The Dragon Quest team showed off two new games today during a short YouTube update premiere, coinciding with the series’ 40th anniversary.
It’s been nearly a decade since Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, and fans have finally gotten an update on the next mainline title. Today, we were introduced to Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams with a short announcement trailer, though we don’t know how soon we can expect the game. What we can expect to see sometime soon, however, is another Dragon Quest Monsters game, The Withered World.
The twelfth mainline Dragon Quest game has been in development for a while, but according to Executive Producer Yosuke Saito and Game Designer Yuji Horii, the first iteration of XII had to be totally reworked. Saito explained, “Work on the original version, Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, hit a lot of hurdles along the way. But as we kept talking with Mr. [Yuji] Horii and pinned down what a mainline Dragon Quest game should look like, we decided to move things around and start from scratch.”
We then got a proper look at Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams in a short announcement trailer, showcasing a world of diverse landscapes, creatures, and characters we can expect to see. We also got a little bit of information about the main character, as Horii explained the game will follow “… the story of a young hero who’s beset by strange visions in their sleep. What lies beyond the dreams? Surely not a world of darkness, but a bright and exciting future.”
We also got to see an announcement trailer for Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World, another entry into the Monsters spinoff games following Dark Prince in 2023. Unlike the trailer for Beyond Dreams, we didn’t see any in-game scenes, but we were shown a pair of girls who may end up being part of the main cast of this game, as well as a Coming Soon message. We can expect to see Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World for XBOX Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam.
The Dragon Quest series is currently having a series sale honouring the 40th anniversary of the franchise, which includes the most recent title, Dragon Quest VIII Reimagined.
