It’s quite ambitious and aims to be a long, big-scale game. This time it feels like a game of its own rather than DT1’s casual game-mashing. It takes itself more seriously and builds up more gradually. You can see this reflected in the story, too. I could see why Slit08 compliments it so much.
As with DT1, the variety of options to strengthen your characters is nice. The different attacks are useful and I’ve gotten pretty proficient with them. I like the map system, though it could be useful in the individual gates too. Finding hidden items is still helpful and enjoyable. The dual-character gimmick is really cool and some interesting level designs and character tactics could come out of it.
A lot of the enemies are well done, even if annoying at times. It makes you use skill with attacking/dodging to fight them, and that’s part of the fun. I noted that there are several enemies with quite advanced AIs, much like the Sentinels from DT1. Some of the puzzles/platforming levels were very clever, as I’ve said. The bosses were overall quite difficult and I barely beat a boss fight at several points.
The atmosphere is also very well done. Most areas have sincere, fitting tone and effects, in contrast to some silly feel in DT1. Some graphical effects are top-notch (like some enemies in Greatest Stretch when you destroy them); some are a bit more rough IMO, but I know that you’re going to upgrade some other visuals too. The musical tracks are pretty good, though the sound when you get is pretty annoying.
On the other hand, the game can get really frustrating with no real remedy but to beat it. A vast majority of the levels suffer from having a really intimidating first impression, and it can discourage a blind run. This is an issue since you can’t afford to make mistakes with so little health.
My main complaint is how hard some parts were to figure out. In a few places, I try to partially learn the level and hope that I can dodge or tank enough hits to make it to the next place. Many DT1 levels had hard execution but were intuitive, so the player could actually see what to do early on. Then it was just a matter of practice. And mixing many different enemies in a tough terrain, or having enemies disrupting precise platforming through traps, can be a bad idea.
My counterpoint is that not everything in DT3 is better than DT1; I felt this way in Mountain Temple and Gate C. See, with DT1, you have a lot of abilities/options which include ways to recover. This gives the player the freedom to do more, so right away the game is more enjoyable, even if it’s less polished and some challenges can be broken (like the Sentinel rooms). The game is there for fun, which was the tone of early DT1, not for just tough challenges.
As I’ve said, I think the upgrades are more expensive than needed, so I suggest toning down the prices. They’re really marginal benefits that, with multiple levels, can get really high-priced. Similar concerns are for items. You need to collect a lot of internet coins to buy the equipped items and you can only equip up to three (two as of Gate 4). And I’ve only used a bottle item once (health, and I went back to an older save file afterwards to undo that) because the game makes you hesitate to use it. In DT1, you had a much greater liberty to use and re-purchase items, and I miss that, along with its Rave Mode. This game could really use Rave Mode, I think. The difficult gameplay makes you miss it.
So that’s my take on the game as of Demo 2.1.
), Distortion Reckoning and Secured Data Segment (these could be tricky), the Spire ( 
), and the shmup levels (easy once I figure out exactly where to graze-farm). 
