Rise of the Dragon Overview
Rise of the Dragon is a first-person adventure set in a crime-ridden Los Angeles of 2053. The player controls William "Blade" Hunter, an ex-police detective investigating the brutal murder of the mayor's daughter, a case that leads to a wider conspiracy involving a powerful syndicate and a dangerous drug.
Its gameplay departs from typical adventure conventions of its era by emphasizing time management and dialogue choices over inventory puzzles. An internal clock requires planning the protagonist's schedule to advance the story, while conversational decisions can lead to immediate failure if selected incorrectly, making the pacing challenging. The visual style combines hand-painted backdrops with digitized actor photos, creating a comic book aesthetic.
Two side-scrolling action segments are included, which the DOS version allows the player to skip after repeated failures. The Sega CD port differs by making these sequences mandatory, adding full voice acting to dialogues, and employing a distinct greenish color palette.
