Whereas the look ahead to Dragon Quest XII continues, Sq. Enix has stored the fires burning for the Dragon Quest sequence by remaking a few of the earlier entries. First, the legendary Dragon Quest III was given the HD-2D remedy whereas largely retaining its authentic construction. Subsequent, Dragon Quest I & II underwent the same course of whereas additionally dramatically increasing on the sparser bones of these pioneering RPGs. Whereas one may need anticipated Dragon Quest IV to be the subsequent sport to be reissued, Sq. Enix determined to hop forward to the PlayStation Dragon Quest sport, Dragon Quest VII. We’ve had loads of time to spend with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined to see what its new take has to supply gamers each returning and new.
On the time Dragon Quest VII first launched on the unique PlayStation again in 2000, its five-year improvement time appeared fairly prolonged. In Japan, expectations and anticipation ran equally excessive. The sport met and exceeded that hype by most measures, happening to develop into the highest-selling PlayStation sport within the area. When the sport arrived in North America simply over a 12 months later, it was dealing with a really completely different state of affairs. With Enix’s authentic American places of work having closed early within the 16-bit period, the mainline sequence hadn’t seen a localized launch since 1992. Dubbed Dragon Warrior VII for the West, the sport struggled with being a humble-looking PlayStation RPG in a post-PlayStation 2 world.
Those that tackled the sport got here away with various ideas on it. Dragon Quest VII is a prolonged sport relative to different RPGs of its period, with a gradual preliminary build-up and many methods to get hopelessly far off-track. Its deal with a sequence of smaller vignettes over a powerful over-arching plot ran towards the favored grain of the style on the time, and its techniques may very well be moderately advanced. Some folks beloved these elements, whereas others discovered themselves bouncing off of the sport. When Sq. Enix made its first try at remaking the sport through Dragon Quest VII for Nintendo 3DS, it tried to handle a few of these points. Whereas preserving nearly all the identical occasions and many of the techniques from the unique, it was a brisker affair on account of numerous additions and tweaks.
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined goes additional, and it’s a really completely different sport from the supply materials. It subtracts virtually as a lot because it provides, and at occasions it seems like the alternative of what we noticed with Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake. It’s a take that desires you to get misplaced much less usually and get to the thrilling bits quicker. As a substitute of the standard look of the unique or utilizing a throwback type, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined opts for a extra trendy presentation with diorama-like visuals. Its glasses are off, its hair has been styled up, and it’s in the perfect threads it may discover. Can it lastly be the star of the promenade?
It’s a smoother expertise than the earlier variations of Dragon Quest VII. Many tough edges have been considerably sanded off, and a powerful effort was made to cut back friction as a lot as doable. Getting misplaced is sort of not possible, as the sport will at all times level you to the place you have to go subsequent. Vital gadgets will probably be marked in your map. You’ll have your first battle a lot sooner. The job system is functioning proper from the beginning of the sport, although it nonetheless takes a short while earlier than you’ll be able to totally mess around with it. Chunks of the world and the eventualities that go along with them have been omitted. As an trade, some issues have been added to the story too. This can be a model of Dragon Quest VII making an attempt its hardest to please the gang.
Stepping again from my very own private emotions, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is with out query RPG. It’s very easy to play, and I feel its snappier tempo makes for a extra instantly interesting journey. But I can’t assist however really feel it has sacrificed a variety of its authentic identification to attain all of this. Newcomers will probably take pleasure in what they discover right here, and the truth that it’s so completely different from the earlier variations signifies that returning gamers have a purpose to play it as effectively. It’s an abridged tackle the sport, for higher or worse, however it’s definitely a well-made one.
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined will come to Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC through Steam on February 5, 2026, 2026.
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined smooths out a variety of tough edges, however it loses a few of the taste of the unique within the course of. A duplicate of this sport was offered by the writer for assessment. Reviewed on PC.
