The Nameless: Slay Dragon (PC) Review – Old School Returns

I always have a special place in my heart for games that are more like the text adventures of old, where you can accomplish a multitude of interactions. The Nameless: Slay Dragon is a game that aspires to capture that magic again.

Game Name: The Nameless: Slay Dragon
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed)
Developer(s): The Nameless Epic
Publisher(s): WhisperGames
Release Date: September 26th, 2024
Price: $17.99

The Nameless: Slay Dragon follows a kid discovering his village utterly destroyed by dragons. This tragedy drives him to seek a purpose in life: slaying every dragon he can find. He leaves his ruined village to seek out dragon slayers and learn how to kill dragons. The world itself is dystopian, largely overrun by dragons. There is one town, the last hope of the world, known as LastGuard. This town has knights who follow the order of the first dragon slayer, Ingharit Phinx. They possess an arsenal of dragon-slaying techniques that can be taught to those who join the knightly order.

The Good

You may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned the name of the main character you play; that’s because he is a character you can shape. You name him and can plan out his skills and weapon sets. The game is highly narrative but also choice-focused. The Nameless: Slay Dragon introduces you early on to the importance of making smart choices. You can spend time gathering in the overworld instead of focusing on reaching LastGuard, but doing so will attract more and more monsters the longer you linger. When you first encounter LastGuard, you are stopped by a wyvern that can kill you if you don’t make smart decisions. You can run for the town, dive into the nearby water, or try to hide in the forest. Your choice will alter the situation and can even lead to an early death.

Even though the story is important, the way you navigate through it is varied. The Nameless: Slay Dragon reminds me of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. The story doesn’t drastically change based on your choices, but there are many different paths to reach various outcomes. If you make a poor choice, you’ll quickly know, either by dying or failing your mission. Make sure to save often to avoid losing progress; I learned that the hard way when I didn’t save before a pivotal moment and lost about half an hour of gameplay.

This game is hard—really hard. Fortunately, there is an easy mode in case it becomes too challenging for you. The difficulty encourages you to learn the systems and mechanics introduced throughout the game. You can use alchemy to create potions, smithing to forge weapons and armor, and a vast array of options to customize items and weapons. I love that once you create a weapon with customized stats, the game prompts you to name it. You can also learn about sparks, traits, and abilities.

Sparks are side effects that you can add to your abilities. For example, if you have a powerful attack you enjoy using, you can add a spark to that ability. I had a strong armor-piercing attack and added a chance for frost damage to occur if it landed. If you use an attack frequently, you can achieve mastery of it. With my armor-piercing attack, I was able to add a chance to strike twice once mastered. Customizing your abilities makes your character’s loadout even more personalized to your play style.

Most of The Nameless: Slay Dragon takes place on an overworld map with icons. This setup gives you the freedom to explore as you listen to people in the environment, which increases your passive hearing stat. Gathering or foraging grants you experience that eventually boosts that passive stat as well. There are many passive stats in the game; you can increase dexterity by sneaking past enemy parties, stamina by successfully climbing ledges or trees, or even intelligence by reading books. These stats make skill checks easier during pivotal moments that require good rolls. Crafting items increases your crafting skill, enhancing your ability to create items and adding more passive effects. The game has a wealth of mechanics to explore, and understanding them is enjoyable!

The Bad

While The Nameless: Slay Dragon has many great moments, it lacks visual spectacle. Most of what your character does is indicated by a yellow spot on the map, making it feel like you’re playing D&D and relying on your imagination. I don’t mind using my imagination, but I prefer to see events unfold rather than just viewing spots on a map.

The game seems designed primarily for mouse and keyboard use. I tried playing with a controller, which is supported and mostly functional, but moving the cursor can be a bit slow. There are some odd input issues; for instance, if I use an item during combat and then try to move to the character I want to target, the input doesn’t always register. This can lead to using the item on the wrong character due to missed button presses.

There were also strange moments when the dialogue abruptly shifted from English to Chinese. I can understand how text might become an issue in a game with lengthy dialogues, but one particular moment during a flashback to the event of slaying the first dragon switched languages unexpectedly. That said, most of the dialogue was actually very well written, which was a pleasant surprise.

The Verdict

The Nameless: Slay Dragon is a fantastic game when you consider the depth of its mechanics and its artwork. Some players may be put off by how static the game can feel, but they would miss out on a great story and setting. I wasn’t hooked initially, but the narrative and the depth of mechanics gradually drew me in. It can start off challenging when you’re unsure how things work, but if you persevere, you will discover the beauty of the game. Both artistically and narratively, this game is amazing!

The Nameless: Slay Dragon comes out on September 26th, 2024 for PC.

Review Disclosure Statement: The Nameless: Slay Dragon was provided to us by WhisperGames for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

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