Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Unfortunately, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is only an option for Nintendo Switch owners. If you’ve got one (or more), though, then you’re in luck. It definitely earns the “Ultimate” part of its name with the amount of variety and content on offer here. There are over 70 characters to choose from, along with every stage from the series’ history.

It offers several robust single-player options if you aren’t keen on online matches, plus plenty of co-op options. But if online is what you’re looking for, it’s usually top-notch as well. The ranking system means you typically won’t get matched with someone way out of you league, so everyone can enjoy their time with Smash Ultimate.

If you're looking for another brawler for other systems, Brawlhalla is another great choice — and it's a lot like Super Smash, but in the best ways possible. 

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Whatever the reason you need to keep the kids entertained and out of trouble, these games should give you plenty of options. Let us know what your fail-safe games are for keeping the kids busy, and be sure to give us a like and share on social media if you enjoyed what you read!

Be sure to check out these other awesome kid-centric games in case you didn't already find what you were looking for: 

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• Fantastic family-friendly games
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• Great PC games for kids
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• Xbox One games for kids
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• PS4 games for kids
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Madden NFL 20

The most recent Madden game, Madden NFL 20, packs enough content to keep any football fan busy for a long, long time. Its story mode, Face of the Franchise, lets you create a career football player and follow them through the college divisions all the way to the top of the NFL. It might not be quite so engaging the further you get into it, but it’s still a very solid experience. The real magic is on the field in normal matches, though.

Madden 20 introduces a new feature to the formula with X-Factor Superstar Abilities. These are unique to star players, created with their own real-life strengths and abilities in mind that shake up how you execute your plays and approach each situation. Madden 20 also offers challenge modes, dynamic Playbooks, and basically anything football lovers might want in a Madden game.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Speaking of Dragon Quest, If monster-catchers and MMOs aren’t really your kids’ thing, then Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age fills that RPG niche very well indeed. It’s the latest and arguably one of the best in the long-running Dragon Quest series. It’s brighter, more colorful, absolutely jam-packed with things to do, and as always, the localization is some of the best in the industry. 

You’ll do the usual RPG things — gather a party of misfits, journey around the world, and try to save it from evil — but like all Dragon Quest games, XI offsets the familiar with a huge heart and plenty of character.

Despite being the 11th title in the series, you don’t really need any prior experience with Dragon Quest to appreciate it, though references to earlier games mean fans get the most out of it. Better yet, it’s available on every platform except Xbox One. The Switch version has added content, but the base version on PS4 and PC is still a modern classic and an excellent single-player experience.

Minecraft

Minecraft is a pretty obvious choice for games to keep your kids entertained. Heck, they (and you) might even be completely sick of it by now. If that’s the case, fear not. There’s still plenty more you can do with Minecraft. Multiplayer games, either of your own creation or on dedicated servers, are always an option to shake things up, as are survival games.

Minecraft has countless excellent creative servers for building themed or guided worlds as well and frequently demos new “snapshots” of upcoming features on PC (like the Busy Bees trailer above). Basically, Minecraft never stops, and there’s always something new to try — even if it’s just venturing into a new world.

But if you're absolutely fed up with Minecraft, there are other alternatives. Roblox is one, a combination of world builder and game designer where you can create your own games within the game. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is another, offering a more guided take on the "build anything" idea, a story, and tons of the series' trademark charm. Even though it's not as open as Minecraft, you can still create pretty much anything you can dream of.

Cities: Skylines

Cities: Skylines is one for the older kids. It’s an incredibly deep, immersive simulator-strategy game where you’re in complete control of your very own... well, city. And we mean “complete. control.”

You’ll determine everything from road layout and economic strategy to sewer maintenance and development zoning. Every choice you make determines how your city grows — or collapses in a spectacular mess around your ears.

Cities: Skylines has a number of well-realized expansions, too, adding even more content. Some focus on nightlife, while others focus on industry and parks and recreation. Still others focus on tourism and alternative energy production.

It’s on the Switch and PlayStation 4 as well, though the PC and Xbox One versions are the only ones that allow for modding. Also, note that the Switch version doesn’t always perform the best.

Of course, you could always go old-school and pick up the ultimate classic, Sim City 2000 on Good Old Games. It's perfect for any age group. 

Temtem

You might have heard about Temtem when it entered early access back in January. It’s pretty obviously inspired by Pokemon, but there are some key differences that make it worthwhile even if you’ve caught ‘em all elsewhere.

Temtem is essentially an MMO — designed to play with others and explore together — while Pokemon is essentially a single-player experience. Temtem takes place on a brightly colored archipelago, too, and really cranks up the Indiana Jones feels: the sense of exploring a strange, magical new world.

And there’s even more, though. Developer Crema Games has a host of new content additions planned for the next year. These are designed to flesh out the end-game content and provide even more ways to enjoy the game.

If you’re looking for something more traditional, though, Pokemon Sword and Shield on Nintendo Switch would definitely fit the bill. The latest Pokemon games don’t shake the formula up that much, but they’re fresh, fun, and full of life.

LittleBigPlanet 3 or Super Mario Maker 2

LittleBigPlanet 3 or Super Mario Maker 2 are tied to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, respectively. But if you have either of those systems on hand, both titles offer a mind-boggling amount of content to keep the kids busy and encourage imagination. Maybe they'll learn a thing or two along the way.

Both games have a story mode of sorts, traditional platforming adventures that put your skills to the test. They’re really just for getting ideas for the main attraction, though: level building.

At their cores, Little Big Planet and Super Mario Maker 2 are level creators. You’ll choose from a vast array of tools and themes to design anything you can imagine. Obviously, Super Mario Maker 2 is all about making Mario levels, but Little Big Planet really lets your imagination run wild. Plus, both have multiplayer modes so you can play together or with friends.

A Hat in Time

A Hat in Time is another product of the 3D platformer renaissance, but it’s far from derivative. Hat Kid travels through space — until she doesn’t anymore. She’s lost all her space fuel and must explore all the worlds she can reach to find more. Fortunately, Hat Kid gets special powers from all the hats she creates, so there’s never a dull moment on her travels.

Whether you’re solving The Murder on the Owl Express or dealing with the ruthless Mafia of Cooks, the worlds are absolutely stuffed with things to do and uncover. It’s cute and funny, plus a little bit chaotic when it needs to be. There really isn’t anything quite like A Hat in Time.

LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga

Pretty much any Lego game is worth trying out if you’re interested in the franchise. But for sheer breadth of content, you can’t get any better than Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. This isn’t the new Lego Star Wars, though; it’s the 2009 Complete Saga, which means Episodes 1-6.

Aside from meaning you’ve got six Lego games to play through in one package and more playable characters than you can shake a lightsaber at, it also means basically any computer can play it. There’s co-op play involved as well if more than one person wants to join in the fun. With character customization, hidden bonuses, and challenge modes, busy you and your younglings will be for a long time.

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

We considered Yooka-Laylee one of the best PC games for kids a while back (and it's made it on almost every list for kids we've done since it released).

But we can’t deny Playtonic improved the formula even more with Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. It foregoes the original’s devotion to the 3D collect-a-thons of old and combines Donkey Kong Country style platforming with top-down exploration and puzzle-solving inspired by 2D Zelda games.

It’s gorgeous, it’s colorful, and there are enough hidden collectibles and secrets to encourage multiple playthroughs. In short, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is just plain fun. Even better, it’s available on all modern platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

It's tough keeping the littl'uns occupied at the best of times. But if you're stuck at home for any reason, finding ways to keep the kids busy becomes a necessity. Fortunately, video games fill that need pretty darn well. There's a ton of kid-friendly options to choose from, but picking out the best ones can be more difficult than it might seem.

