It’s been a treat to see game franchises that play one particular way experiment in other genres. Disgaea is no stranger to this in some of its spinoff games, but now the strategy RPG series is stepping into the musou ring with Disgaea Mayhem. Instead of giving Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors studio full reign to give Disgaea the “Warriors” treatment, developer Nippon Ichi Software made one on its own. For a first attempt, it is somewhat impressive, but I don’t think it totally landed for me as the gameplay is just not that fun and feels a step down from the Warriors formula with a story that is mostly nonsensical.
Disgaea Mayhem puts players in the shoes of N.A., a veteran mercenary with a sweet tooth who was hired by Tichelle, a demon appointed as the next Overlord of the Super Duper Netherworld after the death of Margraf, the previous overlord and her father. Following her ascension to lead the realm, her father’s retainers, known as the Six Psychalmates, rebelled against her rule. The silly part is that Tichelle isn’t asking N.A. to capture them to deliver justice for going against her regime. No, the reason isn’t that authoritarian; instead, she wants to get back all the flan that they ate from her fridge.
Flan Changed Super Duper’s Hierarchy of Power
Oh, dear reader, this isn’t any ordinary dessert; it is known as Pristine Gleam Flan, created by her father, and that single dish brought order to all of Super Duper. Her father’s creation of the flan recipe preceded a time when Super Duper was a much different place, with an environment where the strong dominated the weak. Years ago, Margraf’s encounter with N.A. actually inspired him to create a better Super Duper through the power of Flan.
Now N.A. must defeat each of the Psychalmates in six unique biomes before the Pristine Gleam Flan is fully digested. I’m not someone who has ever played a Disgaea game, so that makes Disgaea Mayhem my first one. I just found the narrative to be the most unfunny nothing burger of a story I’ve experienced in a while. Not that I expect incredible writing from these anime-stylized games to land all the time, but I just found the characters to be so boring and honestly annoying the longer I played this game.
Starting Disgaea Mayhem, there is no exposition and it puts you right in the action by giving you a rundown of all the game’s mechanics. As N.A., you hack-and-slash through demons with light and heavy attack combos plus activate weapon skills in Disgaea’s musou-like as you do damage in the thousands; even millions in the later game. Disgaea Mayhem also featured a dash mechanic letting you quickly dodge incoming attacks and even jump to air dash away or to platform over long distances. Musou games are known for their roster of characters, but that is lacking in Disgaea Mayhem as N.A. is the only playable character in the main story.
Have a Buddy to Cover Your Back Dood
To make up for that, N.A. can equip up to seven weapons, letting the game’s protagonist switch and use multiple play styles in combat. Also, as you progress through the game, you will make friends with demons, and you can bring one of them with you to fight alongside. I mostly rocked Yao, a Prinny, as my buddy of choice, and I have easily heard “Dood” uttered by Sam Riegel’s dulcet tones a thousand times. Your buddy, through the power of magichange, can transform into a weapon that, depending on the character, might be different than the one N.A. has equipped, and to end it, you can unleash a cinematic attack to do massive damage.
Prinny being thrown out of enemies as he whips out his dual knives in a suicide bomber fashion is legit the only funny thing in this game. As the game goes on, it feels like I was stretching myself thin until the introduction of Item World, an inner stage in any of your weapons or armour where you’ll face off against at least five waves of enemies that get harder and harder.
At the end, you’re rewarded with the experience you gain and increasing your item’s level, which improves its base stats. Disgaea Mayhem has a ridiculous level cap of 9,999; I only made it to around 150-ish, and that was more than enough. It took me slightly under 10 hours to beat Disgaea Mayhem, and even then I was stretching my time in the item worlds.
Not a Complete Open Map
Disgaea Mayhem is kind of a weird game to me; there is no doubt it is obviously trying to replicate that “Warriors” experience, but the gameplay feels like it was holding itself back. Instead of wiping out 100s of enemies on a sprawling map, you can take out 10s of enemies with paths blocked from exploring the entire map. The level selection for each map allows you to explore other sections while you take out the “general” boss of that level, which can be completed in two to three minutes. There are multiple of these bosses, so I question why they didn’t just combine the smaller levels into a big, longer one.
I do like musou games quite a lot, but more on the licensed ones than the core games; they come off as this mindless thing to play, but there is some depth and charm that keeps me coming back. Even though the gameplay is similar in that regard, Disgaea Mayhem doesn’t share those aspects, as the game is actual mindless action in every sense of the word with combos that feel like they don’t connect in the same way to other musou games.
Pass Bills to Unlock More
It’s hard to say who this game is even for; as a newcomer, it felt like Disgaea Mayhem isn’t serving me as a musou fan, and that feels the same for the Disgaea fandom. Honestly, Disgaea Mayhem feels cheap to play too; I’m not one to talk about price, but $60 for this game feels like a sticking point, and from what I played, it is not worth picking up at launch.
It’s not all bad; Disgaea Mayhem is visually a good-looking game as Nippon Ichi Software delivers a pretty stunning game with a 3D art style that popped on my screen while playing. On my Nintendo Switch 2, Disgaea Mayhem runs great and had no hiccups during my time with the game. Outside of combat, Disgaea Mayhem also features a hub world in Tichelle’s Overworld castle where you can buy items, pick which buddy joins you in battle, pass Dark Chocolate Assembly bills for additional bonuses, and much more.
Verdict
Disgaea Mayhem takes the beloved strategy RPG franchise fans love into the action RPG genre with Nippon Ichi Software’s Dynasty Warriors-like take on the franchise, but it struggles to serve either Disgaea fans or musou fans alike in this half-baked game. The story feels nonsensical, with gameplay that feels like a step-down from the musou formula and less fun to play.
[A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch 2
