Drakengard 3

Drakengard 3 features hack-and-slash gameplay and aerial combat on a dragon, as with previous entries in the series. The player controls the main protagonist Zero during the entire campaign and for most levels is accompanied by up to two AI-controlled companions. In ground-based combat, Zero performs multiple attacks on various enemies. These can be combined into combos, which fill up Zero's Tension Gauge.

When the gauge is filled to any degree, Zero can temporarily enter Intoner Mode, a hyperactive state which enables her to move quickly and deal high damage to enemies while also making her immune to attack. As Zero levels up, weapons grow more powerful and Zero gains access to multiple weapon types as the game progresses. Each weapon type produces a different set of attacking moves. Unlike previous titles in the series, the player does not have to pause the games to switch weapons, instead being able to do it at any time without pausing.

Drakengard 3 takes place roughly one hundred years before the events of the first Drakengard game, acting as a prequel to the first two games in the series. Despite being a prequel, Drakengard 3 mostly follows separate timelines unrelated to the events of Drakengard. In earlier times, the land was ravaged by conflict between warlords. At the height of the carnage, five mysterious figures called Intoners appeared and using their ability to utilize magic through song, defeated the warlords and ended the conflict.

Due to this, they become worshiped as deities and became rulers of various regions of the land. An unspecified time later, in the game's present, the strongest Intoner, One, wishes to unite the five once again and bring stability to the land. The source of the Intoners' power is an evil magical flower. Zero (ゼロ), the main protagonist and antihero, was saved from death to be used as an instrument for mankind's destruction.

Drakengard 3 was conceived when Takamasa Shiba and Yoko Taro, the respective producer and director of the original game, met up years after Cavia, the company where they created the series, was absorbed into AQ Interactive. The two resurrected early plans to create a third entry in the series. As part of the brainstorming process, the company used fan questionnaires, from which the team learned that many wanted a dark story similar to Nier for the next entry in the series. Speaking about the creation of the game, Shiba said that Drakengard 3 was made partly because the company was making fewer single-player RPG console games and he wished to capture the atmosphere of earlier days. Alongside that was Shiba's ambition to show that the RPG fanbase was now a mainstream community that wanted a more hardcore gaming experience.

The game was developed by Access Games, who were noted for the survival horror Deadly Premonition, and built using Unreal Engine 3. Shiba noted that the company was "just really good at creating action games", which would enable the team to address criticisms laid at the previous games in the series for their poor combat while still being able to craft a story true to the Drakengard series. Production began in 2011, after Access Games were contacted by Shiba during that year's Tokyo Game Show. Yoko co-directed with Access Games' Keisuke Mori.

Drakengard 3 received "mixed or average" reviews, according to Western video game review aggregator Metacritic. The game received a 34/40 from Famitsu, with the four reviewers giving it scores of 9, 9, 8 and 8. Anime News Network's Todd Ciolek named it Game of the Year in 2014.

The story received mixed reviews. Famitsu was generally positive about the world and characters, praising the character dialogue. Destructoid's Chris Carter stated that the story compelled him to "truck forward and figure it all out for [himself]", while he found the dialogue between the characters funny and their relationships entertaining. Game Informer's Kimberley Wallace was less enthusiastic, saying that while there were a few interesting scenes, "the narrative and characters make a lot of missteps."