That's why we've put together this list of the best games for keeping the kids entertained at any time. They're all good for any age, and none can be completed quickly.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is getting a PC release. The critically acclaimed building game that released on consoles earlier this year is coming to desktops on December 10.

This is pretty big news for Dragon Quest PC fans, and not just because DQ Builders 2 is one of the year's sleeper hits. The first Builders game, and basically every Dragon Quest game before DQ XI, hasn't been ported to PC. Considering that, this will be the first time a decent number of people will get to experience the Minecraft-inspired spinoff.

Fortunately, you don't need knowledge of the first Builders game or even of Dragon Quest II — which Builders 2 is loosely based on — to fully enjoy the game.

Square Enix is adding some additional goodness to further the enjoyment too. The Steam version of Dragon Quest Builders 2 is getting all the Season Pass content released on the console versions, and those who pre-order the game or purchase it before January 6, 2020, will also get:

• Ornamental Medicinal Herb Recipe
• Dragon Quest Logo Recipe
• Ornamental Chimaera Wing Recipe
• Five Sigil Block Recipes for building decorative blocks with sun, stars, moon, water and soul motifs
• Legendary Line Art Recipe
• Lo-Res Luminary Recipes

The Steam pre-purchase page is live now, but there are no details about Dragon Quest Builders 2's PC specs yet.

Either way, once it does launch, we've got any and every contingency covered with our (dragon's) den full of Dragon Quest Builder 2 guides. Stay tuned for more on this building game as it develops. 

The latest free update for Dragon Quest Builders 2 goes live today and, as Square Enix recently outlined, it introduces new post-game content and a variety of minor improvements.

Once the story ends in DQB 2, it's over, even though there's a gull free-build mode that follows. That's a shame given how many interesting personalities the Builder meets over the course of his or her journey. However, today's update introduces a new "Where Are They Now?" epilogue story content for certain characters.

While Square Enix didn't say which characters benefit from this new content, we're hoping some like Lulu or the always-optimistic Rosie might get some extra attention.

Buildertopia is the game's, well, building utopia. More than the Isle of Awakening, it lets players create a world almost entirely from scratch and turn it into whatever they want. The problem used to be that only one such Buildertopia could exist at a given time, but today's update increases the number of Buildertopias players can store to three.

Players now have more control over the weather. On islands that aren't Buildertopias. Today's update introduces five new items that let players change the weather for certain islands.

One other welcome change is with the recipe-learning animation after increasing gratitude. Though adorable, the original animation is admittedly rather slow, so Square Enix sped it up.

On a smaller scale, the update adds things like arrows indicating what direction an item will face when it's placed and text that comes up when the game is paused. telling players how may rooms an island has.

There are a few other small changes as well:

• Plant growth option in the Settings menu
• Adjustable cursor speed for the Buildnoculars
• New hairstyles
• New end-game animation
• Changed the number of save slots to three
• The usual "Miscellaneous Fixes"

Those who haven't picked up the game yet or are still getting started don't have to wait to enjoy everything the game has to offer. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is already chock-full of content both in the regular story and online elements, alongside a hefty helping of DLC that offers even more goodies for a Builders' toolkit to keep you busy for a long time to come.

This week, we look at Madden 20 and if this year's installment earns the franchise a contract extensions. We also give our thoughts on the criminally-good Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which has all of us that don't already have a Switch want to run out and get one right now!

In the news, Rockstar faces accusations of tax evasion, while GameStop begins its "reboot" in earnest, laying off 50 employees.

Sony says that the PS4 has now sold 100 million units, putting it past the PS2 in the same timeframe, while U.S. tariffs might increase the price of the popular system. The Switch is also doing (really) well, in both hardware and software. 

PEGI, the European ratings board, seems to have accidentally leaked an impending Doom 64 re-release on PS4 and PC, while Turok and Turok 2 are getting physical releases on the Switch.  

And rounding out the news, Capcom is up to something with (could it be an RE3 remaster?)...

Of course, we also have a slew of guides for some of the most popular releases, as well as as a handful of gear reviews and lifestyle roundups. 

Sit back. Relax. Enjoy. It's the weekend. What else are you gonna do? Play video games? 

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• Capcom Recruiting Resident Evil Fans to Test New Game
  Could Capcom be getting ready for Resident Evil 8? Might we see an RE3 remake coming soon? Is testing for the Switch ports of RE5 and RE6?

• Fire Emblem: Three Houses Review — Cream of the Crop
  Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the definitive Fire Emblem experience, with a compelling story, streamlined gameplay, and a staggering amount of content.
  
  
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  Madden NFL 20's major new features are good on their own, but they are even better as a foundation for the years to come.
  
  
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  A classic science-fiction story functionally told, ARMA 3 Contact doesn't try to reinvent any wheels in its narrative or gameplay. Instead, it occasionally fails to find its feet even with a strong premise and interesting aliens.
  
  
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  The Church in the Darkness is an ambitious game and delivers on its premise almost all the way. It's worth sipping this Kool-Aid.
  
  
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  The first in a planned line of colorful new affordable headsets, the Recon Spark has a little more going for it than an unusual color scheme.
  
  
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• Minimal Grind Required: Get the Building Boffin Trophy in Dragon Quest Builders 2
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Check back next weekend for another roundup of news, reviews, guides, and features. Be sure to check previous weeks for more content: 

• GameSkinny Weekend Download: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Nintendo's Joy Con Lawsuit, Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw, and More
• Gears 5 Bans Smoking, Nintendo Recharges, and Gamestop Goes Retro to Stay Alive
• Nintendo Switch Lite, Stranger Things 3, Cyberpunk 2077
• Console Tariffs, Canceled WoW Successor, New PUBG, More
• E3 Previews + Roundups, Bloodstained, Harry Potter, More
• Sony Partners With Microsoft, Plus Rage 2, Super Mario Maker, More
• Days Gone, Sea of Thieves, Borderlands 3, More
• More PS5 News, MK11, World War Z, and Minecraft
• PUBG Banned Again (Again), PS5 News, New Star Wars, More

Dear Reader:

Don't be like me. Don't waste your time grinding for recipes in Dragon Quest Builders 2, thinking it's the fastest way to get the Building Boffin trophy. Don't make my hours-long, time-wasting mistake. 

Be smarter than the game, which says that the trophy is "awarded for discovering 65% of the recipes listed in the Builderpedia."

If you're like me, you might have thought that meant actually discovering recipes, such as when the little light bulb appears above your builder's head.

Not so.

You need to know that's not what it means. It doesn't mean that you have to grind monsters or grind building rooms or grind Tablet Targets. No longer should you be depressed by the small increase to your overall Building Boffin percentage after hours and hours of play. 

How to Get the Trophy Right Now

The vague trophy description actually means building the recipes you've already found. 

Chances are, you already have enough recipes to move the percentage to 65% and get the gold trophy. 

All you have to do is this: 

1. Go to a workbench
2. Open the workbench
3. Choose the "Hammer" icon 
   • Found to the right of "All" at the bottom of the workbench menu

This new menu will show you all of the recipes you haven't yet built. All you have to do is go through this list, building each item, until you meet the immensely simple criteria and the trophy pops. 

It's that easy. 

Beware, however, that you will need to exit the workbench completely, and then open the Builderpedia and then click "Recipes" for the trophy to appear on e you hit 65% or higher. 

