May 27th marked Dragon Quest’s 35th anniversary and to celebrate, Square Enix did a live anniversary special. There were quite a lot of titles (including Dragon Quest XII) and announcements during the presentation, so this is certainly an exciting time for Dragon Quest fans.
Dragon Quest XII
Yes, Dragon Quest XII was announced. The game’s full title is Dragon Quest XII: Flames of Fate. This will be the newest entry in the franchise. We only got to see a brief intro with the game’s logo but the creator went on to say that things would be changing a bit. He mentioned that they would be making changes to the game’s battle system and it’s “commands”. He also hinted at the possibility that the game could be taking a more mature approach.
He pointed out that while they can’t give us a release date yet, they are aiming for a worldwide release. It is also unclear which consoles it will be coming to at this time. Regardless, hearing of a brand new Dragon Quest game is exciting.
Dragon Quest Treasures
A new spin-off title was announced called Dragon Quest Treasures. This game will star Dragon Quest XI’s characters Erik and Mia. We saw a bit of gameplay and were informed that this game would be an RPG but not a traditional one.
The game is set to take place during Mia and Erik’s childhood and will no doubt shed some more light on the characters’ backstories. We have no information on release date with this title either, but they are aiming for a worldwide release.
Dragon Quest III Remake
They are remaking Dragon Quest III and it looks gorgeous. Similar to Octopath Traveler, they are using a “HD-2D” visual style to create depth in a 2D world. Check out the trailer here. There is no release date for this title either.
The remake will be a great way for newcomers to play the game for the first time, or longtime fans to experience the title in a fresh coat of paint. They also teased that they might do the same thing for Dragon Quest I and II, so that would be exciting as well.
Other Titles
There were three other announcements during the presentation. The first was the announcement of Dragon Quest Keshikeshi, a free-to-play puzzle game for mobile devices. The other two announcements revolved around Dragon Quest X.
Dragon Quest X is a Japan-only MMORPG. It will be receiving a new update sometime later this year called Version 6. The MMORPG has been wildly successful and is coming up on its tenth anniversary.
The last announcement showed us a top-down version of Dragon Quest X. More importantly, it is one that will be offline. It looks like a cute little game, and a great way to experience Dragon Quest X without internet.
For now it has only been announced as a Japan release, slated for 2022. However with Dragon Quest’s rising popularity in the West, I wouldn’t be surprised to eventually see it over here as well.
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