Disney Pixel RPG review - "The Disney gameverse expands"

• An RPG based around Disney characters in pixel form
• Hope you draw your favourite characters to fight monster battles
• Go auto or manual and wait for extra energy

Though we can't predict the future, we may very well be living in the Disney timeline. As this super mega global corporation continues to expand its hold into almost every human endeavour, we turn to our phones to play with their charming characters.

There are already so many ways to do this, but GungHo Online Entertainment, Inc. provides us with another in Disney Pixel RPG. If the title was a bit too subtle, it's a 2D RPG game where you control a party of pixel-art characters to defeat a pixel-art evil. This isn't a huge stretch for Disney, but we need to wonder whether it'll pull a muscle.

What is Disney Pixel RPG?

Disney has so many stories in its library - some of them being very familiar to other stories and even to each other - so there's a lot to mix and match. That's actually how you could describe the structure of Disney Pixel RPG as it takes pieces from everywhere. The story is set in a gaming universe that is composed of various dimensions, all representing games based on well-known Disney characters and movies.

All is well until troublesome purple blob creatures called mimics start tearing down the boundaries between the games and causing things to fall apart. Now that all the games and their characters are all in this together, they need to start fighting to restore the integrity of the universe and hopefully make it a fun experience at the same time.

The Charm of Disney Pixel RPG

The usual trap of Disney games is that they tend to rely too much on nostalgia and the base property without building anything around it. Disney Pixel RPG is trying to build something, and it's pulling in some interest. Its most appealing aspect is the pixel characters placed in a 3D environment.

While you're still operating on a mostly 2D plane, the two dimensions together give a sense of scale and the 3D nature of certain character abilities creates synergy between the two. The character models are quite detailed and distinct, referencing older and newer pixel games while giving Disney characters entirely new variants that are fun to try out.

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Speaking of trying out, this is an RPG battler that wants to give you control. It uses a turn-based setup with the enemies on one side and your heroes on the other. The gameplay is simplified so that each character only has three actions, and your team goes first.

Even so, it's enough to feel like you're involved in your team's success and that there is some strategy in how you use each character's stats and abilities to your advantage. Of course, you can still auto-battle if you want and watch your powered-up team tear through purple blobs.

The Trouble of Disney Pixel RPG

There's some lenience that you have to give mobile games since they're made to be played and maintained in certain ways. With Disney Pixel RPG, it follows an established formula but makes questionable choices. To start, its energy system is surprisingly stingy.

You have an energy counter that goes down every time you attempt a battle (including retrying it) and will naturally refill over time. However, your starting energy pool is extremely low and you'll end up burning through it in no time, still wanting to ride your victory streak. It's only made worse when your profile levels up and your max energy increases only slightly - and you don't even get a full refill.

Then there's the gacha element. As you can expect, you need to go to the signal tower in hopes of pulling other characters into your roster. There is a variety of characters you can pull, each with distinct designs, but that's where a majority of the variety ends.

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The stats play a part in choosing who you want on the team, but it's the skills that you really care about - and most of them are duplicates. This can give options in making purely offensive or defensive teams, but if you're looking for balance, you need to hope that the RNG favours you enough to give you something like a healer or a defence booster.

With the lack of enough energy and character variety guarantee, another thing that's highlighted is a lack of side activities. Even though the game is fairly new, it doesn't show any signs of adding other activities to do. All it has is the passive Expeditions option that asks you to step away and let characters do all the fun stuff without you. Considering the amount of Disney there is out there, it seems like it's a missed opportunity to not do more crossover activities or events.

Look for Magic in Disney Pixel RPG

Disney Pixel RPG is a 2D RPG gacha game featuring multiple varieties of Disney characters fighting a massive threat together. The pixel and model quality is something to appreciate, along with controls that let you feel like you're playing a traditional turn-based RPG but in a more casual format.

It should spend some time improving its energy consumption, character gacha RNG, and just giving people more activities to do. All in all, it's a solid adventure to join the Disney catalogue with more characters than you probably thought existed, and that's why the company will keep expanding… just like its very own mobile gameverse.