For example, I built enough items that when I looked at the Builderpedia, I had 67% of the recipes. That's because it doesn't activate until you actually open the "Recipes" me u and it shows 65% or more. 

If you're looking for more tips and tricks (and ways not to be dumb like me), be sure to head over to our Dragon Quest Builders 2 guides page, where you'll find content on such things as: 

• How to Find Silvery Sludge
• How to Find Rockbomb Shards
• How to Get Night Soil
• How to Find Flurry Feathers
• How to Build the Pool of Paradise
• How to Build the Playful Park
• How to Build the Petting Zoo
• How to Build a Restaurant
• How to Complete DQB 2's Puzzles
• How to Get Mini Medal Rewards

This week, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 dominates our Switches, while Nintendo faces a lawsuit about Joy-Con drift — and even changes its policies about controller repair and replacement. 

In our culture section, we talk to Travis Baldree about Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw, getting all kinds of good tidbits about the upcoming space-sim/ARPG, including the game's length, story direction, and why the dev team doesn't really want you to grind. 

Rounding things out, we've got the usual collection of guide content for a ton of recent games, including MUA 3, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Madden 20, Yu-Gi-Oh!, GTA Online, and more, notwithstanding the glut of reviews we've got on deck. 

Sit back. Relax. Enjoy. It's the weekend. What else are you gonna do? Play video games? 

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• A Place for the Unwilling Review: Pushing Back the Shadows
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• How to Find Rockbomb Shards in Dragon Quest Builders 2
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• How to Make the Pool of Paradise in Dragon Quest Builders 2
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• How to Build the Playful Park in Dragon Quest Builders 2
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• How to Build the Petting Zoo in Dragon Quest Builders 2
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• How to Find Silvery Sludge in Dragon Quest Builders 2
  Silvery Sludge is hard to get, but it's worth knowing where and how to find it. This guide shows you two good farming locations for the crafting material.
  
  
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Check back next weekend for another roundup of news, reviews, guides, and features. Be sure to check previous weeks for more content: 

• Gears 5 Bans Smoking, Nintendo Recharges, and Gamestop Goes Retro to Stay Alive
• Nintendo Switch Lite, Stranger Things 3, Cyberpunk 2077
• Console Tariffs, Canceled WoW Successor, New PUBG, More
• E3 Previews + Roundups, Bloodstained, Harry Potter, More
• Sony Partners With Microsoft, Plus Rage 2, Super Mario Maker, More
• Days Gone, Sea of Thieves, Borderlands 3, More
• More PS5 News, MK11, World War Z, and Minecraft
• PUBG Banned Again (Again), PS5 News, New Star Wars, More

Silvery sludge is a late-game crafting material that's not easy to find in Dragon Quest Builders 2. Since you'll need it for high-level weapons and some cursed armor pieces, you'll have to do a bit of grinding. 

Below, we'll show you two places you can find the material you're looking for. While there are most likely more drop locations in the game, farming these two spots will give you more than enough of the metallic compound. 

Note that you can only get one metal slime per day in each of the following locations. Defeating five metallic monsters will net you the Mercurial Magnate trophy/achievement. 

Khrumbul-Dun Mines

Travel to Khrumbul-Dun. Go to the Marshroom Naviglobe on the lower level of the mine. 

From the Naviglobe, go straight and veer toward the left side of the area. Quickly, there will be a shaft/corridor that goes to the left. Take it. 

Here, look for a metal slime. It will be the same shape as the other blue and orange slimes you've already come across in the game. 

If it isn't in this initial area, continue to follow the shaft/corridor around to the right, and then take the first left when the shaft/corridor opens into a small square. The slime may appear in this area as well. 

Now, the tricky part is that you need to be in this general area at a specific time of day. Make sure the in-game sundial (the circle in the top right-hand corner of the screen that shows night and day) is at about 2 p.m. 

If the slime does not show up as you make your way through the area, turn around at the end and go back through. Sometimes it takes two to three passes for the slime to appear. 

Moonbrooke Cave

Travel to Moonbrooke. Go to the Castle Naviglobe, then travel southeast. You're headed to the cave that leads to Rendarak. 

Once you reach the cave, go inside and follow the path to the right. When you reach the first semi-large square area (before you begin to climb up), turn around and go back to the entrance. The metal slime you're looking for will appear either when you enter or when you leave. 

However, like the slime above, you must be here at a specific time. Make sure the in-game sundial is at about 7 p.m. Like before, it may take two or three passes for the slime to appear. 

This time, you'll be looking for a flatter slime that doesn't look like any you've probably seen in the game up to this point. 

---

That's all you need to know about Silvery Sludge in Dragon Quest Builders 2. Remember that you must be in the designated location at the designated time for the slimes to appear. You will only encounter one metal slime per in-game day at each location. 

For more on DQB 2, be sure to head over to our guides page where you can find tips and tricks on: 

• All Dragon Quest Builders 2 Puzzles
• How to Find Flurry Feathers
• How to Build a Restaurant
• Mini Medal Rewards
• How to Find Rockbomb Shards
• How to Get Night Soil
• How to Make the Pool of Paradise

Like the Playful Park, the Petting Zoo is super easy to build in Dragon Quest Builders 2. In fact, the park is an essential piece of this beastly puzzle. 

As you make your way through the game, you'll eventually be tasked with building the zoo via a Tablet Target. It will say that you need to "put an animal house next to a Playful Park," which, as you'll see, is simple enough. 

If you don't already know how to build the Playful Park, you can open our guide to building one in a new window to see how. 

To build an Animal House, you'll need:  

• Haystack x1
• Pet Bedding x1
• Pet Bowl x1
• Nameplate x2

Place the items on the ground, and then enclose them in a fence with a gate. Now put the two nameplates on the fence or a wall and put the animals' names on them.

Like with other rooms in the game, the Animal House doesn't need to be too big for this to work. A simple 4x5 or 5x5 space will work just fine. 

Making the Petting Zoo

To complete the Tablet Target, simply build the Playful Park and the Animal House right next to each other.

Although both rooms can share one side of the same fence, the gate cannot be in the middle joining the two spaces. Each room must have its own gate. 

You will be rewarded with at least one Mini Medal for your efforts. 

---

That's all you need to know about building the Animal House and the Petting Zoo in Dragon Quest Builders 2.

For more on what we said was "the perfect sequel," be sure to check out our review for the game, as well as our growing guides page. 

• Complete Puzzles Guide
• Restaurant Building Guide
• Pool of Paradise Building Guide
• How to Find Flurry Feathers
• Where to Find Night Soil 
• Where to Find Rockbomb Shards

User ID: hpuk7FwJSB (Juma)

Juma's island is one of shifting moods and feelings. Green Gardens exemplifies this the most. There's a windmill towering over all and pumpkins watching your every step. Move a little ways further, though, and it's a village not too dissimilar from Breath of the Wild's Kakariko Village.

That is until you turn the corner again and find you're back in something akin to Washington Irving's ye olde New York hamlet of Sleepy Hollow.

What's more, the island's inn even boasts decorated rooms with people who actually sleep in them. It sounds odd to praise an inn for featuring that, but plenty of the islands surveyed had impressive fronts with bare rooms.

Scarlet Sands takes a refreshingly minimalist approach to the region. Yes, there's the pyramid, but it's the central feature there. A lone row of buildings apologetically occupies one side of the desert, and that's it.

Few in number they may be, but it's better to visit the above-ground shops than to be lured inside the pyramid by fried eggs, only to then be murdered by a ghost. Yes, Juma's island will kill you.

