocks, optimizing resource gathering, maximizing your army output and minimizing enemy forces all at the same time. Carelessness during battle grids will quickly end your run. Once all the blocks have been placed you will also need to determine order of battle between the different militia classes as they use a rock, paper scissors mechanic between the knight, barbarian and archer.
Whats Not Good About Drop Duchy?
The best rogue-lites and deck-builders are constantly dangling a new carrot in front of you with a strong sense of progression. With a game like Hades, you were constantly enticed with a new weapon or a new plot line to follow. They also had meaningful impact on the gameplay or the story and it was impossible to put down.
With hundreds of cards, missions, upgrades and three different classes, there is a lot to unlock, however, the speed at which these rewards are doled out combined with how insignificantly certain items can affect gameplay, leads to Drop Duchy lacking that addictive and engaging gameplay loop needed.
If there is one area that could have used a little more variety it was the bosses, with only three of them. Instead of having a pool of random bosses that would appear at the end of every act, I found myself less engaged after beating all three acts.
Drop Duchy is missing a core component of nearly every one of the greatest deck-builders and rogue-likes, which is a story. Slay The Spire, Inscryption, Monster Train are some of the best in class and they all have a plot to incentivize and pair with engrossing gameplay. Something as simple as reclaiming the kingdom from an evil leader or entrenched king gone mad would have offered some much needed incentive.
Drop Duchy is also overly complex at times as it’s constantly introducing new mechanics without explaining to the player what they are. A small pop up explaining what certain mechanics are when you first encounter them would be a nice feature. It does this for some mechanics and items, but is absent from others.
DROP DUCY VERDICT
As much as Drop Duchy is inspired by the iconic Tetris formula, it forgets two of the biggest elements that made the original timeless: How simple and addictive Tetris was. However, what Drop Duchy lacks in these areas, it balances with innovation, strategic depth and variety to provide an extremely unique experience that somehow adds meaningful change to a timeless genre. While Drop Duchy likely wont win over fans of rogue-lites, fans of deck-builders and strategy games should be hooked.
