MOBA games like League of Legends, DotA 2, or Deadlock are considered by MeinMMO author Nico Scheibel to be some of the best games ever. There is now a new game on Steam that combines his beloved genre with Dragon Ball and has captivated him immediately.
After almost 13 years and over 10,000 hours in the MOBA genre, I was skeptical whether I could be captivated by a new MOBA or if this new Dragon Ball game would simply be a small fishing boat next to luxury liners like LoL or DotA 2. But first, the hard facts:
What game are we talking about? Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra is a free 4vs4 MOBA and was released on September 10, 2025, on Steam. In addition to PC, it is also available for PlayStation, Switch, and on smartphones (iOS, Android).
As one of 22 characters from Dragon Ball, you fight in an arena with two lanes. During the match, you must battle both NPC opponents and special bosses, and ultimately defeat your four enemies to reach and collect the titular Dragon Ball.
Here you can see the trailer for Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra:
Find all seven Dragon Balls and your wishes will come true, but first you wait for a little monster
Like every new game, I started with the tutorial. After getting familiar with the controls, such as moving with WASD, which LoL is currently testing on their servers, or attacking with left click, I was taught the first basic mechanics of the game. Where are the towers? How do I destroy them? What should I pay attention to on the map? The game explains all of this quickly, and I was able to start a practice round right away.
Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra employs a typical role distribution of DPS (damage), tank (defender), and support (helper). At the beginning, each role has a hero that you can welcome into your collection. Additionally, there are some free characters that you can play without owning them. More characters are unlocked through the so-called “Star Collection,” which you can level up by improving your heroes.
Upon entering the first round, the action started almost immediately. The team, consisting of four players, splits with two characters each onto the upper and lower lanes. On the way to the gathering point for crazy heroes who like to fight, there are some NPC monsters to level up. After running past two towers (Gods of Destruction), my teammate and I encounter our lane opponents, and the first battle begins to defeat the special NPC and gain an advantage.
At that moment, I realized that Dragon Ball plays slightly differently compared to other well-known MOBAs. The biggest point that stood out to me was: There are no minions that walk from the base to the lane to serve as cannon fodder. Thus, there is no way to push the lane traditionally.
This means you have to wait for a small helper (Zen-Oh) that flies over the lane to the next tower at intervals. This helper cannot be attacked or stopped. Once Zen-Oh has arrived, a time window opens during which the tower can be pushed. Various special techniques (abilities) available during the time window deal more or less damage to the towers and destroy them.
If you have destroyed all the towers, you can head towards the Dragon Ball, touch it after one last hurdle, and thus win the game.
A nice learning curve without hundreds of items
Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra does not use an item system. This means what is one of the biggest elements in other MOBAs is absent here. But this is by no means bad and helps veterans to quickly adapt to the game. Newbies, on the other hand, are not overly intimidated and can initially focus on their hero without being overwhelmed by hundreds of different items.
Each character has different techniques, and these can be upgraded and improved as needed or automatically by the game. All the heroes I have played so far feel unique and have nice and challenging playstyles.
For example, Piccolo is a typical DPS and prefers to fight at a sufficient distance from the enemy. Some of his attacks deal significant damage from afar, but he is an easy target for characters that shine in close combat. At first glance, this sounds very normal and simple, however, Piccolo has a technique that allows him to pull himself towards a wall to chase opponents or escape from them.
Through such mechanics, the various characters have a certain depth of play and a good learning curve, where I did not miss an item system.
Although there are no items, the game provides a way to customize your heroes, even if only slightly. With the God Combo cards that you receive during a round, you can utilize small additional effects. For example, the first attack after a universal dodge step deals more damage or you gain health regeneration after getting hit and falling below a certain value.
Same arena with different effects
Each round of Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra is played in the same arena. Each side features the “Base” where a Dragon Ball awaits to be touched by you. Between the two bases, there are two lanes, each with two Gods of Destruction (towers). Outside the lanes, there are small combat areas where larger bosses spawn and provide different buffs when defeated.
One of the most interesting and fun ideas of this MOBA is the God Hand function. Before each match, two of them are randomly selected, bringing small additional rules into play, making each round feel different despite the same arena. For example, defeated opponents may explode, launching other enemies away, or the Gods of Destruction spawn bushes for hiding.
Small cutscenes in a multiplayer game? What’s that about?
Another feature of the game is small cutscenes (only a few seconds long) that play at certain moments in the fight. At first, I found these annoying, but it turned out that they are not just for the anime main character feeling but are an additional mechanic. If you execute a finishing blow, this is shown with a small cool “finisher” sequence and grants you a movement speed bonus.
Just like with the finishing blow, there is the charge attack. If two characters move towards each other at top speed, the first attacker can execute the charge attack. Again, a small sequence is shown, and the opponent starts to stagger, while the cooldown of your techniques is reduced. In the sequences, you gain total immunity, so you won’t be defeated by enemies during them. After the revelation that these sequences provide a bonus, I found them really cool and enjoyed triggering them.
A nice MOBA for beginners and veterans
Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra may not have the extreme depth of play as other MOBAs, but there are enough mechanics and gameplay elements that can captivate even a long-time player. Newcomers to the genre get a nice MOBA that is not overly complex and quick to learn, but hard to master.
Fans of Dragon Ball will also not be disappointed. There is a sufficient selection of various iconic characters, and the visuals convey a true Dragon Ball feel. The small cutscenes when the round starts or when you execute a finishing blow with your teammate are nice to watch and a lot of fun.
Besides Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra, there are many other games from the Dragon Ball universe. The fighting game Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 is a bit older, but there are some characters from other franchises in the crowd of spectators that actually don’t belong there: In a game of Dragon Ball, Naruto, Luffy, and other anime characters appear, cheering you on while fighting