Among the many Cerulean Steppes in the world, this one is appealing for its different approach. Rather than big castles and torch-lit villas, Juma's Cerulean Steppe has a large waterfall as its primary attraction, with a twisting stone walkway winding its way around and only a solitary item store atop a nearby cliff.

If it's company you crave, though, you can always head back to the dock area and sleep on the pier while people stare at you.

---

These are just a small sampling of the tremendous variety waiting to be uncovered through Dragon Quest Builders 2's bulletin board. There are countless variations on classic themes, wild experimentation in architecture and mood design, simple designs, ambitious projects, and everything in between.

Take a break from building, check out what others have been up to, then put together your own island masterpiece for the world to marvel at!

If you're looking for tips on DQB 2, be sure to head over to our growing guides page. To see why we said the game is "a sequel done right," be sure to check out our review. 

User ID: cs2ZAVQoYB (Yamada)

Yamada shakes The Cerulean Steppe up even further by adding a proper castle town right outside the area's large castle. The castle itself is impressive, just by nature of being so imposing, but the town is relaly what draws the eye.

There are a lot of ships being shown off in DQB2, but this one is especially nice. It's practical, situated as it is right off the town's coast, and it's one of the more detailed wooden ship designs. Better yet, you can enjoy seeing it from the seaside cafe conveniently situated at the water's edge.

Moving around the town, forget farming. This village traded in the plows for garden trowels, with charming picket fence plots surrounding even the merchants' buildings around town.

Should you require something a bit more exciting, head over to the local tavern, complete with bar and restaurant tables. Don't be fooled by the hearts, though. A puff-puff parlor this is not, so you'll have to find some other way to stave off the winter chill.

Or you can just head to Scarlet Sands. Watch time slip away while you gaze out at the pond in front of the pyramid, before dancing the chills away at the local dance floor and calling it a day in one of the pyramid's cozy inns. 

User ID: dHMNAtonG7 (YURIMON)

YURIMON's island plays with the idea of contrasts as well. It starts with this rustic outlying hut positioned just so near a waterfall.

It's a lovely mini-garden, with fruit sitting in baskets and a small field of sunflowers waving in the breeze.

Water plays a prominent role on this island, and if you head upstream, you'll eventually find a neatly planned farm in Green Gardens. Unlike many Furrowfieldian-style farms we came across in our travels, this one has animals in it. 

Head out from the farm and its unique farmhands towards the Cerulean Steppe, and you'll find a much different Steppe than many create.

This one's another industrial-inspired village, one that, unlike donguri's, still manages to feel livable.

There's also what looks like a hothouse on display and a swanky lounge just a few doors away. The whole thing's an interconnected labyrinth of homes, workshops, and restaurants.

The most interesting workshop is one near the castle. It's set in a futuristic-looking pod on a ridge a little ways outside the castle's front.

It's the quintessential builder's workshop, small but practical, crammed but functional, and with a special building area behind the curtain, away from prying eyes.

User ID: gOhMg2EyRy (magjical)

The primary screenshot for magjical's island is somewhat misleading. Sure, it's a nice room.

Cozy, practical, and well-furnished, but is that really all this highly rated island has to offer?

No, as a matter of fact, it isn't.

Green Gardens host a regimented farm, with clean and organized fields, open paths, bridges, and good lighting. There's a rather more concerning barracks-style bedroom too, complete with accompanying communal toilets.

Meanwhile, the lord of the island lives it up in a huge castle, and they certainly don't share toilets.

Indeed, they have a private bathroom tucked away in the corner of a vast dungeon — because, of course, that's where bathrooms go.

The castle itself is massive, chock full of all the castle-type things you'd expect, from kitchens and taverns to a private chapel. Of course, there's a massive throne room with a plush, posh throne in pride of place.

It's also a heavily fortified castle, with a number of deadly defensive mechanisms placed outside just for the sake of it, from fire traps and lasers to blizzard blasters.

Necessary fortifications? Or just peasant deterrents? You decide.

Either way, it's nice to see a sense of unity between different areas, since many Islands of Awakening keep the three completely separate.

Uploader ID: cyuu5sQNMD (Tomikoji)

Tomikoji's eclectic island takes the most advantage of space to create massive areas full of variety and character.

The Teleportal spits you out near the dock area, which has been turned into a kind of tea party paradise. It's full of colorful waterside homes, each with their own expansive gardens and water features.

Granted, some of the water features are beautiful death traps that don't let you jump out, but that's where the beauty of not saving changes you make to someone else's island comes in.

Almost every building has a set of distinct rooms, from a pink-and-monster themed one, to normal ones, Slime rooms, and more.

All this is just a front for the Breath of the Wild-scale ruins behind the waterfront town. It's a huge jungle filled with ponds, dilapidated barracks, and a large temple-like structure, all encircled by a towering wall.

The Cerulean Steppe offers yet another example of chapel + cozy town, but it's hard not to stop and marvel at the huge cathedral dominating the skyline.

To cap it off, there's a large open area that hosts a variety of different material sets, presumably the ones used to create this very island. It's an engaging way to encourage others to experiment and see what they can come up with, too.

User ID: cspCp82bWF (donguri)

If you're looking for something a bit more epic in scope, check out donguri's top-ranked town-and-shrine island.

The initial area is composed almost entirely of a massive cathedral building, extending far into the sky. The portal area is at the bottom, surrounded by a moat of sorts that's also home to an overflowing graveyard, complete with piles of decaying bones.

There's enough to explore here to last a long time.

The inside of the cathedral is vertically enormous, sporting an ornate, but dark library and a mysterious central chamber, among other things.

Then there's the small rows of houses up the cliffside. Homes for workers oppressed by the mysterious church? Abandoned cottages from years before? No one knows.

The Scarlet Sands area does away with the desert theme completely. Instead, it's an eerie industrial complex lit by blue flame and seeming rather reminiscent of Xenoblade Chronicles 2's Ardainian Empire.

There's an airship, too, which is quite the reasonable choice of transport given how huge and high this island is.

Yet another area is home to a bog illuminated with lanterns that's especially appealing after dark.

The Cerulean Steppe might not seem quite so inspired compared to the other areas on donguri's island, but you can't deny it's rather charming to see a row of Georgian-style townhomes for monsters. 

User ID: e5TzCagrbZ (kabu)

Kabu's island makes the most of what the Isle of Awakening has on offer with three very distinct setups for each area.

The Teleportal drops you off near Scarlet Sands. There's the obligatory massive pyramid, a la Dragon Warrior/Quest VII, which you build later in the game, but the rest of it's been turned into a snazzy desert resort.

It's like something you'd expect to find in a theme park, from a dancing area to a bunch of restaurants, and tourists wandering around needing the toilet.

There's a huge bar with lots of entertainment options, too. You can't actually play darts (as you can't in the actual game, either), but you can at least marvel at the use of spacing. It achieves a level of coziness without just feeling crammed full of stuff.

A short warp away to The Cerulean Steppe finds you in a quiet, snowbound town, with a serene chapel and massive improvements to the castle found there. Chapels in The Cerulean Steppe are pretty common, but this one feels like it came right out of a Square Enix-designed Dragon Quest game

Like the Scarlet Sands area, the level of detail here stands out the most, as well as the coherence of design.

Where some builders are content to leave their area markers hanging in mid-air, Kabu incorporated this one into an impressive fountain feature.

