Dragon Star Varnir

While it still maintains some of the annoying quirks of past Compile Heart titles, Dragon Star Varnir is worth playing for its fantastic battle system and likeable characters.

Dragon Star Varnir is a dark tragic fated RPG that covers the struggle of the Witches of Varneria as they search for a way to break their fate. The character designs are alluring along with their fitting outfits. Players can easily find one or more that resonates with them. If you're in the mood for a dark game with enthralling girls, you might like this title.

Dragon Star Vanir lands on the Nintendo Switch with all its DLC included in this version, which is worth of praise, as well as a creative combat system and an overall interesting theme. Alas, this port is riddled with too many technical and performance flaws that make the experience more frustrating than it should be, plus the way the exploration in the dungeons ends up feeling too tedious. The final result is a game that could have turned out much better, but as it is Dragon Star Vanir on the Switch needs several improvements before it can be recommended to most players out there.

Dragon Star Varnir is a step up from a lot of Compile Heart's games, but the Switch version is a technical mess.

A colourful cast of playable characters, along with entertaining combat highlighted by the ability to devour enemies to gain new skills, are countered by plot threads that just end suddenly and bring the otherwise adequate story to a halt, as well as restrictive end-affecting mechanics that make the pacing fall flat. It amounts to an average game that has some fine moments but is murky to wade through.

Original PS4 Review (2019-06-28) https://chalgyr.com/2019/06/Review-PS4-DragonStarVarnir.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall I had a lot of fun with Varnir. Yeah, the plot is a little trope filled and cliché to an extent, but the battle system was really fun, and I felt like I was playing a sort of pokemon-esque devouring game. While that sentence may need some work, the “collectible upgrading system” was pretty fun, and I’d always try to eat as many enemies as I could. Is Varnir perect? Maybe not, But 8 out of 10 witches would probably promote it. Score: 8.5 / 10 New Nintendo Switch Review (2021-08-27) https://chalgyr.com/2021/08/review-switch-dragonstarvarnir.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- In summary, Dragon Star Varnir is an interesting title from Compile Heart that takes a few new and refreshing steps away from their standard formula. The combat system is interesting and rather unique, and while it didn’t feel as if it used its full potential, it was definitely a fun system to plan around. The devour mechanic was also a fun gimmick, although the need for each character to devour an enemy to get their upgrade grid was a little frustrating. As a port from the PS4/PC version, there isn’t really anything extra worthwhile added, and the graphic quality has lowered slightly, but the game still runs smoothly. If you already own Varnir on another platform, there isn’t a need to purchase it again, however if you missed this title on earlier, and you’re a fan of JRPGs, I would definitely recommend looking into it, especially considering the price. Score: 8.0 / 10

All in all, as you can probably guess, Dragon Star Varnir is quite a mixed bag in terms of enjoyment. While it provides an intricate and engaging combat system as well as some solid alternate modes, the rest of its elements are unfortunately rather lackluster or just plain inconveniencing.

Dragon Star Varnir is a highly enjoyable RPG with its emphasis on friendship development, interesting battle mechanics, and strong plot that frequently tugs heartstrings and is not afraid to use surprising and dramatic plot twists. The repetitive nature of some dungeon environments and overall dark theme may not be for everyone, yet there is so much to enjoy with the devour system and trying not to send everyone insane to get the best ending, that the less desirable elements don't matter much. The post-game content includes new parts to the story and new bosses to fight, and coupled with the inclusion of DLC from other consoles makes Dragon Star Varnir a must buy on Nintendo Switch.

Dragon Star Varnir is a fun JRPG overall, and, while it might be a little on the niche side, I’d still recommend it. Unfortunately, I’m not sure which version to recommend. Sure, the Switch version comes with a bunch of DLC and is entirely uncensored (did I forget to mention that?), but the graphics are, like, really crunchy—and I say that as someone who normally doesn’t care much about graphical quality. If that isn’t enough to drive you away, though, then the Switch version’s probably the way to go. The more content, the better, right?

Dragon Star Varnir tells a good story of witches and knights, with great emphasis on character development. Keeping track of everything is quite satisfying, even on skits loaded with hours and hours of text. On the other hand, the possibility of different endings and the interesting combat system justify the re-launch of the game, deserving more attention than it had before. Far beyond just a game about eating dragons, Zephy's adventure certainly offers a good story, in which its flaws, that are notorious, don't diminish Dragon Star Varnir's place in the Switch's JRPG library.