9th Dawn III Review

Dawn of An Adventure

If you’re in the market for a quality mobile dungeon crawler, look no further. 9^th Dawn III is the newest installation in the 9^th Dawn series by Valoware. Ghosts have mysteriously taken up residence near Lake Elmson. Your task is to uncover why these spirits have appeared. Explore an engaging 2D world as you battle monsters and complete quest. 9^th Dawn III features tons of locations to explore and dungeons to clear. Unfortunately, it also features a save-breaking bug.

Each time you level up in 9^th Dawn III, you gain attribute points. These can be spent to improve strength, dexterity, endurance, intelligence, and wisdom. What attributes you should focus on depends on your play style as well as which abilities you wish to unlock. For example, before you gain the level one fireball spell, you’ll need to increase your wisdom to eight. Each ability costs a certain number of ability coins to unlock. For instance, the level one fireball spell costs two ability coins while the level one heal ability costs three. Of course, ability coins aren’t easy to come by. Often, they’re hidden away in easily overlooked crevices or difficult to reach areas deep within dungeons. I found the ability coin system to be refreshing. It really made me pause and think about what abilities would be most beneficial.

Battle Those Baddies

Combat in 9^th Dawn III is somewhat simplistic but that doesn’t mean it’s not engaging. Players attack by tilting a virtual joystick in the enemy’s direction. Any spells and abilities you unlock can be dragged to the equip slots at the bottom of the screen. The controls are easy to master but the battles themselves are a challenge. Often, you’ll be swarmed by a mass of enemies. When this happens, it’s easy to be overwhelmed. Unless you’ve unlocked and equipped the healing spell, you won’t get far.

9^th Dawn III allows players to capture creatures to join your party. To do so you’ll need to purchase bait to lure a creature than capture it with a snare trap. It’s an intriguing feature that adds an extra layer of fun to an already intensely fun game. The game costs 9.99 to download but luckily there are no in-app purchases. ­­­­

A Nasty Bug

Now about that game-breaking bug. I quickly found myself engrossed in 9th Dawn III’s rich 2-D. I had just saved a character who goes by the moniker Nameless who chose to join my party. Then I decided to call it quits for the night. To my utter disappointment, when I loaded my save the next day, the world was pitch black. Literally, the world had entirely disappeared. All I could see were the controls and menu buttons and poor Nameless alone in the dark void. I reached out to Valorware but unfortunately did not hear back. However, it should be noted that my second playthrough has been entirely without glitches thus far.

9^th Dawn III is a charming open-world RPG filled to the brim with engaging content. The quests are fairly standard, but combat is challenging and it’s a thrill to explore the many dungeons. Of course, running into a bug that effectively corrupted my save game at level twenty definitely influenced the score. Hopefully, Valorware will continue to work out the kinks. Bug aside, 9^th Dawn III offers up an epic dungeon crawling experience. While it may be a bit on the pricey side, it’s ultimately a title worth exploring.