Amazing Games that Let You Play as a Dragon or Mount One

10. Divinity II: Developer’s Cut

Before the success of Original Sin and Original Sin 2, Larian Studios made multiple games set in Rivellon, and two of them let the players control a dragon. The first of them was Divinity II: Ego Draconis and its Flames of Vengeance expansion.

This one’s a third-person action RPG boasting all the features that you’d expect from a Larian game, such as cheesy humor and Lucien the Divine being responsible for everything that happens throughout the game. But the one thing other games in the series don’t have is the main character’s ability to turn into a dragon.

Image credit: Larian Studios

Yup, your protagonist learns how to become a Dragon Knight early on, which divides the gameplay into two layers. As a human, you deal with smaller enemies on the ground and remove the obstacles that don’t let your dragon form pass through.

In the scaly flamethrower form, your task is to destroy buildings and harass enemy’s air forces using your fiery breath and powerful spells. Sometimes you need to mix both playstyles.

Even though it might be a bit dated, as it was first released in 2009, Divinity II: Ego Draconis remains a very enjoyable game. Turning yourself into a dragon never gets old, even if the game suffers from a sudden difficulty spike then.

Divinity II: Developer’s Cut

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9. Divinity: Dragon Commander

The second dragon-themed game in Larian’s portfolio is unlike anything they’ve done before or ever since.

Dragon Commander is best described as a grand strategy game and the player controls a bastard heir of an empire which has just lost its emperor. The second part is the strategic map where you monitor armies’ movements and faction territories, as well as start battles.

Image credit: Larian Studios

These constitute the third part of the gameplay. As your troops march on to destroy your enemies, you can join the battle as a dragon equipped with a jetpack and unleash fiery destruction and powerful spells on your foes to aid your forces. One thing’s for sure, this game really makes you feel powerful.

Divinity: Dragon Commander

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8. Spyro Reignited Trilogy

Alright, you might say that Spyro is quite old, since the first game in the series debuted in 1998 on PlayStation, but there’s been numerous re-releases since then and the titular character made his way to the Skylanders franchise as well.

Image credit: Toys for Bob

Spyro games are all about the eponymous young dragon rescuing his friends from the clutches of various despicable fellows. The original trilogy consisted of platform games, but later installments in the series experimented with action-adventure and RPG genres.

Spyro has several different abilities at his disposal, including the draconic staple: flight (or gliding) and fire breath. He also has a faithful companion, a dragonfly named Sparx.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

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7. ARK: Survival Evolved

The games listed above let you control a dragon directly, but ARK takes a different approach to the matter. While you play as a human character, you can totally get yourself a dragon mount.

All you need to do is grab the Scorched Earth expansion, travel to the wyvern zone, steal a wyvern egg and hatch it. Once it happens, the hatchling becomes loyal to you.

You can also pull of the same trick with rock drakes featured in the Extinction DLC, but wyverns are more fun thanks to their elemental breath and active flight.

ARK: Survival Evolved

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6. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim is in a certain sense double-dipping on playing as or controlling a dragon.

The Dragonborn expansion introduces a special Shout, Bend Will, which lets you control dragons to a certain degree. They will obey your commands, such as attacking a particular enemy. While you don’t have direct control over the beast, you can support it with Shouts and magic spells.

And then there’s the whole lore thing. See, Dragonborn (including your character) are essentially draconic souls awakening in a mortal body. This means you’re pretty much playing as a humanoid dragon.

If you pick Argonians as your race when creating your character, you can be an actual reptilian character.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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5. The I of the Dragon

OK, we admit: this one is pretty old. But if you can look past its dated visuals and a rather rudimentary plot, you’ll find out that The I of the Dragon is a pretty cool dragon simulator, arguably the best one released so far.

You have three different dragons to choose from: Annoth, Barroth and Morrogh. Each reptile has a specialization: destructive magic, necromancy or acidic breath. There are some gameplay differences depending on the beast you choose, but also plenty of similarities.

Image credit: Primal Software

For example, all dragons need to hunt and devour smaller creatures to satiate their hunger. They all breathe fire, of course, and can learn to hurl long-range projectiles at higher skill levels.

One of the coolest things about the game is the fact that your dragon’s appearance changes as you level up. Horns and spikes grow longer, scales become more colorful, etc. There’s an obvious difference between a high-level beast and a hatchling. One thing’s for sure: the developers clearly put a lot of effort into the details. Heck, even the wing membranes are translucent and flutter in the wind!

The I of the Dragon

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4. Neverwinter

Much like Skyrim, Neverwinter, Cryptic’s MMORPG set in one of the most famous cities in the Forgotten Realms, lets you play as one of the Dragonborn. But this is where similarities end.

There’s obviously the standard set of races, such as humans, elves and halflings, but you can also choose reptilian humanoids with draconic ancestry.

While the Dragonborn in the game can’t breathe fire like their tabletop counterparts, they still look the part. If dragons could shapeshift into a humanoid form, this is what they’d look like.

Neverwinter is free to play game.

3. Fire and Steel

Alright, there’s been a lot of weird games about World War II, but this one probably takes the cake.

Fire and Steel is a story of a young dragon named Aiden. Her kin used to be hunted down by mankind, so she fell into deep slumber, only to awaken centuries later in the midst of the biggest conflict Earth has ever seen. And so she unleashes her fiery fury on anyone who stands in her way, Axis and Allies alike.

The game is all about burning things: tanks, planes, even huge battleships. And it looks pretty gorgeous, too, so if you’re looking for a fun action title, this one is something you should totally check out.

2. Hoard

This one’s a return to basics of being a dragon: burning down villages, peasants and knights, kidnapping princesses and stealing lots of gold and valuables to form piles you can comfortably sleep on.

Image credit: Big Sandwich Games

What’s interesting about it, though, is that it’s a mixture of action, strategy and a board game aesthetic. You control a single dragon whose task is to harass villagers and set their crops ablaze, hoard as much gold as possible and either compete or cooperate with other dragons in a multiplayer mode that supports up to four players.

With several modes to choose from and quick matches that last around ten minutes on average, Hoard will surely keep you entertained for hours. All in all, it’s a dragon game totally worth checking out. It’s rather cheap these days, too, so you can easily get it for your buddies as well.

Hoard

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1. World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

We’ll finish this list with a game that’s yet to come out, but is surely worth looking forward to.

Picking up where Shadowlands left off, Dragonflight takes us back to Azeroth where we’ll get to explore the fabled Dragon Isles. So yeah, no more realms of the dead.

Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment

The expansion is going to add lots of new stuff to the base game, as usual, however, some things stand out the most here. The first one is the new playable race/class: the Dracthyr. Their only available class is Evoker who can choose to either specialize in Devastation, focused on dealing ranged damage, or Preservation, which is all about healing powers. They also start at level 58 (the level cap has been raised to 70) and are a bit like Pandaren in the sense that they can join either the Alliance or the Horde.

You will be also able to raise your own customizable dragon mount and enjoy a momentum-based flight model. Exploring the Dragon Isles this way looks pretty amazing and might be lots of fun. If you’re a fan of fire-breathing reptiles, this is the expansion pack you should be looking forward to.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

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