During the September Nintendo Direct Square Enix dropped a bombshell, a full-blown remake of Dragon Quest 7. And it’ll be available hot off the heels of Dragon Quest I&II HD-2D Remake, early next year.
Interestingly, however, the game markedly does not use an HD-2D art style, but a totally new 3D style that’s a bit different from anything the series has seen before. While it looks similar to Dragon Quest XI, the visual style actually feels more in line with Bravely Default 2, putting 3D characters on hyper realistic environments.
While the trailer showed off the new visuals and a bit of exploration, we don’t know exactly how comprehensive of a remake this might actually be – whether it adds new story content, or strictly follows the original. Interestingly, this remake will also be available on the original Nintendo Switch.
Dragon Quest 7 first released on PlayStation in Japan in August 2000, before making its way West one year later in 2001. It’s one of the longest games in the franchise, telling a sweeping story that takes you across an archipelago of islands – with each one having its own self-contained story before adding up to a climactic ending. A single playthrough of Dragon Quest 7 can easily take up to 100 hours, or more.
Outside of that, Dragon Quest 7 is largely known for its robust class system, letting you mix and match your party together from over ten different distinct classes, including Bard, Jester, Ranger, Paladin, and God Hand.
This is actually the second remake of Dragon Quest 7, as a 3DS version released in 2013 in Japan and 2016 in America, called Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Past. That version was a pretty faithful remake, but did add a whole host of quality-of-life elements and tweaks.
Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined launches on February 5 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
