Nintendo treats us to a detailed look at Dragalia Lost

Dragalia Lost is Nintendo’s next big mobile release, and it’s a brand new IP to boot. Nintendo laid out all of the details about the game today in a special Nintendo Direct and it’s shaping up to be quite an experience, albeit with the usual free-to-play trappings you may have expected.

You take up the mantle of the Alberian Prince, and your goal is to save the world’s Sacred Shard before its power fades and plunges the world into chaos. Build up a party of four characters, along with some powerful dragon companions, to defeat the evil monsters threatening the land.

Dragalia Lost is an action RPG, giving you the freedom to guide your party through dungeons and move across the battlefield at will. You’ll tap monsters to attack, while you can use the skill button to unleash your special abilities at opportune moments. Throughout all of this, you’ll need to dodge your opponents’ attacks, signaled by a red marker, and place and move each of your characters strategically. There are no turns, so you’ll have to think quickly.

Players assemble a party from a collection of 60 characters, which are collected in pretty typical gacha fashion. Each character has a different class, including attack, defense, support, and healing classes. On top of all of that, different units have different elemental affinities, so you’ll have to take all of that into account when choosing who to bring into battle.

The game’s gacha system seems pretty standard. You can use items purchased via in-app purchases or collected as events and rewards to summon characters, dragons, and other helpful items. Characters are ranked on a star system from 3-5, and there’s opportunity to improve their ranks if you’d like.

If you missed the full Dragalia Lost Direct, you can catch it above. Dragalia Lost launches on iOS and Android on September 27 in the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.