In celebration of DRAGON QUEST’s 40th anniversary, SQUARE ENIX had a stream today and made some big announcements. First of all, let’s get one smaller announcement out of the way. DRAGON QUEST XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age is being ported to to the Switch 2. It’s scheduled to launch this upcoming September 24th, 2026. The press release states that pre-orders will be available today, but it doesn’t look like it’s live just yet on the official website, as I write this.
The first of the larger announcements, involves DRAGON QUEST XII. There’s some big news with that one. No, we don’t have a date yet or any majorly detailed info. However, it’s been announced that the game’s development has been completely restarted and it’s now called DRAGON QUEST XII: Beyond Dreams. You can check out the full video, which includes more DQXII info along with a little bit of still in development footage, down below.
And the last big announcement is a new DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS game. DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: The Withered World is headed to Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam and Windows, in the future sometime. The latest press release says this new title follows dual protagonists, Bianca and Nera, who are originally from DRAGON QUEST V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride. This announcement also has a teaser trailer which you can watch below.
Finally, before I end this article, a couple of arguably more minor things also mentioned in the latest press release. First, DRAGON QUEST Smash/Grow has a limited-time campaign going on in celebration of the anniversary, which includes in-game events and rewards. One of those events is a co-op battle event titled Drive Back the Dragonlord’s Army. Players also have the chance to get Princess Gwaelin’s exclusive equipment and there’s a special anniversary login bonus that provides up to 1000 free Gems.
Second, the recently remade Edrick Trilogy, DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake, in addition to DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake, have now sold a combined total of 4 million copies globally.
And lastly, there’s a brand new anniversary artwork to celebrate the 40th anniversary, which you’ll find below.
