Review: Disgaea 7 Complete

Developer- Nippon Ichi Software, SystemSoft Alpha

Publisher- Nippon Ichi Software, NIS America

Platforms- Nintendo Switch 2

Review copy given by the Publisher

Disgaea 5 Complete was one of my favorite Nintendo Switch games to play back when the console first launched in 2017. Flashing forward eight years, a similar scenario is playing out with Disgaea 7 Complete on Nintendo Switch 2. Disgaea 7 Complete is a very fun strategy RPG that kept me up for many hours during the night since it’s tough to put down. Disgaea has always felt right at home on a portable device, but getting the most definitive version of what this franchise is all about makes it even more engaging than I could have imagined.

That’s not to say that Disgaea 7 Complete is a perfect RPG, as it mostly meets and settles around the expectations I have for the series in 2025. Coming back to Disgaea with Disgaea 7 Complete is a real treat, however, as it offers some of the most fun strategy RPG mechanics in gaming right now.

Disgaea 7 Complete includes Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtuous with all of its DLC and content in one convenient package, along with brand new content and features. The story of the original Disgaea 7 is maintained. It begins with a demon named Fuji, a rogue samurai who rejects the Bushido tenets of the Hinomoto Netherworld cluster. While up to no good, Fuji encounters Pirilika, a rich demon who is accompanied by a pretty companion named Pichchan.

Pirilika wants to indulge in Hinomoto culture and seek out the infernal treasure weapons. But as Fuji quickly reveals, this Japanese-inspired world has fallen from grace under the rule of a mysterious villain named Demo Door Opener.

In typical Disaya fashion, the story and premise of the game are very whimsical, anime-inspired, and tropey, but this is to its strength. Like other Disgaea games, the comedy and audacity of it all is a fun layer over a rich story with serious undertones that develop as you progress through the episodes.

Disgaea’s strategy RPG combat system is really straightforward. You take turns moving or removing allies off the grid while trying to take out all the enemies on the map. It’s no different in Disgaea 7 Complete. Characters have access to several skills, special moves, and abilities, which are special bonus effects and modifiers. These can be learned through scrolls and toggled on characters of your choosing.

I think Disgaea is also a stat-heavy game that can be played for hundreds of hours if you want outrageously over-leveled and powerful allies. Since there are many equipment pieces, abilities, skills, character classes, and other ranking attributes to consider, you’ll have main characters like Fuji, Pirilika, C4, and Yayyasu in your ranks as well.

However, they can also recruit new allies with the desired class in mind and name them anything you want. For the most part, Disgaea is a big numbers game in a way. You can get a lot of damage later on in the game by setting up attacks from your party and allowing them to string together in a combo. On top of this, you can lift and throw allies to get them out of danger or closer to an enemy.

 As you might surmise, Disgaea 7 Complete carries a lot of the core components of past Disgaea games, and there’s also a very low barrier to entry. The game’s hub, the Nether ship, gives you all the resources to quickly get you up to speed on what makes Disgaea tick if you need it. You’ll also get tutorials as you play through the main story, all of which introduce mechanics that are explained quite well. This is not to say that Disgaea 7 Complete doesn’t stand on its own.

However, I think the game has its own unique elements that really set it apart from the series, such as jumbification and hell mode. In battle, you can build up the rage meter and unleash the jumbify action to make your desired character massive and deal major damage across the map. In short, your character becomes a kaiju-level threat, and they can also deal more damage against other jumbified enemies than what normal-sized units can dish out. On the other hand, hell mode can be used to unleash one of your infernal treasures after fulfilling certain conditions to fill the hell gauge.

By ideas, I mean temporary bonuses, gameplay modifiers, and even unlockables like a shop full of cheats and the reincarnation system. This lets characters restart from level one to get increased base stats and retain useful skills. There’s more to reincarnation, but for the sake of brevity, the game does a good job explaining it in more detail once you unlock it.

The NPCs will vote A or nay depending on their standing with you, so it’s up to you to get the best result possible. Character recruitment, ranked battles, quests, and much more can also be found in the Nether ship. So, you’ll be spending a considerable amount of time checking out what’s new as you progress through the game.

I think Disgaea 7 Complete offers a satisfying gameplay loop for strategy RPG fans. This is because there’s both intricacy and the amount of gameplay-related features you have, and the rewards you get as you play through story content and item world. This is also true for the previous Disgaea games, but there’s just even more on top of that since there are DLC bonus stories in content tied to other Disgaea games.

What’s more, the new content that’s available in Disgaea 7 Complete is somewhat substantial for new and returning players. The aforementioned hell mode being accessible to all characters is one of a few notable additions that are exclusive to Disgaea 7 Complete.

Firstly, the story of Disgaea 7 continues in a new bonus story called the Nethertime Support Force, which picks up directly with Fuji and Pirilika after the events of the original game. In this story, the party heads to the netherworlds from previous entries in the series to search for answers behind the infernal treasures. I found this concept to be really fascinating and fun, serving as a great epilogue while giving some more world-building for the Disgaea series.

Completing this character unlocks a sagi, a game-hopping and recurring character throughout many of Niponichi Software’s games. After defeating the super boss, Carnage Ball, you have the opportunity to face off against Rakshasa Ball, an insanely powerful new super boss that you must absolutely be prepared for. Fortunately, beating Carnage Ball unlocks a Dark Assembly build that will grant uncapped stats for all your characters.

You will need to be smart with how you level up and build out your strongest possible team, but those uncapped stats do help give you a fighting chance. Disgaea 7 Complete marks the series’ debut on Nintendo Switch, and I think this version stuck its landing.

The game offers graphics and performance modes, which are thankfully becoming a standard option in new Nintendo Switch games. Typically, I don’t mind playing turn-based RPGs at 30 FPS since the games don’t necessarily require the utmost precision or timing. However, I appreciate that performance mode gives you 60 fps, which makes gameplay even more pleasing to the eye.

I really couldn’t tell much of a visual difference between the graphics and performance modes, as both look really great in handheld and docked modes. All those performance issues from the original release of Disgaea 7 on Switch are just nonexistent here.

As a Disgaea fan who took a break from the series after hundreds of hours spent in Disgaea 5 Complete, I’m so glad to be back with Disgaea 7 Complete. Even if the game didn’t do anything really groundbreaking or innovative, the fun main story, addictive and easy gameplay, soundtrack full of bangers and guitar riffs, and great content value of Disgaea 7 Complete make it one of my favorite games on Nintendo Switch 2 right now.

If I had to pick on something for a gripe, the $69.99 MSRP is a little too steep, especially when there are a lot of big games coming out on Switch 2 soon. Regardless, Disgaea 7 Complete is great, and I definitely think it could be worth it if you were holding out like I was when Disgaea 7 was first announced.