9 Days is a simple, yet deviously compelling game. It’s the superhero/Dragon Ball Z game many fans have been waiting years for, but there is one flaw that has resulted in its historically mixed reviews on Steam (although recent reviews are mostly positive).
For the uninitiated, 9 Days derives its title from the in-game time limit. Players have 9 days to prepare for a fight against Afan, a big bad that’s not unlike Frieza, Cell, or Majin Buu. Players must spend that time training themselves, acquiring new abilities, and increasing their power level, so to speak. Exploration is as important as combat when gaining these skills and abilities, with players forced to choose where to go to accumulate their power. The premise should be familiar to Dragon Ball Z fans.
9 Days Channels the Best of Dragon Ball Z
While Dragon Ball Z never presents it so simply, there are tons of periods where Z Fighters, Goku, and others must train to face their next foe. It’s reminiscent of Goku training with King Kai to face Nappa and Vegeta, Goku training while flying to Namek to face Frieza, and the numerous other training sessions seen throughout the franchise. The big difference? It’s action-oriented and not as simple as sticking a few people in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
9 Days sees players begin off weakly and simply, while also learning to absorb power and energy from nearby entities—beginning with rocks and ending with stars. Players can even go full villain arc and destroy planets, should they so choose. Throughout this training journey, they’ll learn to fly, unlock new Ki abilities, unlock melee attacks, and even unlock blast abilities, all of which are reminiscent of Dragon Ball Z‘s most iconic moves. At the end of the day limit, players must be strong enough to defeat Afan, representing all the enemies Goku trained and fought. It speaks to that DBZ fantasy perfectly.
Everything You Need to Know About 9 Days
- Budget Price: $14.99
- Available on Steam; future console release possible
- Time-gated open world
- High-stakes narrative
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Custom Combat Styles
- Ki Abilities
- Unique Melee Abilities
- Unique Blast Abilities
- Unique Traversal Abilities
- Unique Transformations
- Unique planets, exploration, biomes, and traversal (including flight and space travel)
- Highly-replayable concept as players learn to make the most of their 9 days
- Continued support targeting narrative and gameplay additions
But 9 Days is Rough Around the Edges
However, players must be patient with 9 Days. It is clearly an ambitious game, a unique premise, and one that can only go up from here, but it is a super indie game. It seems to be the work of a solo developer named MVR, and its mixed reviews come down to bugs, unexplained systems, and clear rough spots in the game’s current state. That said, it is definitely a diamond in the rough. MVR continues to work on and improve 9 Days, with the game’s most recent (and positive) reviews highlighting the continued work on the title. It is also sold at a budget price of $14.99; as of this writing, 9 Days is on sale on Steam for 30% off.
If someone can be patient and accept that the game is not in a perfect state, coming into it with well-maintained expectations, then they may be able to scratch their Dragon Ball Z itch with 9 Days. It’s a concept one would expect to find in a Bandai Namco-published DBZ game, not an indie developer, and the result is genuinely impressive. 9 Days might only have the titular days in-game, but it has lived for a year and could go on to make a real mark in the community in the coming years.