Venture Forth!
To celebrate the classic JRPG franchise’s 35th anniversary Square Enix held a livestream extravaganza this Thursday, showing off the future of Dragon Quest. Six new games were announced over the course of the hour-long livestream, including a new mainstream title that brings the beloved franchise hurtling into the next generation after the critical success of Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age.Â
The event began with the reveal of Dragon Quest Keshi Keshi, a free-to-play puzzle game for Android and iOS, featuring classic Dragon Quest characters and monsters like Slimes as erasers (yes, erasers), which must be lined up to erase drawings of monsters from a notebook. This puzzle game is due for a worldwide release later this year.
Next up was a brand new version of the Japan-only MMORPG Dragon Quest X, bringing a radical overhaul to the game. Version 6 will bring the story of Dragon Quest X to an end, and will be followed by the release of Dragon Quest X Offline – a reimagining of Dragon Quest X with a brand new ‘super deformed’ style that will be playable without an internet connection. Unfortunately these announcements also came with a confirmation that there are no plans for a worldwide release of either online or offline versions any time soon.
The next announcement was an intriguing one – Square Enix are continuing in their tradition of remaking older titles with an updated version of Dragon Quest 3: The Seeds of Salvation in the HD-2D style. This art direction is best known for its use in Octopath Traveller and the upcoming Project Triangle Strategy, and here it looks just as amazing. This remake hasn’t yet received a release date, but Square Enix will be releasing the legendary hero Erdrick’s return to consoles at the same time worldwide.
This brought us to perhaps the two biggest announcements of the stream. First up, Dragon Quest Treasures: a spin-off of Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age starring the treasure-hunting siblings Mia and Erik. Set a few years before Dragon Quest 11, Treasures follows a young Mia and Erik as they journey through another world. This game has been described as “an RPG, but nothing like a traditional one”. Again, there is no release date quite yet apart from a promise of a worldwide simultaneous release – A running theme throughout the stream.
And finally, what we were all waiting for: Dragon Quest 12. Not a lot was revealed about the next mainstream Dragon Quest game, but we did get a few key details. First off, its subtitle, The Flames of Fate. The subtitle was explained by series creator Yuji Horii to mean that players will have to choose their own path through the game, making decisions that affect both gameplay and story. Horii also described the game as “a Dragon Quest for adults”, promising a darker tone and world than the series’ previous light-hearted titles. Big changes will be coming to the classic Dragon Quest turn-based battle system, but Horii assures the audience that the ‘command battle’ system won’t be going away. Again, no release date or consoles were revealed, apart from that Square Enix are hoping for a simultaneous worldwide release.
Between spin-offs, remakes and a brand new title in the main Dragon Quest series, the future is looking brighter than ever for the JRPG franchise.