The castle even boasts the standard armor and treasure rooms, plus a secret waterway passage out the side, borrowed straight from Dragon Quest V.

User ID: cwA2fZuxxo (Djunior)

As soon as you step foot onto Djunior's Buildertopia, you know you've ascended to a higher, posher plane. The music fits with Dragon Quest's usual melodies for the nicer side of the tracks, and the entire utopia is like the corporate executive equivalent of poyo's resort town.

It's an exercise in creative plant management as well, with lush plantscapes filling almost every border and open space, creating an almost jungle-like atmosphere at times.

No business retreat is complete without a few amenities, and this one is no exception. Check out the special, rather creepy workout room.

There's something for the spiritually minded visitors as well. No piddly chapel is good enough for this kind of location. No, indeed. It must be a massive, echoing cathedral — which, apart from fitting the location to a T is pretty darned impressive by itself.

Though they're easy to overlook given their ubiquity in architecture since time immemorial, the roofwork on Djunior's island is something else as well. Should you feel tired from walking around the expansive paradise or find climbing to the rooftop difficult, you can always hitch a ride on a friendly chimera. 

ID cu31RxEAhu (poyo)

Several of these picks are so strongly designed that you feel like you're in a theme park or at a resort. That's definitely the case with poyo's seaside wonder-town, which doesn't just have the luxury sea town feel, but it covers the whole tourist-y package.

As befits an island like this, you start off at the dock, with a good view of the entire town.

There's the usual restaurant, condo-style housing, and everything else you'd expect from a resort, and it's all packaged in a cool, modern style.

Venture a little ways outside town, though, and you find the ideal village vacation spot.

Fields make up most of the village (where do you think the resort's meals come from?) and lend this area a distinct feel from the flashier port town. Yet the tram tracks throughout the village remind you the whole world's still actually a theme park.

The giant aquarium, souvenir stand, and Slime equivalent of the Disney Castle help that feeling, too.

User ID: ctt9p2gvsq (Sasakure)

Here, Sasakure has created a Buildertopia, a tightly-focused showcase of buildings centered around a specific theme. This one, in particular, is a charming village made up of shops, cafes, loads of greenery, and gardens.

From lovely bistros offering a view of the village square to secret picnic spots nestled away in the flowers, this Buildertopia is a fine reminder that building excellence isn't always connected to architecture. Landscaping is equally important.

Of course, a good eye for making an attractive building goes a long way, too. The specific block types and lighting lend the village a unique air, leaning towards a distinct Alpine feel.

And there's just so much packed into a small area. That's part of a Buildertopia's strength: making you really think about how your buildings relate to each other and fit in with the whole picture.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 might prioritize the single-player campaign over its multiplayer elements, but there are other massive worlds out there waiting to be explored.

They live in your bulletin board, one of the first features the Hairy Hermit tells you about on the Island of Awakening.

Builders from all around the world can submit snapshots and islands for others to enjoy, all with no fear of vandalism thanks to the game's handy "I'm not saving what you just did" feature while visiting other islands.

There's an almost overwhelming number of different islands to visit, categorized by theme or hashtag and updated constantly. What you find now will be a further six rows down the list in an hour.

With such variety on offer, you'd be hard-pressed to choose any number of creations to put in a best-of list. But we've done just that here, with 10 of the best creations in Dragon Quest Builders 2 so far (that we were lucky enough to stumble across).

This week, Nintendo unveiled a new Switch model that's not as exciting as it sounds. Gears 5 removed smoking but left all of the blood and guts the series is known for. And GameStop looks to stay alive by going retro. 

On top of that, we've got exclusive interviews with the developers of The Blackout Club, Teppen, and Redeemer. We have a few reviews, including Super Mario Maker 2 and Etherborn, as well as a handful of guides for some of the latest games, including Teppen, Dragon Quest Builders 2, and Dr. Mario World. 

Sit back. Relax. Enjoy. It's the weekend. What else are you gonna do? Play video games? 

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Check back next weekend for another roundup of news, reviews, guides, and features. Be sure to check previous weeks for more content: 

• Nintendo Switch Lite, Stranger Things 3, Cyberpunk 2077
• Console Tariffs, Canceled WoW Successor, New PUBG, More
• E3 Previews + Roundups, Bloodstained, Harry Potter, More
• Sony Partners With Microsoft, Plus Rage 2, Super Mario Maker, More
• Days Gone, Sea of Thieves, Borderlands 3, More
• More PS5 News, MK11, World War Z, and Minecraft
• PUBG Banned Again (Again), PS5 News, New Star Wars, More

To get the Scandalous Swimsuit in Dragon Quest Builders 2, you must first build the Pool of Paradise. However, as is the case with many of the game's other room recipes, it's not readily clear how to build it. 

As luck would have it, it's one of the trickier rooms to build in the game if you don't know where to begin with it.

Below, you'll find the recipe you're looking for. 

Pool of Paradise Recipe

You can build the pool out of any material, but you must follow this blueprint: 

1. Build a room 10 blocks long by five blocks wide
2. Leave a two-block space on one end for a cloth door
3. In the middle of the room, build a wall connecting one side to the other
   • The wall only needs to be one block high so villagers can easily access the water and the decorations you'll add below
4. Fill the right side with clean water from your Bottomless Pot
5. Add the cloth door if you haven't already 
6. Add a deck chair, a sunbrella (parasol), a small table, a door, a ladder, and a prickly pop decoration

The finished product should look something like this: 

Now that you have the Pool of Paradise built, you'll gain access to the Scandalous Swimsuit, making you the talk of the island in Dragon Quest Builders 2. Conceivably, the building can be bigger, but even a small room like this will work, giving you the swimsuit cosmetic with minimal effort. 

For more tips and guides on the game, be sure to head over to our DQB2 guides page, where you'll find where to find Flurry Feathers in and out of the campaign, how to build a restaurant, and how to solve the game's puzzles. 

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is full of hidden room recipes. After you complete Furrowfield, you can speak with Clayton to learn how to build a Playful Park.

While it might not initially be high on your priority list, it will be later in the game. You'll need it to finish the Petting Zoo Tablet Target in The Green Gardens 

Though Clayton will tell you what you need to build the room (yes, it's a room even though you will need to build it outside), it's easy to forget what the materials are. Of course, if you never talked to Clayton in the first place, going back and talking to him now is a pain in the neck. 

Don't worry, though. We got you. 

Playful Park Materials and Layout

Here's what you need to build. 

• Simple Bench x2
• Plank Pathway x2
• Flowers x2
• Tree Swing
  • 1x Tree, 1x Swing

Place the items and enclose the space in a fence with a gate. You can build a wall around the items, and it will also create a room — although a fence certainly looks more natural. 

As with other rooms in the game, there's no reason to make it too big. A 4x4 or 5x5 area will suffice. 

Lastly, be sure to use fertilizer to make your tree grow faster. Or, if you have the Ultimallet, knock down a tree and replant it. 

---

That's really all you need to know about building the Playful Park in Dragon Quest Builders 2. It's that simple. 

For more on this fantastic building RPG, be sure to check out our review for the game, as well as our growing guides page. 

• Complete Puzzles Guide
• Mini Medals Rewards Guide
• Restaurant Building Guide
• Pool of Paradise Building Guide
• How to Find Flurry Feathers
• Where to Find Night Soil 
• Where to Find Rockbomb Shards

Rockbomb Shards are needed to make one of the better mid-game weapons in Dragon Quest Builders 2: the Fire Blade. However, finding Rockbomb Shards isn't as clear cut as it might seem. 

