Disgaea 7 Complete Review - Screenshot 1 of 7
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)

Disgaea fans know the drill by now. Whenever a new mainline entry in the long-running tactical RPG series breaks onto the scene, it’s only a matter of time before it gets a re-released edition that bundles in the base game’s DLC along with a suite of gameplay tweaks and additions. It’s series tradition at this point, as every single numbered Disgaea game to date has received an expanded version (or even a couple) post-release. Now, with the Western release of Disgaea 7 Complete at hand, the latest title in Nippon Ichi Software’s zany crown jewel of a franchise is ready to join its brethren in the Valhalla of unparalleled game definitiveness.

D7C takes 2023’s Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless and repackages it with a plethora of brand-new additions, like a special bonus campaign episode and a new superboss to conquer. The title doesn’t lie — this is the ultimate version of Disgaea 7 and it completely supersedes the original release as the ideal way to experience the game.

Disgaea 7 Complete Review - Screenshot 2 of 7
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)

For some current and potential fans, that alone is reason enough to dive in on this release. That said, others — especially those who already picked up the base game on Switch or other platforms — may be wondering whether there’s enough value added to justify double-dipping. Unfortunately, the answer as to whether to pick up this definitive edition isn’t quite so definitive itself.

Just as in the base game, Disgaea 7 Complete centres upon the story of two unlikely leads. The ruthless demon warrior Fuji wanders the feudal Japan-inspired realm of Hinomoto, a land that has been plunged into a dark era under the ruling shogunate. In a chance meeting, he encounters Pirilika, a bubbly, ultra-rich corporate elite and self-proclaimed Hinomoto otaku. Spurred to action by the populace’s abandonment of bushidō (the Japanese term for the samurai code of honour), Pirilika contracts Fuji as her bodyguard, and the two embark on a wacky quest throughout the Netherworlds to gather the Founding Weapons and defeat the dark forces in control of Hinomoto.

Disgaea 7 Complete Review - Screenshot 3 of 7
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)

In Mitch’s original review of Disgaea 7, he described the game as “the ultimate distillation of the Disgaea experience” and praised both its irreverent tone and its handling of the series’ classic gameplay hook of training units up to ludicrous power levels and dealing eye-popping amounts of damage in turn-based tactical battles. Those observations all still ring true for this re-release, so give Mitch’s review a readthrough for a deeper dive into the game’s core.

But the crux is this: There are very few tactics RPGs out there that can even hold a candle to the level of flexibility, depth, and freedom that Disgaea 7 offers in its gameplay. At every turn, you’re encouraged to experiment with and exploit the game’s mechanics, all in service of building a team that can utterly destroy even the most absurdly difficult challenges. Simply put, you get out what you put in, and the game can be as simplistic and straightforward or as mind-bendingly complex as you prefer.

Disgaea 7 Complete still has that same great core, but what actually sets it apart from the base game? Well, not much — during the core campaign, at least. For anyone who did play the game’s original release, those first 20 to 30 hours in which you progress through the main story are awfully familiar. Aside from all of the DLC episodes and bonuses being available from the get-go, the primary campaign here remains largely unchanged.

Disgaea 7 Complete Review - Screenshot 4 of 7
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)

All of its brand-new gameplay additions are locked behind the post-game, and some require a not-insignificant time investment to access. Returning players hoping to retain their hard-earned save file progress from the base game and skip right to the new stuff are out of luck, too, as there’s no upgrade path available between the two versions.

Not having any significant brand-new content to experience until the post-game is a bummer, but once you finally reach those fresh additions, they’re pretty neat. Perhaps the most substantial piece of new content is the Nethertime Support Force episode. This mini-campaign, set after the main story, sees Fuji, Pirilika, and the rest of the crew crossing paths with characters from previous Disgaea titles and engaging in a couple of fun and unique battle maps along the way.

For fans of the greater series, these crossover cameos serve as a great bit of fan service, though the lack of voice acting for these sequences is disappointing. Clearing this episode also unlocks Asagi — a legacy character who many Disgaea enthusiasts are no doubt acquainted with — as a playable unit, which is a nice little bonus.

Disgaea 7 Complete Review - Screenshot 5 of 7
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)

Aside from that, several exclusive post-game bills have been added to the Dark Assembly that offer some entertaining gameplay additions. The Freely Use Infernal Treasures! bill, when unlocked and passed, allows any unit you have to equip one of the titular weapons and enter the powered-up Hell Mode during battle. Then, there’s the Take Me Beyond the Limits! bill, which lifts the previously-held caps on unit stats and allows you to power them up to an even greater degree of insanity.

Offering yet more ways to tweak and strengthen your units is Disgaea’s bread and butter, and these smart additions give any unit you’ve trained — whether it’s a story-relevant character or a custom character you scouted and built from the ground up — an equal shot at becoming your team’s next big-hitter.

The final addition of note is the inclusion of a new, ultra-difficult superboss in the form of Rakshasa Baal. In keeping with superbosses from Disgaea history, this challenge is intended solely for those who are committed to spending hour after hour delving deep into the game’s mechanics and raising units to a formidable degree.

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Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)

While it’s cool to add yet another lofty objective for Disgaea devotees to clear, this last piece of content hammers home a crucial point about Disgaea 7 Complete: pretty much all of the new stuff added to this release exclusively appeals to pre-existing Disgaea players or people who intend to spend a ton (and I mean a ton) of time with the game once the main campaign has concluded. Even then, it’s not a revolutionary amount of new content, and franchise fans may have been hoping for a bit more to justify picking up this re-release.

I’d also be remiss in not mentioning the odd nature of Disgaea 7 Complete’s Western release. Even though the game launched in Japan in 2024 for the regular ol’ Switch, this localisation is launching exclusively on the Switch 2 with no Switch 1 version in sight (at least, at the time of review).

It’s certainly nice to play natively on Switch 2, on which performance is as smooth as can be, but it’s strange to eschew a localised Switch 1 version when the game can demonstrably run just fine on that hardware. This decision also means that Disgaea 7 Complete can only be purchased digitally or as a Game-Key Card, a move that is sure to ruffle the feathers of a number of would-be players.

Disgaea 7 Complete Review - Screenshot 7 of 7
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)

Perhaps some substantial Switch 2 enhancements would have made this weird release strategy an easier pill to swallow, but there are none to speak of. I would have very much appreciated integration with the Switch 2’s mouse controls for the map cursor in the hopes of alleviating how finicky maps can get with varying elevations — my one major grievance with the moment-to-moment gameplay. Alas.

Conclusion

With how stellar a package the Vows of the Virtueless proved to be upon release, the expanded and feature-packed Disgaea 7 Complete should be a slam dunk of a recommendation to any tactical RPG fan — but re-releases are rarely that simple. For anyone who missed out on the original the first time around, this version is every bit as great and stands tall as the ultimate, feature-complete iteration of the game.

At the same time, there’s no denying that the handful of brand-new content additions fall on the niche side and mostly serve those who want to live and breathe Disgaea 7 for their next hundred-plus hours of game time. Even stalwart fans who loved the base game may want to think twice before dropping the price of admission on this updated version and starting from scratch for a couple of post-game goodies.