The banter between these characters is strange and often hilarious, although some characters are more one-note than others. Zero is a foul-mouthed butcher who travels around with four sex-crazed “Disciples” and a gigantic dragon with the voice of a toddler.
This ever-present sense of mystery is what makes the game so fascinating. Little is explained about why Zero has such a thirst for blood until very late in the story even after obtaining the first of the game’s four largely bleak endings, virtually nothing about the true nature of Drakengard 3’s plot is revealed to the player. The narrative begins in medias res, with the Intoner Zero about to murder her five sisters, all of whom rule over different parts of the world with the power of song magic.
If I were to reveal anything of the game’s story beyond what has been featured in promotional material, I would be taking away most of its allure. It’s a strange experience that isn’t actually all that fun to play, but something about its unique brand of narrative insanity was enough to push me forward whenever I approached my breaking point. The murderous Zero’s tale of sororicide is far more complex than it appears on the surface, although it takes serious commitment to see through to its conclusion, thanks to maddeningly repetitive combat, boring mission objectives, and a frustrating lack of technical polish. Drakengard 3 continues this trend by melding stale, Dynasty Warriors-style combat with one of the most unusually compelling RPG stories in recent years.
#Drakengard 3 gabriel series
Okay, that last bit might be a stretch, unless we’re talking about Drakengard, a series with a reputation for two things: mediocre gameplay and unflinchingly bizarre, often unsettling subject matter. After playing RPGs for the majority of my life, I’m used to tropes: swords and sorcery, knights and ogres, parasitic eye flowers and baby-voiced dragons obsessed with talking about pee… you know, typical genre conventions.