Dislyte Review

Devine Inspiration

Dislyte and Diablo Immortal were the two biggest Android releases last month. While Blizzard’s action RPG brought the AAA budget to the table, it also rolled up with some incredibly scummy monetization practices. Meanwhile, Dislyte, developed by Farlight Games and published by Lilith Games, is a more typical turn-based gacha game. However, it’s one of the better-made examples of the genre.

This turn-based RPG takes place some years after the arrival of supernatural entities called Miracles. These Miracles blessed certain humans, called Espers, with the powers of ancient gods and other mythical creatures. The game’s story follows a young woman named Brynn, who is one half of an up-and-coming rock duo. A monster attack awakens her dormant Esper powers, transforming Brynn into an axe-wielding Valkyrie. Unfortunately, Brynn has no time to appreciate that visual pun before a pair of other Espers kidnap her partner Sieg.

Brynn soon learns the kidnappers are part of a sinister secret society plotting to use the miracles for their own mysterious ends. Joined by the Anubis butler Drew and cherubic live streamer Q, she embarks on a quest to rescue her partner and unravel the conspiracy. Brynn, Q and Drew are all fun characters with decent chemistry, and their dialog writing is pretty good too. Their personalities, motivations and backgrounds are nothing ground-breaking, but the trio makes for a decently entertaining superhero team.

Clash of Gods

Being a gacha game, Farlight Games also put a decent amount of effort into Dislyte’s character designs. Developers did a great job on The highly detailed if sometimes overdesigned, 2D portraits and 3D models. The artists deserve particular praise for blending their mythological inspiration with modern fashion while making each character visually diverse. There’s also not as much fan service as some gacha games, though Dislyte still has plenty of CGI T&A if that’s what you’re into. Unfortunately, Dislyte’s non-Esper enemies aren’t quite as visually interesting, with many being palette-swaps of the same generic rock monsters.

Gameplay-wise, Dislyte is in many ways a typical example of the gacha RPG genre. Players form a party of five Espers and lead them in turn-based battles. Like many other gacha games, Dislyte divides its Espers into different elements. In this case, it’s a simple rock-paper-scissors of “Wind,” “Flow” and “Inferno.” Meanwhile, the fourth element, called “Shimmer,” doesn’t counter and isn’t countered by anything.

In battle, each Esper has a standard attack and two special abilities. Brynn, for example, can buff the party’s Attack with her Rock’n’Roll ability, while her Powerful Advent of the Goddess move deals high damage and freezes enemies in place. Drew, meanwhile, is a pure damage dealer, while Q specializes in AOE. Other Espers fill the essential roles of healers and debuffers. Dislyte doesn’t use mana or AP pools, but different abilities have cooldown timers that players will need to build their strategy around.

Ready to Rock

Dislyte has a variety of modes built around the same basic combat engine. However, they’re all pretty similar in practice and mostly conform to standard genre tropes. There are dungeons, boss arenas and challenge towers, but almost none do much to shake up the gameplay in a meaningful way. The sole exception is the DJ Contest at the Esper HQ, a Guitar Hero-style rhythm minigame. It’s a pretty significant departure mechanically speaking but fits the game’s aesthetic and makes for a fun little side activity.

Speaking of which, music is a pretty big part of Dislyte’s aesthetic. Brynn is only one of several Espers with music based-powers and turntables are a recurring visual motif. The game’s soundtrack is a mix of pop, rock, rap, and jazz, with many Espers borrowing visual elements associated with those genres. One loading screen even encourages players to use headphones for maximum effect.

Ironically, I almost feel like the game didn’t commit to the music enough. The soundtrack is a good mix of genres and helps pump you up for the next battle. However, music isn’t relevant to the plot or gameplay besides the minigame mentioned above. This is less of a flaw than a missed opportunity. Incorporating some form of rhythm gameplay into the primary loop might have added an exciting twist in combat. As it stands, Dislyte’s combat is a competently made but otherwise standard turn-based gacha RPG.

Dislyte is still a pretty good game overall. If you’re just looking for a gacha RPG with decent production values and no predatory mechanics, then Dislyte might be the Android game for you. Just don’t expect it to shake up the standard gacha game format.