Heroes of Mount Dragon launched on June 25, 2025, developed by Canadian indie studio RuniQ and published by indie.io. Developed by veterans from studios like Beenox, Ubisoft, and Crash Bandicoot, it’s a side-scrolling beat‑’em‑up that combines arcade-style brawling, vibrant hand-drawn visuals, and a playful fantasy world. Players pick one of four heroes (with four more to come post-launch), each infused with dragon-morphing powers. The game supports single-player, couch or online co-op up to four players, and competitive PvP modes, complete with chaotic curses like shrinking or flipping controls
The ideas are there, but need more time to cook
Its art style is striking, a blend of 2D hand-drawn character art layered in a 3D world, creating a colorful, Saturday cartoon-like aesthetic. I find it nostalgic yet fresh, like a well recreated feeling of PS2 era games. The world of Üna, the fantasy realm, is brought to life through lush environments such as elven forests, swamps, and desserts, all rendered with vivid depth and charm.
Combat feels polished and accessible. Movesets are fluid, with satisfying combos and special attacks. Transforming into dragons mid-battle is visually and mechanically exhilarating. Multiplayer co-op shines brightest, fostering synergy between characters and chaotic fun through curses and PvP modes. Action is smooth, with juggles and aerial combos bringing that classic arcade energy. However, I noticed issues with combat precision. There’s some positional jank: attacks may miss if enemies aren’t perfectly aligned vertically, a small but noticeable clunk amid the flow.
Unfortunately there’s a few drawbacks, especially UI issues. When playing couch co-op I could not see player 2’s move set which meant when levelling and unlocking new moves we either had to quit or just attempt combinations. Also you can not back out to main menu from the “map” and have to wait to get into the level, which then if I tried to quit out it would usually result in a crash. Sometimes it would show me unlocking a new move but when attempting to pull it off, it wouldn’t work until the next level. Another issue I found also UI related. The four characters promised in future updates are showing on the character select screen. but no where in game does it say how to or when they’ll be unlocked, leaving me frustrated until eventually googling the reason.
There’s a decent hours of gameplay but only a couple hours of new
Here lies a gameplay problem: despite four distinct locales, many feel like reskinned versions of the same stage. Enemy variety and level hazards are limited, making the experience feel repetitive after a couple of hours. This repetition dulls the initially exhilarating combat loop, even though upgrades and dragon transforms try to spice things up, they only patch the monotony rather than solve it. You play as one hero of the Dragon‑Souls tasked with restoring balance. The narrative is whimsical and light-hearted, narrated with charm, though delivery lacks voice acting, many players will skip through dialogue. The lore expands beyond the game: it’s tied to a pre-existing French‑Canadian board‑game series and an ongoing book franchise, with eight heroes total and nine volumes exploring their backstories. While that integration is intriguing, launch content reveals only half the roster, which as I mentioned was disappointing.
The game offers Adventure co-op, score-based competitive modes, curses, unlockable upgrades, and future DLC promises. But limited stage diversity and predictable enemy encounters undercut longevity.
My Conclusion
Heroes of Mount Dragon is a vibrant, ambitious start for RuniQ. It nails presentation and accessible brawling, with dragon transformations adding spectacle and depth. Co-op play, curses, and humour make it a fun pick-up-and-play party game, especially for fans of classic arcade beat‑’em‑ups.
But it currently lacks sufficient content and variety to maintain long-term engagement. Identical stage structures, limited enemy types, and some rough edges in gameplay precision and performance hold it back. The lore-rich world hints at growth potential, supported by upcoming content. Bug fixes and expansions could elevate it from “fun” to “compelling.”