Near the end of your time on Khrumbul-Dun, you'll be tasked with finding gold veins deep within the mines beneath the village. As you make your way to your objective, you'll eventually encounter a Heal Slime. The Slime will tell you that you can make Boomballs, but it doesn't tell you how to do so or where you can find the materials you need. 

Luckily, the materials you need are very close by.  

Khrumbul-Dun Rockbomb Bed

Warp to the Southeast Tunnel naviglobe on the lower level of the mine.

When you warp in, turn around and go straight ahead. The wall ahead should be open already if you've found the Gold Room via the quest for it (which is part of the larger "find gold in Khrumbul-Dun" mission near the end of the chapter). 

When you drop down as you're going toward the gold room, look at the black rocks on the ground. Smash them with your hammer to get shards.

Some are Rockbomb enemies you'll have to defeat, some are not. Some rocks give Rockbomb Shards, some simply give stone. It's completely random. 

If the Rockbomb enemies shake and start a countdown above their heads, they're about to blow up. Use your hammer the damage them faster. 

Note that you can also get these shards on Iridescent Island. They are mostly out in the open out on the beach and near cliffs. 

How to Craft the Fireblade 

The Fire Blade is one of the more powerful swords in the game. It has +74 attack and is enhanced with fire magic. It's a great weapon to give your fighters. 

Here are the materials you need to craft it: 

• X1 Steel Broadsword (can't get until Moonbrooke)
• X3 Rockbomb Shard
• X3 Magic Crystal

How to Craft Boom Balls

Boom Balls are great for destroying a large number of blocks at a single time. They can also come in handy when fighting Super-Strong Monsters but to a lesser effect. 

Here are the materials you need to craft them: 

• X1 Rockbomb Shard
• 1x Iron Ingot
• 1x Cord

---

That's all you need to know about Rockbomb Shards in Dragon Quest Builders 2. Be sure to head over to our DQB2 guide hub for more tips on the game, such as how to find flurry feathers or how to get Night Soil. 

Night Soil is an important crafting material in Dragon Quest Builders 2. You'll need it to create Worm Food and Woody Goody.

As it goes, you'll need worm food and woody goody to complete two Tablet Targets, growing more meadows and growing more forest. In turn, completing those will award you with two Mini Medals. 

You'll also need the ingredient to create fertilizer, which will make your crops grow much faster than normal. However, Night Soil isn't just lying about. Like with anything in the game, you'll have to search for it. 

Luckily, we know exactly where to find it. 

Get Night Soil from Corpses

As you travel about the world, you'll come across corpses — or what are essentially zombies. You first encounter these on Furrowfield at the Ruined Church. Afterward, you'll find them on almost every island, including your primary island, The Isle of Awakening.

Kill one, and you'll get 1 Night Soil for your efforts. 

Zombies will sometimes perform a dance, and a purple aura will surround them. Don't' attack them when they do this, because they are summoning another corpse. This will give you the chance to double your rewards. 

Get It From Bathrooms/Toilets

Yes, you read that right. You can get Night Soil from toilets.

All you have to do is build one, wait for the villagers to use it, and voila: you've got a useful piece of crafting material.

Depending on how long you wait, you'll get a different amount of Night Soil from rummaging around in a toilet. For example, I pulled more than 40 Night Soil from a toilet in Furrowfield, waited 15 in-game minutes and pulled out another five. 

Your best bet is to build a toilet in each region of The Isle of Awakening, and then on each of the three islands you visit in the game.

On average, you will get more from the toilets on the three islands than from the three regions on The Isle of Awakening. That's because there are more villagers on those islands. 

Get It From Picking Up Animal Dung

Lastly, you can get Night Soil by picking it up off the ground in the form of animal dung. 

Go to Furrowfield Bog, and then travel to the location shown above. You can fast travel to the Orc's Tomato Farm, then travel southeast to the cliffs. 

Look on the ground for small brown balls. Note that it's very difficult to find animal dung. After 60 hours of playing and an additional 30 minutes of specifically searching for animal dung, I finally found some. 

Truth be told, this is the most inefficient way of getting Night Soil. I wouldn't recommend using this method at all. It's much, much faster to get the crafting ingredient via the first two methods outlined above. 

How to Make Worm Food

• x1 Grass Seed
• x2 Night Soil

How to Make Woody Goody

• x1 Acorn
• x1 Grass Seed
• x2 Night Soil

How to Make Fertilizer

• x10 Wheat 
• x2 Night Soil

---

That's all you need to know about how to find and get Night Soil in Dragon Quest Builders 2. Be sure to head over to our DQB2 guides hub for more tips and walkthroughs, such as: 

• Our complete puzzles guide
• How to build a restaurant
• Where to find flurry feathers

There are dozens of special rooms and structures you can build in Dragon Quest Builders 2. One of those is the restaurant, and here we'll be going over how to build a restaurant in DQB2.

While the game tells you how to do many things, how to build a good number of rooms, and how to connect those rooms to make even bigger spaces, it doesn't tell you everything. The restaurant is one of many hidden room recipes, and it is required to complete a Tablet Target. 

Luckily, it's super easy to build. In fact, it's likely you already know how to do it.

The restaurant is a combination of two early-game rooms: the kitchen and the dining room. All you have to do is combine the rooms and voila, you've got a restaurant.

It doesn't matter how big each room is or how fancy they are. All that matters is they are combined into one structure. Note that a door must separate the two. 

How to Build a Dining Room

Here's the blueprint for a Dining Room: 

• Dining Table (set) x4
• Light source (any) x1

How to Build a Kitchen

Here's the blueprint for a kitchen: 

• Chest (any) x1
• Bonfire (any) x3

These are the bare basics for building a restaurant in Dragon Quest Builders 2. Of course, you can get fancier by using gold and silver in your materials, by building larger, more ornate rooms, or using the Ambiance chart to spice things up. 

For more on Dragon Quest Builders 2, be sure to check out our other guides on puzzles and how to find flurry feathers. Also be sure to head over to our review of the game, where we said it was the textbook example of a sequel done right. 

During your time on Moonbrooke, the third island in the game's story mode, you'll get access to the Woosh Widget. This Dragon Quest Builders 2 trap helps you defend your bases and structures from flying enemies.

To make Woosh Widgets, which knock flying enemies to the ground, you'll need to find Flurry Feathers. 

You first find Flurry Feathers during a story mission on Moonbrooke. However, you use all of them to complete the mission, leaving you with none to use later on the Isle of Awakening. Since you need three of them to build a single Woosh Widget, building the trap can be a grind. So how do you get more? 

How to Find Them in the Campaign

After you're tasked with defeating the Hair Force, the Air Force, and the Scare Force, go to the poison swamp area directly east of the castle. It is on the far-right side of the map and is denoted by a purple lake. 

Once here, you'll need to find six Feathers to build X Woosh Widgets and complete the XYZ. 

The First and Second

Enter the camp and talk to the orange Grimlin directly across from the bridge. The Grimlin should be marked with an exclamation point. Speaking with him will activate the quest.

Afterward, turn left and then turn right to speak with the purple Grimlin standing next to the tower. Speak with him and he will open the door to the tower. Look in the chest inside after getting Ra's Mirror. 

The Third and Fourth

Exit the tower and skip the closest purple Grimlin. Go to the far side of the area and speak with the other marked purple Grimlin. He will ask you a series of questions. 

This is how you should answer: 

• No
• No
• Yes

The Fifth and Sixth

Now, return to the Grimlin near the bonfire. He will task you with draining the poison lake to find a chest. 

