Dislyte is an urban-mythology-themed mobile RPG game that has recently been released and I have been playing quite a lot actually. So after many hours of playing, I decided it was time to share my thoughts.
Gameplay Overview
First things first, let’s cover a little more about the game because Dislyte has a lot to offer. At the very base of it is making a 5-person squad of Espers, mixing fighters, defenders, supports, and controllers, to battle in different modes. Obtaining Espers is done in a gacha style and there are so many to mix and match to best fit the different scenarios.
Story Mode
As for the different scenarios, you start off in the story mode which you can turn off if you wish. Story mode has different chapters that increase in difficulty and offer different rewards. Within the story mode are practice modes which are great for leveling up Espers through gaining experience. As your Espers level up so does your overall squad level, which is essentially the player level, and that is how you unlock more modes.
Trials
One of the other modes is the trials. Trials have different enemies to fight and different rewards to earn from doing so. The Ritual Miracle has different monsters and you earn relics, which are assignable to Espers to boost stats and give bonuses. The Sonic Miracle is where you earn elemental pieces that are used to “ascend” Espers, which is another form of stats boosting. The Cube Miracle is a choose-your-own-adventure style trial that has three levels you need to pass to earn a variety of resources to use in the game. All three of these are very useful for game progression.
Under the Trials section is also the Ripple Dimensions. Ripple Dimensions are an Esper-specific place where you earn records that can be used to acquire that specific Esper. They are revealed by playing the Ritual and Sonic Miracles and can also be found in the chat when other players reveal them. There are a couple of Espers that can only be obtained through ripples, so they can be a bit of a grind to accomplish.
Point War, Arena, Bounties, and more!
Outside of the trials and story are the PvP options of the Arena and Point War. While both are opportunities to play against other players, the Arean is actively doing so while the Point War is passive. In the latter, you create a defense quad that other players can battle and you will battle their defenses. Winners earn points to increase their Point War level and resources to spend in the Point War shop.
Bounties are another piece of gameplay and they mainly act like quests that you have to choose from and once complete, you get the reward. There are quests and achievements to strive for as well, but you don’t have to go and select them as you do with bounties. Events thus far have functioned like achievements where your gameplay automatically covers event requirements.
Implementation Review
Gameplay
Now let’s talk about how it is all implemented. I have to say that with the amount they have put into the game, it is impressive how well implemented and functioning it all is. That doesn’t mean it is immune to bugs or room for improvement, but overall I wouldn’t want them to change anything severely at this point.
You can choose whether you want to actively play the battles and choose your Espers’ attack or you can have it on auto-battle for the AI to do it for you. The AI is convenient for grinding for sure, but sometimes the AI doesn’t make the best choices and will end up losing a battle you could have easily won. But for that, you just play the battle manually and make the choices yourself. You can also do multi-battle, which will automatically run your squad through that particular battle multiple times. I use these all of the time to get resources and level up Espers, you just need to make sure you have enough stamina to do so.
Resources
Speaking of stamina, which is one of the many resources the game has, you gain stamina when resting from battles, and your max stamina increases as your player level increases. But it is easy to earn stamina packs by completing achievements and quests, and you can also use jewels to buy more. So I have never been frustrated by the stamina system while playing, which is a big deal since most mobile games with stamina systems are terrible.
Other resources include the records to spin for Espers, which is the most difficult resource to acquire. And then there are different shops that have their own currency like the Point War shop, Friendship shop, Cube shop, and others. These shops solely use their currency, while the Plaza is where you can spend actual money if you so choose. I have not had the need to ever spend actual money on this game, so I’d say it is not pay-to-win and hopefully never will be.
Tutorial & Consistency
The devs did a really good job of explaining how the game works in the tutorial and also side tips for specific things like what specific attack effects do. There are a few things that could have been better explained, such as elemental advantage, so when players who have never played this style of game before come in they can understand it quicker.
My complaint when it comes to the implementation is mainly that between different devices there are inconsistencies. I’ve had an instance where I couldn’t load the game on my phone but could on my tablet. Or my tablet won’t open the Trials but my phone does.
Interaction Review
While the majority of the game is great for solo players, there are opportunities to play with and against other players. I already mentioned the Point War and Arena, which are the main versus modes with others. You have the ability to add friends which unlocks Helper Espers, meaning you can use a friend’s Esper in a battle to help you.
There are also clubs that you can, and really should, join. In a club, you can work with fellow members to get rewards for everyone, either by helping their requests get fulfilled or completing club tasks. It’s very straightforward and the hardest part is finding a club to join if you don’t want to make one yourself.
Aesthetics review
The aesthetics are what really sell this game. The urban-mythology theme is what pulled me in, and the character art is the pièce de résistance. Every character is unique and pulls from many different myths across cultures, plus they all have their own backstories.
The music is also worth noting and is a point of pride in the game. There is so much awesome music that they’ve released it to stream outside of the game as well. Plus they made gameplay with the music through the DJ contests, which are rhythm games with Esper-specific songs that also unlock backstories.
Recap
Overall, this game has so much to it that you’ll be playing for hours and hours to try it all. I can’t even cover everything because there is so much. The biggest pieces that make Dislyte great are the aesthetics are amazing and the implementation of the chosen gameplay is well done. It has its bugs and room for improvement, but the devs are actively working to make the game the best it can be. So regardless of if you have played RPGs before, you should check out Dislyte and see if it is for you.