Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Myth Battle Chronicle Review - Screenshot 1 of 3

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Myth Battle Chronicle – also known as the much faster to say DanMachi Battle Chronicle – is a console port of an Aiming-developed gacha game which released on mobile last year. Inspired by the light novel series of the same name, the free-to-play affair loosely follows the story of the popular manga and anime adaptations, which features a horny hero named Bell who’s tasked with exploring the eponymous Dungeon, in search of rare resources.

The game is fully voice acted in Japanese, and features select scenes and artwork from the anime, in addition to slightly more static conversational cut-scenes. While the story’s hardly anything original, those who already enjoy the source material may enjoy the recap, while newcomers may be intrigued to learn more about the universe by snagging a couple of books or adding the show to their streaming rotation. There are a lot of fourth-wall breaking references to RPGs et al, which gamers may appreciate.

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Given the emphasis on dungeon crawling, gameplay largely comprises short two-to-three-minute combat gauntlets, where you’re tasked with taking down mythological creatures. As a gacha, you’ll unlock different characters from the source material which fulfil unique roles, each with elemental attributes. You then form teams and interchange between your units, using their specialties to gain the upper-hand in combat. Some excel in defence, for example, while others operate in a support capacity. The gameplay is really simple, but it’s adapting to the circumstances you face which is a big part of the package’s appeal.

As with most games of this ilk, there’s an automated combat option, but the artificial intelligence is atrocious and doesn’t make the best use of your squad’s capabilities. If you’re over levelled you can still brute force your way through some stages this way, but in more difficult encounters you’re going to have to actually take control of your team in order to triumph.

Of course, a big part of the appeal is pulling new characters, and yes, you’ll unlock these through a gacha system, whereby you have a low percentage chance of rolling the promoted unit at any given time. While you do unlock plenty of in-game currency through gameplay, you’ll probably need to engage with microtransactions in order to get the units you really want. Duplicates and copious resources help you to level up the characters you do have, and there are Assist units and Scenes you can unlock, too, which all give a buff to the heroes in your party. In other words, there’s a lot going on, and you’re going to need a lot of luck or money to get the exact team you want.

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This usually isn’t an issue in single player gacha games like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, but there is an optional competitive element to DanMachi Battle Chronicle which can feel a little pay-to-win, despite the existence of a ranking system and cross-platform matchmaking. One of the modes sees you hoarding gems you mine from CPU enemies, but you can obviously be attacked by three other real-life players and have your resources stolen from you. Performance isn’t the best in these skirmishes, but it’s at least fully cross-platform, which guarantees a relatively reasonable number of opponents are always online.

As a live service game, there are also regular events to participate in, although these are much simpler story-based affairs, where you earn tickets from completing daily missions which allow you to unlock cut-scenes. It’s not as engaging as the high-budget shenanigans in HoYoverse’s games, and therefore we wonder whether the incentive is there to keep you logging in day-after-day. The biggest battle for any gacha like this is ultimately the untimely End of Service hammer, so hopefully Aiming can cultivate a committed audience that continues to fund ongoing development.

Conclusion

DanMachi Battle Chronicle is a little scruffy and low-budget, but the team-building options are fun, and it does a decent enough job of retelling the plot of the anime and manga it’s inspired by. Those looking for a slick, character action experience will find themselves underwhelmed here, but as a deeply replayable time waster, it serves its purpose as something that can occupy your attention for a few minutes every day. Cross-platform progression means you can pick up where you left off on your phone, and the inclusion of online multiplayer modes gives a little added incentive to improve your team – even if it can all feel a little pay-to-win in the end.