I’m sitting here at 4:00 AM, the blue light of my monitor burning my retinas, and I’ve just closed Dragonkin The Banished for what might be the last time. My Steam library is basically a digital cemetery for ARPGs at this point. I’ve put in the “serious” time—we’re talking thousands of hours in Path of Exile 1 & 2, pushing leaderboards in Diablo 3, and those endless, soul-crushing Baal runs in Diablo 2.
I’ve even got soft spots for the weird ones like Titan Quest or the early access jank of Last Epoch. So when something new like Dragonkin The Banished drops, I don’t just play it; I dissect it. I want to know if that “one more map” hook is actually there, or if it’s just another skin over a skeleton we’ve all seen a hundred times before.
After basically living inside this game for the 2 to 3 weeks, among other games, I’ve got some thoughts. And honestly? They’re mixed. It’s not a “trash” game—let’s get that out of the way—but it’s not the genre-defining titan the marketing team wanted us to believe it was. It’s got some cool ideas, sure, but it’s missing the “meat.”
The best thing is, as I am writing this review, I can read what the community thinks of this game as well, and understand if my feedback about the game aligns with others, if it does.
The “Floaty” Combat Problem
Let’s talk about the actual “slaying.” This is usually where I decide within the first ten minutes if I’m going to stick with a game. Combat in an ARPG needs to feel heavy. It needs to feel like you’re actually hitting something. When I click a mob with a massive two-handed hammer, I want to see screens shake. I want to hear that “crunch.”
In Dragonkin The Banished , it just doesn’t happen. The combat feels weirdly floaty. You’re firing off skills and clearing packs, but there’s zero weight behind it. It’s hard to describe if you haven’t played it, but it feels like you’re swinging a plastic bat at a ghost. Over a long session—I’m talking those 6-hour Saturday grinds—that lack of tactile feedback really starts to drag the whole vibe down. You just feel… disconnected.
And I’m not just shouting into the void here. If you jump over from Diablo 4, the difference is jarring. Say what you want about Blizzard, but they know how to make a hit feel meaty. In Dragonkin The Banished, even when your build starts to “pop off” and you’re melting screens, you never quite get that “god mode” rush. In PoE 2, that’s the literal engine that drives the game. Here? It’s a flatline.
The Wyrmling System: The One Bright Spot?
I have to give credit where it’s due—the Wyrmling companion system is actually pretty rad. It’s easily the most unique feature in the game. You get these little dragon-babies that follow you around and basically act as a modular “turret” or a buff-bot. They grow as you do, unlocking their own skill trees and elemental synergies.
On paper, it’s a brilliant idea. I love the concept of a companion that scales with me. And early on, it adds a lot of personality to the world. Seeing your little drake breathe frost into a pack of enemies while you’re spinning through them with a whirlwind attack feels great. But—and there’s always a “but”—it starts to feel a bit “set and forget” by the mid-game. It adds variety, but it doesn’t necessarily add the kind of deep, build-breaking complexity that hardcore players crave. It’s a “nice to have” feature, but it’s not enough to carry the rest of the game’s flaws.
Build Crafting: The Illusion of Depth
This is where I get a bit salty. Dragonkin The Banished tries to sell you on this “Ascendancy Grid” style of progression. When you first open that menu, it looks massive. Hundreds of nodes, modular upgrades, paths going everywhere. As a theory-crafter, my brain immediately started firing off “what-if” scenarios.
But then the reality sets in. You aren’t actually “crafting” a build; you’re just following a pre-drawn line. There’s no room for the “jank.” In Path of Exile, you can take a melee character and turn it into a weird, screen-clearing spell-caster if you’re smart (and rich) enough. In Dragonkin The Banished, you’re stuck in a box. You’re following a path the devs laid out for you with maybe a 5% variance.
For casual players who just want to hit level 50 and stop, that’s fine. But for the people who want to push builds to the absolute limit? It’s going to feel incredibly shallow. You aren’t breaking the game; you’re playing exactly how they told you to.
The Loot (Or: Why Am I Even Doing This?)
If there’s one thing that kills an ARPG, it’s boring loot. And man, the loot in Dragonkin The Banished is a snooze-fest. In this genre, loot is the heartbeat. It’s the reason we keep clicking.
You’ll finish a massive boss fight, loot hits the floor, and… nothing. It’s all add to nothing extra to should about.” Where are the build-defining legendaries? Where are the items that make you completely change your playstyle? Diablo 2 figured this out decades ago. You’d find a Shako and your whole day was made. In Dragonkin The Banished, getting an “Epic” drop feels like getting a participation trophy. It’s nice, but I don’t care. The community is saying the same thing: the gear needs more soul. It needs more impact. Right now, it’s just a checklist of stats.
Atmosphere & Visuals
I’ll say this: the world itself is solid. It’s got that dark, grimy tone that clearly takes a lot of inspiration from the Diablo series, and visually, it holds up. The environments are detailed enough to keep things interesting, and there’s a consistent aesthetic throughout. It’s one of the few areas where the game feels like it actually belongs in the “AAA” conversation.
But “looking good” only gets you so far when the core loop is lacking. I don’t care how cool the gothic architecture looks if I’m bored of the combat five minutes into the map.
City Building: A Missed Opportunity
The big “gimmick” here is the city-building and hub progression. Rebuilding your own city to unlock vendors and services sounds like a game-changer on paper. In practice? It’s a glorified menu. You check in, you click a “Level Up” button on a blacksmith, and you leave. It doesn’t meaningfully change how you play. It doesn’t feel like a living, breathing part of the world. Compared to the endgame systems in other modern ARPGs, this feels like a mobile game mechanic that was tacked on at the last minute.
The Endgame Wall
This is where the game really struggles. Once you hit the level cap, there just isn’t enough to keep you hooked. There’s no “one more run” pull. In PoE, there’s always a new goal, a new boss to chase, a new tier of maps to conquer. In Dragonkin The Banished, it feels like you’ve seen everything the game has to offer way too quickly. For a genre that relies entirely on replayability, that’s a death sentence.
The Verdict
Technically, the game runs great. The animations are a bit stiff, the UI is a little clunky, and there are some small polish issues, but nothing game-breaking. But “not broken” isn’t a high enough bar in 2026.
If you’re looking for a casual weekend distraction, Dragonkin The Banished is totally fine. You’ll have fun for 15 hours. But if you’re looking for your next 1,000-hour obsession—the kind of game that you think about while you’re at work—this isn’t it. It’s got the look, it’s got the bones, but it’s missing the heart.
Dragonkin The Banished Trailer
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The game was provided to us for the express purpose of reviewing.
The review was written by me and edited by my partner.
