The Dragon Shortage
For a creature that appears in roughly every fantasy game ever made, dragons are surprisingly rare as player characters. You’ve killed thousands of them. You’ve ridden a few. But actually being the dragon? That’s a short list. Here are the games that get it right.
1. Divinity: Dragon Commander
The only game that fully commits to the dragon concept. You play as a dragon knight who can transform into a jetpack-wearing dragon during real-time strategy battles. On the strategy map, you manage territories, negotiate with five different political factions, and make policy decisions. In combat, you fly around as a dragon raining fire on enemy troops while your armies fight below. It’s weird, ambitious, and nothing else like it exists.
2. Spyro Reignited Trilogy
The original dragon game. Spyro is small, purple, and sarcastic — not the intimidating fantasy dragon, but a platforming hero who happens to be a dragon. The Reignited Trilogy remakes all three PS1 games with gorgeous visuals while keeping the tight platforming and collect-a-thon gameplay. It’s the most polished dragon experience you can get right now.
3. Panzer Dragoon: Remake / Orta
You ride a dragon rather than being one, but the bond between rider and dragon in Panzer Dragoon is so central that it qualifies. The on-rails shooting and the evolutions your dragon goes through — changing form to adapt to different enemy types — make this feel like you’re guiding a living weapon. Orta on the original Xbox is the peak of the series. The 2020 remake of the first game is worth playing for the atmosphere alone.
4. Lair
A PS3 launch-window game with motion-controlled dragon combat. The controls were the problem — Sixaxis steering was imprecise and frustrating. But underneath the control issues, there’s a game about aerial dragon combat with impressive scale: you fight other dragons, attack ground troops, and take down massive war beasts. If you can tolerate the controls (or find a patched version), the dragon fantasy is genuine.
5. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Not actually a dragon game — it’s a Bruce Lee fighting game. But the dragon symbolism is core to the game’s identity, and it’s a surprisingly good fighter for its era. Included here as a technicality and because the dragon motif is genuinely well-done.
6. Bahamut Lagoon
A SNES tactical RPG from Square where you command dragons alongside your military units. Your dragons can be fed items to change their stats and abilities, and they fight alongside your troops in grid-based battles. It was never officially released outside Japan, but fan translations exist. The dragon-raising mechanics are surprisingly deep for a 16-bit game.
7. Dragon Vale / Dragon City
Mobile dragon breeding games. You don’t play as a dragon, but you raise and manage them. They’re included because the dragon variety and breeding mechanics are genuinely engaging if you like collection games. Not deep, but satisfying in the way all good management games are.
8. Scale (Upcoming)
Worth mentioning because it’s the game dragon fans have been waiting for. You play as a young dragon growing larger as you explore, fight, and claim territory. The concept — starting small and becoming an apex predator — is exactly what dragon games should be. It’s still in development, and indie game development timelines being what they are, keep expectations measured.
9. Dark Souls (Dragon Form)
Not a dragon game, but Dark Souls lets you partially transform into a dragon using the Dragon Head and Dragon Torso stones. The dragon form gives you a roar attack and fire breath, and you can invade other players as a dragon covenant member. It’s a small fraction of the game, but the fantasy of being a dragon warrior in a hostile world hits differently when you’re the one breathing fire.
10. I Am Dragon
A Russian film, not a game. But it’s the most compelling dragon-perspective story in recent media, and it highlights exactly what’s missing from games: the dragon’s interior life. Games treat dragons as bosses or mounts. This film treats the dragon as a person with desires and conflicts. Game developers should take notes.
Why Are There So Few Dragon Games?
The honest answer: dragons are hard to design around. A creature that flies, breathes fire, and is massively powerful breaks most game balance systems. You either nerf the dragon (which defeats the point) or design the entire game around being overpowered (which is hard to make engaging). Divinity: Dragon Commander solved this by splitting the game into strategy and action modes. Spyro solved it by making the dragon small and platform-oriented. Most developers just don’t bother, which is why this list is shorter than it should be.