Go to the section of the lake behind the Grimlin. Then go all the way to the end (right) where it gets deeper. Use your Bottomless Pot to drain the water to find the gold chest. 

Where to Get Flurry More Feathers

The best place to find Flurry Feathers is on Rimey Reef. 

Located in the northeast section of the map, Rimey Reef is one of the many Explorer's Shores you can access between story chapters or in free-build mode. You can unlock Rimey Reef for 200 Gratitude after completing the Moonbrooke chapter. 

Flurry Feathers are dropped by Cosmic Chimaera. These Chimaera are purple and can only be found only on Rimey Reef (I've searched every shore open to me as of this writing, with three left to unlock).

Although Rimey Reef is procedurally generated (randomized each time you visit), Chimaera will always be found in the mountains and in forests. They will often be accompanied by Shaman, so be wary of fire attacks. 

It's important to know that the Flurry Feather is a rare drop. I killed 9-10 Cosmic Chimaera before getting my first Flurry Feather, then I found four more by killing six of them in a row. It's completely random. However, you'll need three to make a single Woosh Widget. 

The good news is that a Cosmic Chimaera also drop a Medicinal Leaf. Since these drops are far more common, you'll at least build your healing item reserves while farming, which you'll need as you explore more islands and take on more fearsome beasts. 

That's all you need to know about Flurry Feathers in Dragon Quest Builders 2. Be sure to check out our puzzle solutions guide, which will help you snag a handful of easy Mini Medals.  

There are recipes and items in Dragon Quest Builders 2 that you can only get after turning in a certain number of Mini Medals. Some of these items are simply cosmetic, while others will give you bonuses, like increased defense from craftable armor pieces.

There are two different ways to get these honors. One is by solving the game's puzzles. The other is by completing Tablet Targets. 

You can view our puzzle solutions guide here. You'll naturally complete Tablet Targets during the campaign and in the free-build portion of the game. 

Note that there are different individual Tablet Targets in each area on the Isle of Awakening. Some Targets may require you to complete similar tasks, but they are all separate and give you an individual reward for completion. These range from completing tasks to build up the Isle of Awakening to side quests such as building a restaurant or making a meadow.

Once you get them, you turn these prizes in to the Hairy Hermit on the Isle of Awakening. You can easily fast travel to his mountaintop location, which is in the center of the island.

Mini Medals Rewards List

Here's what you get at each tier. You can go as high as 90 medals. 

Some rewards will show up in your inventory. However, others, such as cosmetics, can be found by using the Dressing Table when altering the appearance of your character. Others will show up as recipes at your workbench, so be sure to check all three places if you can't find what you're looking for after you've unlocked it. 

That's all you need to know about Mini Medals in DQB 2. Be sure to head over to our other guides for Dragon Quest Builders 2, where we have guides for the game's puzzles, flurry feathers, and building a restaurant. 

This week, Nintendo unveiled the Nintendo Switch Lite, and we looked at which games don't support handheld mode, since you can't play every game on the Switch Lite. 

We also looked at how Nintendo is preparing for the cloud gaming future, why FIFA has gotten lazy with women's soccer, and which games you should play before Cyberpunk 2077 releases next year. 

We finally got a look at Shenmue 3's forklift gameplay (yes!), we reviewed a handful; of amazing games, including Blazing Chrome, Sea of Solitude, Stranger Things 3: The Game, and Dragon Quest Builders 2, and we wrote a few guides for some of the most popular recent releases. 

Sit back. Relax. Enjoy. It's the weekend. What else are you gonna do? Play video games? 

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Puzzles are quick and easy ways to get Mini Medals in Dragon Quest Builders 2. Luckily, figuring out how to solve them is mostly simple. 

There are at least three secondary islands in the game, and each of them has a handful of puzzles. We've laid out their solutions below, as well as shown you where to find them.

We're still working to get to the fourth island and will update this with more puzzles if necessary. 

Furrowfield 

Mini Medal Puzzle 1

The first puzzle you'll most likely come across is south of Furrowfield Farm. It's along the big grey mountainside. 

To solve it, simply make the block tower on the right the same height as the block tower on the left. Use the two blocks right by the puzzle. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 2

The second puzzle you'll likely come across is when you meet the first talking rat, on your way to find Britney. 

This one is super easy. Just remove the block holding the water back to solve it. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 3

From the last puzzle, go northwest. Go up the mountain and drop down at the marked spot on the map above. 

Simply fill the pool with water from your bottomless pot to solve it. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 4

The easiest thing to do now is fast travel to Fat Rate rise. From the NaviGlobe, go west. Pass the huge troll and go into the cave near him. 

To solve the puzzle, redirect the water to the left using the configuration shown. Simply carve a one-block tall and one-block wide channel from the source to the pool. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 5

From the Fat Rat Rise NaviGlobe, go straight south. Quickly, there will be a cliff and a body of water in front of you. On the other side, you will see the puzzle inside a cave. 

Go along the cliffside and jump down. If you swim, you might get eaten by a monster. 

Simply place the earth block in the open spot to solve. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 6

From the Banks of the Bog NaviGlobe, go southwest. Look for the grey cliffs on the map and in the game. 

Simply move the block holding back the water. Place it on the ground in front of the new opening. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 7

From the last puzzle, go south to the sea. There are two sand blocks on the left side of the puzzle. 

Make the Gooey image in the left pool look like the one in the right pool by placing the two sand blocks at the top of the Gooey smile. 

Stand over the spots and look down. Then smash the ground with your hammer. Place the sand blocks inside the holes. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 8

From the Ruined Church, go into the forest across the bridge. Against the grey cliffs, you'll find another puzzle. 

To solve this one, simply plant two nightdrop flowers in the two empty grass pots in the middle. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 9

Fast travel to Orcs Tomato Farm. Go due south and climb the grey cliffs on the right side. 

To solve it, simply use the blocks provided to finish the block structure. 

Khrumbul-Dun

Mini Medal Puzzle 1

This is probably the first puzzle you'll come across on this island. You'll find it near the sea northeast of the village.

To solve it, place the colored blocks in the same positions as shown above. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 2

Go east from the last puzzle. Cross the mountains and go to the looming tower. To the right of the tower, there will be some minecart tracks going up a small cliff. 

Repair the minecart tracks to complete the puzzle.

It's worth noting that the minecart tracks do not need to connect to the tower. You only need to repair the tracks that are already laid on the cliff opposite the tower. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 3

From the last puzzle, you can go due south. However, traveling back to the docks and then traveling southeast across the mountains is faster. 

This puzzle is a little trickier than the others. Place two blocks in the places circled in red above. Then activate the red boxes in the following order:

• Red Box 1
• Red Box 2
• Red Box 1
• Red Box 3
• Red Box 1
• Red Box 4

Mini Medal Puzzle 4

From there, go southwest to the ocean cove. You will find two towers standing in the water. Simply put a white flower in the center of the garden near the puzzle statue. 

You can pick up white flowers using your Gloves. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 5

Travel due north from the last puzzle to find the next puzzle near the water across from the docks. To solve this one, you need to make the cactus on the far right the tallest cactus. 

Simply use your gloves to grab the top two portions of one of the nearby cacti and place them on top of the cactus on the far right. You will need a cactus top and the portion just below it. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 6

Travel northwest and climb the mountain near the sea. You will find the puzzle at the top. 

To solve this one, all you need to do is put a block behind each blue square on the ground. Then use the red switches to pull the blocks onto the blue squares.  

