Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 301 sampled Steam reviews (270 positive / 31 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing21% mention it
- Combat10% mention it
- Visuals & art8% mention it
- World & exploration6% mention it
- Grind & repetition5% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Combat26% mention it
- Bugs & crashes26% mention it
- Controls & UI10% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
81%
42 reviews
5-15h
92%
62 reviews
15-40h
90%
100 reviews
40-100h
96%
72 reviews
100h+
80%
25 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 73 | 54 |
| Creator reviews (4 tracked) | – | 75 | 2 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 93% | 87 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | – | 0 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 94% | 88 | 75 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 214 reviews sampled · 156 total reviews in window · weighted 160.1 up / 11.1 down · computed 1h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (146)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 85
“DBZ: Kakarot + A New Power Awakens Set is packed full of epic fights, side quests, and a good amount of free DLC. The game looks and plays great on the Switch. I highly recommend it for fans of the series.”
read full review ↗ - 65
“Kakarot is ultimately a game of two halves. On the one hand, this is the quintessential way to experience the entire Dragon Ball Z story beyond watching the anime, with some gorgeous aesthetics, faithful boss fights and some really iconic moments along the way. Unfortunately this is let down by a disappointing and barren open-world structure with little incentive to explore, especially give the long loading times and miniscule experience gains. It’s a game that could have been great, with all the ingredients to produce a spectacular RPG effort but unfortunately fails to hit Super Saiyan status.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is not an above average RPG, even from far away. But the developers' commitment to creating a world full of references to the famous brand enhances the game itself. We recommend 6 points out of 10, but if you are a fan of the series, there is nothing to think about and you will definitely enjoy the game. But this is not a title suitable for newcomers to the series. DLC will hopefully improve storytelling or even a possible sequel that, due to the large number of pieces sold, will fill the open world with fun activities.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a good gift for fans of anime and manga, containing a huge number of references and fanservice. But for everyone else, this is an unremarkable game that too quickly turns into a monotonous routine of constant battles and empty locations. If you want a really cool game based on the popular franchise, it is better to get acquainted with the magnificent Dragon Ball FighterZ.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will help the newcomers to experience all of the iconic battles of the anime, or will remind old fans how great they were. However, empty open world, useless RPG elements and a bunch of unnecessary gameplay mechanics weigh this game down.”
read full review ↗ - 50
“The world here is littered with side missions out in the wild, and most of them amount to uninspired fetch quests.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot might not do much more than retelling the story of Dragon Ball, but it does that well enough that existing fans will find joy in exploring the world and fighting iconic villains from the franchise. Despite the lack of depth to its combat and a minor internet-based technical inconvenience to work around, the game saves itself by expanding on the already massive amount of Dragon Ball lore available and giving fans the slice-of-life moments we've so sorely needed. Non-fans won't find much to love here, but it's a more than serviceable retelling of an iconic story.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“If you’re the type of person who loves revisiting Dragon Ball Z every year, Kakarot can be an interesting way to do it thanks to its unique approach. This mediocre game is surprisingly fun for fans of the anime. However, if you don’t understand the phenomenon of Dragon Ball, don't expect this game to change that.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“It appeals not only to the fans of the series, but introduces enough high-quality story and game elements to make it a decent RPG even for newcomers… to a degree.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a fresh way to experience the fantastic and lengthy tale of Dragon Ball Z. Providing you the opportunity to traverse many of the key environments from the show, experience new points of view and has a shared focus when it comes to its lead playable characters. It’s not without some flaws but if you’re looking for a new way to experience the story and the idea of a Dragon Ball game with customisable RPG mechanics has you interested, then there’s a lot for you to like here with Kakarot.”
read full review ↗ - 60
- 50
“Dragon Ball Z Kakarot feels like it doesn’t know what it really wants to be. It’s great as a love letter to all things Dragon Ball but fails to impress in any way as an action-adventure JRPG.”
read full review ↗
Pure Nintendo
TheReviewGeek
INDIANTVCZ
GameMAG
3DNews
Slant Magazine
Nintendo Life
GRYOnline.pl
RPGamer
ani-game.com
The Angry Joe Show
Kakuchopurei…and 134 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- STEAM Card Warriors IssueSep 3, 2021
- Platinum Coins Update PatchJul 19, 2021
- Patch Note AnnouncementJul 1, 2021
- Patch 1.05Mar 6, 2020
- Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot - Patch 1.04Jan 31, 2020significant · resets scoring window