DRAGON QUEST VII: REIMAGINED

Can a serious makeover preserve the original's identity?

- 

Few fanbases’ nostalgia is catered to better than that of Dragon Quest. With players still gorging on HD-2D remakes of Quests I–III, Square Enix is reheating yet another Yuji Hori-helmed classic. Originally released in 2000, Dragon Quest VII didn’t make it to European shores until the 3DS remake Fragments Of The Forgotten Past. With that effort now also a fading memory, here we have a second do-over, imbuing the 25-year-old RPG with even greater quantities of spit and polish.

So why skip to Dragon Quest VII after remaking the first three games? In part because it never felt like a direct continuation. “The story is quite unique in the fact it’s basically structured as an omnibus of short stories,” producer Takeshi Ichikawa explains. “A lot of these tales are fairly dark, and reflect a sense of unfairness in society that is quite unique among the Dragon Quest games.”