Mini Medal Puzzle 7

Travel due north to the far northern coast. You will find a structure with braziers, statues, and what looks like a graveyard. 

To solve this puzzle, simply place the block of earth on the stairs in front of the cactus gravestone in the right, far back corner. You'll see the open spot between two sets of stairs. 

Moonbrooke

Mini Medal Puzzle 1

Go south of the castle. Climb the mountain into the forest and find a small valley right before the ocean.

To solve this puzzle, put the candles in front of each statue that's facing you.

Mini Medal Puzzle 2

Now go due north of the castle, toward the sea. Go up the cliffs that have the purple magic crystals and pesky crows. 

To solve this puzzle, simple move the flowers and rocks from the castle blocks into the garden to fill each of the empty spaces. Flowers go in the snow and rocks go in the brown earth blocks. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 3

The easiest way to get here is to fast travel to Moonahan and travel north. The puzzle will be nestled in a cliff on the left side of the ridge along the ocean. 

Remove all of the blocks from the pool and fill it with fresh water from your bottomless pot. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 4

Next, go northeast. There is a super strong monster (dragon) guarding a cave in the mountain. You don't have to fight it, but you do have to go into the cave. 

Use the red jump pads (springs) to take you all the way to the top. Grab the brazier at the top, and then descend the stairs to find the puzzle. Place the brazier to the left of the other brazier to solve it. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 5

Travel to the Collapsed Cabin, then go north and just a little west. Go to the top of the mountain to find a temple. 

Go to the roof and match the pattern on the left side of the roof with the pattern on the right side of the roof. Wait for the snow to accumulate on the floor below. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 6

Next, follow the same mountains south. Stay on top of the mountains since the next cave is also on top of the same mountains. 

This one is very boring because it takes a while to complete, and it is best done at night when there is more snow falling. 

Remove the ice on the roof and let the snow create the image of the Goo on the cave floor below. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 7

Go south and a tad east from the Shrine of Rendarak. Look for a house-like structure on top of the mountain there. 

To solve this one, the room on the right must be the mirror image of the room on the left. In other words, you need to move the furniture around to it is the opposite of the room on the left. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 8

Now head due west. Stay on the mountaintop. When you come to a hole in the mountaintop, drop down to find the puzzle. 

To solve this one, make the Slime face on the left look like the Slime face on the right.  It's easiest to fill the left face with the snow blocks nearby, and then remove them to make it look like the face on the right. 

Mini Medal Puzzle 9

Now go southwest across the mountain. You can also bust through it with the hammer, whichever works best for you. 

Simply place the flowers in the empty spots on the right side of the garden. The pattern is shown in the screenshot above. 

From left to right, it should be: 

• Orange flower
• Purple flower
• White flower
• Bush
• Orange
• Purple
• White
• Orange 
• Purple

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That's all you need to know about solving puzzles in Dragon Quest Builders 2. Now you got a ton more mini Medals to give the Hairy Hermit on the Isle of Awakening. Keep an eye on GameSkinny for more Dragon Quest Builders 2 guides!

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is the perfect sequel. To be clear: that doesn't mean it's a perfect game by any means, but if you enjoyed the first one or had some specific, common issues with it, then you're very likely going to love this follow-up. 

More so than most any sequel I've seen in recent memory, it takes everything about the first game, improves it, expands it, and makes it better from top to bottom all without feeling redundant. It's actually pretty impressive.

Dialogue Boxes Galore

I never put a whole lot of time into the original, but I played enough to approach this review with some ground-level expectations. Despite being familiar with the previous game, an avid consumer of JRPGs, and fan of the core Dragon Quest franchise, I was not prepared for the sheer volume of text in this game. I'm not exaggerating. If you told me Dragon Quest Builders 2 has more lines of dialogue than The Witcher 3, I'd probably believe you. 

The premise here is that you're a rare and talented "builder" that possesses the unique gift of being able to, you guessed it, build stuff. That means busting out your book to jot down crafting recipes and blueprint ideas precisely when the narrative demands it. 

Truth be told, the story is all but meaningless after the first couple of hours, at which point you finally get to leave the starting island.

The game's broken up into several large themed islands with self-contained quest progressions that gradually teach you the game's various layers such as planting, mining, and so on. Each island has its own set of resources and eventually, you'll unlock access to anything and everything back on the main starting island, which is a bit like your home base as you recruit villagers to come back with you.

Building With Purpose

What originally attracted me to the Dragon Quest Builders franchise as a whole is the fact that it puts the addictive "collect, craft, build" gameplay loop from popular sandbox games such as Minecraft into a package with a clearer, more structured design. Instead of being a pure sandbox, you've got NPCs to chat with, a story to progress through, dedicated chunks of content to do, and a driving sense of purpose. Eventually, you can ignore it all and treat it like a pure sandbox, too, so it's kind of the best of both worlds in a way.

The downside to this is that even after a dozen or so hours, Dragon Quest Builders 2 is obsessed with teaching you. Even if it's something you figured out on your own, sifting through countless dialogue boxes over and over is tedious. I usually am very much against not reading the dialogue in games like this; I'm a writer so, of course, I appreciate good prose, but it eventually gets monotonous and patronizing in this case.

All of the writing is cute and charming, but sometimes I just wanted to get on with things already.

From a gameplay perspective, Dragon Quest Builders 2 feels really good. It uses a sort of middle ground between being top-down and isometric with a camera that can pan and zoom a bit to get the right angle. Thankfully, it helps establish a good sense of scale for how large the settings often are.

You'll spend most of your time completing simple checklist-style quests, but once you get a bit into the first non-starter island, things open up more. You'll start building up villages and recruiting NPC villagers that can go with you on adventures, along with your combat buddy, Malroth. 

As a first for the series, you can even assign tasks to villagers, too, like collecting certain items or even working on completing structures by following blueprints. Being able to offload a lot of the busy work to your helpers is a huge quality of life improvement.

Learning New Tricks

Speaking of changes and new features, the biggest addition here is multiplayer. Just like Dragon Quest 2 itself added a party to the game instead of the original's single protagonist, Dragon Quest Builders 2 adds NPC companions and player companions as well.

Combat received an overhaul as well by letting you attack much more quickly, removing the damage you'd take from touching enemies previously (it was super annoying,) and increasing the intensity a bit across the board. It's still just mashing attack and moving away from enemy swipes, but it's less tedious at least, even if not remarkable.

In terms of moment-to-moment gameplay, though, the biggest improvement to me is the enormous inventory expansion. No longer do you need to constantly drop things off in storage or sift through chests to find items. You've basically just got bottomless pockets this time around. Add in a Breath of the Wild-style glider, teleporters spread across islands, and a flute to help find rare items and it really rounds out the sequel package here in a great way.

And you can swim now, too!

Pros:

• Great improvement on the original in basically every way,
• Lots of wonderful quality of life improvements,
• Tons of stuff to do with dozens of hours of content,
• Normally tedious stuff is handled very well.

Cons:

• Combat is still a bit boring,
• At its core, it's still more of the same,
• Story is extremely forgettable, albeit well-written.

At the end of the day, you probably already decided whether Dragon Quest Builders 2 was for you from reading the features list summary on Wikipedia or the storefront page of your choice. This doesn't reinvent the blocky cube wheel, and it doesn't do a whole lot to stand out other than refining its existing formula, but for fans of the original, that should be more than enough.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 releases on July 12, 2019, for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.

[Note: A copy of Dragon Quest Builders 2 was provided by Square Enix for the purpose of this review.]