Review: Silent Hope Gameplay Reminds Me of Dragalia Lost

I miss Dragalia Lost. That’s probably weird to say when starting a review for a game that isn’t even by the same developer. The thing is that Silent Hope, Marvelous’ newest action-RPG and dungeon diver that’s loosely connected to the Rune Factory series, reminds me of Dragalia Lost in various ways. The chibi character designs. The restricted character movesets that force you to play to their advantages. The way levels look. How fighting can sometimes feel. It gets me feeling nostalgic for that past game, even though this bears a lot in common with other loot-driven action-RPGs, and I appreciate that.

Before Silent Hope ever began, a king of what seemed to be a wonderful kingdom headed into a massive Abyss and took all of the world’s words with him. The only person with the ability to communicate and speak in that way is his daughter, a princess now enclosed in a crystal made of her own tears. However, seven heroes belonging to different classes and with their own special abilities have gathered at the mouth of that gaping maw. With the princess’ powers and their own skills, they’ll head into the various layers of the Abyss to find out what’s going on and, hopefully, save the day.

What really sold me on Silent Hope and triggered my memories of Dragalia Lost is the combination of the character designs and the general layouts when I’d wander through the floors of the dungeon. Heading through, beating up enemy hordes, hoping for better equipment, attempting to build my characters, and constantly gathering materials triggered very similar memories for me. It brought me back to a gameplay loop I loved. Even the nature of the bosses reminded me of those moments, and I appreciated that. 

This isn’t to say it’s copying that format. Silent Hope is a very typical action-RPG that is focused on acquiring materials and loot, so you can level up and become better. It’s like any sort of game with that perspective, and it could easily draw in people who love games like Torchlight or Diablo IV as well. You can find one character you really like and stick with them, or go with building a couple characters so you’re prepared for different situations where a faster fighter like the Rogue, a ranged unit like the Archer, or an all-rounder like the Farmer may be a better fit. You go in, attack anything that does and doesn’t move in the name of materials, experience, and loot, head back to craft with what you found, then dive back in again. My only complaint is that there’s no “lock on” for skills, so it is very easy for a ranged attack or ability to just… completely miss every opponent if you didn’t make sure you saw a red outline around an enemy in the seconds before you used it.

However, that means that the downside to Silent Hope is the grind, much as it can be with other games of that ilk. I tended to mainly focus on the Caster and Farmer after testing out all of the available characters, but did get every character to level seven to really get a feel for how they work. The story is doled out in such a way that I’d sometimes forget there was even a reason I was heading into the abyss beyond gathering look, leveling up, and reaching the bottom. However, because of the way loot is doled out, you might not find a chest with guaranteed items, see a monster drop equipment in addition to its typical materials, or happen upon the gate to an enemy infestation with better spoils at the end. 

When what is happening with the story comes up, it can be rather interesting. We’re hearing about the downfall of a kingdom essentially from multiple sources after its demise. I wish we’d had more of it. Likewise, I wish there’d been of an introduction and set up to things, though I get why the premise makes this impossible. There’s just so much hidden away in the Silent Hope Official World Guide site, and I wish we had some more of that in the game proper.

Also, once I got past the “testing” phase and was able to prioritize the Caster and Farmer, I really started savoring the experience. The additional classes are handled well. They offer a stat boost, but don’t send you back to level one. You still have access to the skills you unlocked from the other class and can mix and match with the newer ones. However, you’re still limited to only three abilities. (Again, the limited moveset when in the field in Silent Hope reminds me of Dragalia Lost.) It almost ended up striking me as a bit strategic. I decided to have my Caster keep the Black Hole ability when he became a Sage, but then adopted the Impact spell that dealt AOE damage around him to provide a sort of backup move in case opponents did get close to him. It’s especially heartening to see how great some of the initial skills for characters’ classes are, as I was still using abilities like the 

I even felt the waiting period for crafting wasn’t so bad, though hearing the Princess constantly assert that “when you think about it, waiting is part of the fun” is incredibly annoying. I felt it gave me something to look forward to as I went on runs. It doesn’t take too long for the processes to be carried out, and you’ll actually get notifications as you dungeon crawl to let you know when certain items are done. The new recipes for weapons and accessories tended to be pretty manageable, and I’d often find the materials I needed on the next run . 

While Silent Hope does rely in a very specific sort of routine that may (or may not) click with a player, I had a lot more fun with it than I expected. It was really satisfying to go on excursions into the Abyss. So much so that I got caught up in making sure my Caster and Farmer felt “right” to use, rather than focused on progression and heading deeper for a while. That said, it is a very repetitive game that relies on a certain kind of feedback loop, and those who don’t get invested probably won’t learn all of the game’s secrets.

Silent Hope will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on October 3, 2023, and a demo is available.