DROS Review (Switch) – The Dros And Cons

DROS is a top-down dark fantasy adventure from Brisbane-based studio EmergeWorlds. Previously only playable on Steam, DROS has taken a gelatinous leap onto the Nintendo Switch – as all indies should. Right from the start, the game immediately took me back to the mascot platformers I was so fond of in the 2000s. Titles like Ratchet and Clank or Jak And Daxter, where the lead characters had some kind of uniting of circumstance rather than a happy working relationship holding them together. However, for our dual protagonists Captain and Little Dros, it’s a little closer to Eddie Brock and Venom.

Alright, I lied, the first thing to take me back wasn’t quite the inspirations that drove the game’s conception but the absolutely aggressive use of controller vibration in both handheld and pro controller. Once that was turned off, I let Little Dros take the shell in my pitiful human form for the few hours I spent with the game. This’ll all make sense sooner or later, I hope. Is Dros a game of slime and mirrors? Or does adventure platforming have a new blob-like mascot? Let’s get into it.

Unlikely Alliance

The game opens with Little Dros, a black ball of slime/goop/gunge, encased in a test tube trying to escape the Alchemist’s lab. The Alchemist is the creator of these glob-like beings (also called Dros) who freely conducts experiments and controls them to run his tower, to I guess have ultimate power. After successfully toppling the tube and breaking free, you’re quickly introduced to the character’s playstyle. Little Dros is the platforming side of the game’s mechanics, with a double jump, the ability to shoot through pipes and other such intricacies thanks to its coagulate form. Though without a host, or in the game’s term shell, she can’t survive.

Captain then, is the combat Yin to Little Dros’ platforming Yang as his heavy armour and devastating sword make him a brute not to mess with. Unlike his soon-to-be-gooey-counterpart, Captain is a bounty hunter on the search for The Alchemist as there’s a big reward attached to him. Things quickly go awry, however, as Captain quickly becomes half a corpse at the bottom of the sewer. Little Dros sees the dying Captain and attaches themself to him, thus starting the journey for the unlikely duo to defeat The Alchemist.

The story is dished out through short cutscenes and optional conversations with NPCs across the 40+ levels that you’ll journey across. It’s fine and sweet enough, there’s a clear journey of the two protagonists going from reluctant partners to inseparable, but the story doesn’t quite fill out the 7-10 hour runtime. It does a neat job of elaborating on the world you play in through NPC interaction and world design, even if there are a handful of typos. The story and worldbuilding didn’t quite click with me, but I imagine some people may get more out of the setting.

Two Can Play That Game

You play as both protagonists from the top down perspective across diorama-style levels. As I mentioned before, both play in their own ways, creating unique instances where you switch between the two perspectives. Using the right analogue stick swings your view across the level, revealing all the nooks and crannies for those that are eagle eyed. This is where Little Dros shines as their platforming abilities help you find all the secrets the levels have to offer.

Every level has Prima (a currency you use to heal and use abilities), Crystals (a form of collectible) and a piece of equipment per level that’s also a collectible. You’ll see these on the results screen at the end of a level alongside time beaten. It feels like the game’s asking quite a bit of you without a decent reason as to why, so I tried to collect what I could and move on as there was no clear incentive. Whilst I’m on the topic of clarity, the level design themselves are a few steps removed from being intuitive.

Often I found myself lost for a couple of minutes whilst I figured out what the gimmick of the level was asking from me. Whether that’s disarming a turret that keeps shooting at me to walk past or a hidden path not very well signposted. It didn’t completely spoil any enjoyment but it was making it harder to find the fun.

Aye, Aye Captain

The Captain is also a lacklustre addition to the game as his combat-focused gameplay is a matter of thwacking your sword and blocking. Enemies will either jump at you to attack or fire projectiles and it just feels very standard at best and at worse inconsistent. It’s certainly the weaker half of the gameplay, although the platforming as Little Dros doesn’t feel 1-to-1 either but it’s forgiving by not penalising you if you fall into a pit. On top of that, Little Dros is the driving factor across the levels as you’ll be doing more contextual puzzle-solving rather than combat.

Finding pipes that lead to a hidden area that has a button, manipulating cranes, and destroying electricity boxes are some of the busywork that keeps you occupied across the earlier levels. Dros does open up with a few more different elements to keep the game feeling somewhat fresh, though they are few and far between being spread across over 40+ levels. For me, there aren’t many peaks in exciting gameplay but there aren’t any real dips either, just consistently fine to play with a few quality of life improvements needed.

Compared to the PC version, Dros on the Nintendo Switch doesn’t look the best either. Playing on both my TV and handheld, the results are more or less the same. Characters have a strange outlining that looks a little pixelated, environments are lacking in detail with not many effects hiding the blemishes and whilst the diorama-style level is cool, there’s just so much empty screen surrounding it, it’s not an economic use of the game’s art style.

Lacking Symbiosis

The hand-drawn art is astounding, every character has a portrait that has awesome detail and looks undeniably cool. It feels like EmergeWorlds has a great idea of how they wanted to present Dros but maybe not the means to completely execute their vision. I like the world, the characters and to some extent the gameplay but none of it grabbed my attention and compelled me to completely finish it.

Those who are longing for the 2000-era mascot platformers may get some enjoyment out of this. Take out the combat and story and you’ve got a half-decent collectathon platformer that is fun enough to playthrough. Someone may get more enjoyment out of Dros but for me, it was just okay.

DROS has honest goals to be a unique duo platforming adventure but adding too many elements has created something varied but not lasting. The world is interesting and the characters have cool designs but anything outside of its presentation is just fine.

DROS is available now on Nintendo Switch (review platform) and PC via Steam.

Developer: EmergeWorlds
Publisher: RedDeerGames

Disclaimer: In order to complete this preview, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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