Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Review – The Past Revisited, the Pacing Fixed

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Review

One of the most surreal and occasionally revelatory experiences you can have is revisiting your childhood home years later, after it has been long occupied by strangers. Forget the new paint and decor. Sometimes walls get moved, new rooms get added, and others, repurposed. Worst-case scenario, you’re horrified by the changes to your once-sacred space. But sometimes you just have to say “I like what you’ve done to the place” and appreciate the remodel. I thought of that while playing Dragon Quest VII Reimagined.

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is not a reboot. After all, the franchise is hardly dead. It goes way beyond a cosmetic refresh, which already happened back in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS. For once, the title is entirely accurate. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined rebuilds the game from the ground up. While the vast majority of the original’s content is preserved, Reimagined is not afraid to move some walls and repurpose some rooms if it makes the house better. No doubt some Dragon Quest purists, bathing in nostalgia, may blanche at the thought. For me, the changes were almost entirely for the better.

Streamlining the Story

Though diehard fans will bristle at the description, 2000’s Dragon Quest VII had one of the most protracted (code word for slow and kind of dull) openings in JRPG history. It also claims the title of longest game in the franchise, clocking in at 140+ hours to do everything. Recognizing that not everyone — especially new players — has that kind of time to burn in 2026, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined moves things along. The main characters get into combat pretty quickly. The initial core party of the player character, Kiefer and Maribel, come together soon after.

Of course, the game’s core narrative remains intact. For those who are unfamiliar, the game is about a group of friends jumping between the past and the present to solve problems — usually, monster-related — to reveal new islands where it was thought there was only one, before eventually facing off with a big bad. The game begins with the player, Maribel, the daughter of the mayor, and Kiefer, the prince of the castle and heir to the kingdom of Estard Island. Their basic goal is to find magical tablet pieces that unlock new islands and new chapters of the story. Eventually, several new characters will drop in and out of the party. Each occupies some traditional JRPG role of tank, mage, healer. You know the drill by now.

No Spoilers

I won’t spoil anything, but there are some twists and turns to the story that are new to Reimagined, and a number of side quests have been either dropped or folded into the main quest to keep things moving along. Along with the game’s very specific art style, these changes will be contentious for some players. If you never played the original or the Nintendo 3DS remake, you probably won’t notice because the narrative and pacing hang together quite well in the new version. Mostly, anyway.

Like so many classic JRPGs, the generally lighthearted story isn’t afraid to dip into darker — or at least more weighty — themes on occasion. Death, loss, spirituality, betrayal, and doubt all make appearances. Most of the characters are literally multidimensional, clearly articulated by compact and entertaining dialogue and excellent and newly recorded English acting during story scenes. Over dozens of hours, some of the canned responses during battle become a little wearying, but that’s nothing unique to Dragon Quest VII.

Let’s talk about Dragon Quest VII Reimagined’s art, which takes the game in an entirely new direction. The original was 2D, the 3DS remake was 3D, and for Reimagined, the concept is colorful dioramas based on scanned physical sculpts. Not everyone will vibe with it, but I loved the look. Character models are fantastic, and the world has just enough clean detail and texture to suggest tabletop models. Character animations are excellent as well, both in combat and during exploration.

The original Dragon Quest VII had an iconic soundtrack, and it has been largely preserved, though recorded here by live orchestral musicians. It absolutely glistens. If the music has a fault, it is that it inevitably becomes repetitious over the game’s extended playtime. A few new tracks would have been welcome.

The Heart of the Dragon

No matter how good the game looks or sounds, and whether the narrative is compelling or bland, the hours and hours of gameplay have to engage. Thanks to a fundamentally strong foundation and smart changes, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is easily as addictive and fun as the prior versions. Exploration and combat remain the pillars on which the game rests, and there have been some mechanical updates that are uniformly improvements.

For example, the game’s interface has been simplified, and inventory is now shared with the entire party. It’s incredibly easy to assign gear and organize or use consumables. There are a lot of ways to customize difficulty. In addition to selecting combat speed, there’s a viable, drop-in, drop-out auto-battle option. Enemies are clearly indicated on the map. The party can often just run past them. Of course, it’s still possible to grind and fight everything. New to Reimagined is the ability to have two vocations (i.e., subclasses) and their accompanying spells and skills. This adds even more variety to combat. Thanks to the built-in difficulty options, combat and boss battles can be plenty challenging if you want. Aside from the new art direction, enemies from the original and/or 3DS remake are carried over into Dragon Quest VII Reimagined.

Overall, I really have very little to gripe about. On a vanilla PS5, performance was excellent. There were a few mechanics that could have been streamlined, like the cumbersome save system that still requires multiple inputs every time. Then again, the game’s UI and fast-travel map system probably make up for it.

Unforgettable Journey

From its art style to its streamlined mechanics, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined takes a classic and makes it feel fresh. A cast of engaging characters, sparkling voice work, and combat that can be tailor-made, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is a substantial game that almost never wastes your time. Ardent fans of the original might be skeptical, but it’s hard to imagine fans of classic JRPGs not enjoying this thoroughly engaging journey.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher for review***