It’s been a few years since Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate’s announcement, so fans were logically expecting news during today’s 40th-anniversary stream. An update has indeed been shared, but it’s not what we were expecting.
Square Enix kicked things off by addressing the elephant in the room: Where the hell is DQ12 after such a long wait? Well, as confirmed last year, it’s still in development, but it’s transformed into an entirely different entry.
The new subtitle is Beyond Dreams, and it seems it’ll be a while before the game is fully ready to go. “We’re hard at work on 12, but due to a reshuffle of the team and a restart of development, it’s going to be a bit longer till it’s in your hands,” producer Yosuke Saito explained. “I believe it was the right [decision] to ensure the next Dragon Quest game will be one that all you fans of the series will really love,” he added.
Meanwhile, fans can look forward to two other games, the first of which is Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition (yes, that’s a lot of title), now coming to Nintendo Switch 2. Graphics and performance-oriented modes have been confirmed, and it’s coming on 24th September, 2026.
Second (and finally), Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World has been revealed. Nothing is known about the plot or new gameplay features, but as usual, expect this new spinoff entry to continue the monster-taming tradition of the DQ Monsters series. It’s coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 1 & 2, but no release window was provided beyond “coming soon”. There’s a teaser for it too:
Eurogamer’s original (unscored) review of Dragon Quest 11 called it a “sumptuous, generous, and absolutely gorgeous RPG that isn’t quite the measure of Dragon Quest’s illustrious past”, though revisiting its improved edition a year later was a more satisfying experience: “It’s not as if the fundamentals of Dragon Quest 11 have been altered – far from it – and rather that they’ve been buffed and polished to the point where it’s easier to appreciate what they’re really getting at.”
