Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX

Beautiful art style but fundamentally repetitive dungeon crawling.

A slow, overly simplistic opening nearly sinks it, but once the camp and Pokémon-recruitment systems open up it becomes a compelling, addictive dungeon crawler carried by a surprisingly strong narrative. The watercolor painterly visual overhaul is appealing and performance is excellent, though dungeons lack visual variety and boss fights stay too simple. Best suited to fans and dungeon-crawler veterans, especially at a discount.

A decent remake of the 2006 games that nicely updates its presentation with a charming watercolor art style, enhanced music, and an impressive amount of post-game content. However, it fails to fix the originals' core problems: the procedurally-generated dungeons feel monotonous and predictable, and combat often boils down to mashing through pushover enemies until the very end. Big Pokémon fans will enjoy recruiting and building a rescue team, but those seeking more depth may find it too mundane to stay engaged.