There is plenty to say about Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, but let’s start with the brand new launch trailer (that artwork above is also new) to get you in the spirit, with the rest of this preview below!
The most surprising thing about the first ten hours of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is the reminder that I am obsessed with monster collecting in this series, dating all the way back to my first playthrough of Dragon Quest V. Want to give me a Pokémon game? Please don’t. Who wants to play a game where the only point is to recruit monsters? But put a Slime and a Golem together and let me trounce my enemies? Oh yes. Give me more. I will make sure it’s exactly the right time of day and I have exactly the right set-up to add any baddie to my team.
If you told me that’s how I’d open my preview for Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake after the hour I spent with it at Summer Game Fest, I would have scoffed. After all, I love this series, and my thoughts on a game I already adored were glowing. The look, the sound, and the feel are just right, beautifully rendered in HD-2D with an updated, rollicking score, and enough quality-of-life upgrades to make this classic accessible to the less patient tastes of today’s RPG fan.
But we already knew all that, and those things still hold true throughout the opening hours. There’s still that classic turn-based combat, and yes, that combat is still from a first-person perspective, which I know is disappointing to some. You still move to one town, steal all their stuff by rifling through their homes, solve their problems, and move to the next town. Secret areas and items are tucked away on the overworld, encouraging exploration when it’s not as necessary for progression with markers and mini-maps.

To be honest, one of the most interesting things about Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake thus far is how the game is remarkably similar to the many remakes of Dragon Quest III that have come before. Progression between towns is the same. Bosses are the same. You still recruit characters with different vocations at the beginning of the game at Paddy’s. You can still change your characters’ vocations at Alltrades Abbey about eight hours in, where the character’s level resets to level 1, but their stats are halved, and they retain their abilities from their starting vocation. Even the relative strengths and weaknesses of the returning vocations seem about the same. The Pachisi minigame is gone, though (thank goodness—that was an RNG nightmare). Nonetheless, while it might all look and sound brand new, this is Dragon Quest III, through and through.
Speaking of the look, one thing that struck me as particularly remarkable going through the game’s opening hours is that the towns and the dungeons are a particular delight. DQIII HD-2D Remake takes those little pixels from all those years ago and turns them into something delightfully, beautifully modern, with verticality and meandering paths. There’s also just so much variety. Nowhere else looks like Faerie Village, for example, with bright neon lights and beautiful particle effects shimmering off the water. The world’s cultures are reflected in not just the look, but the accents and the localization choices from the delightful NPCs scattered about the towns. I know not everyone is in love with the HD-2D look, but it’s even more vibrant than in Octopath Traveler II and LIVE A LIVE, and I for one am a huge fan.
As excited as I am about the visuals, let’s talk about why I’m really here: the monster collecting and battling. Throughout the world, there are a variety of monster arenas where you can pit monsters you recruit against other monsters. It’s a three vs. three situation where you don’t get to control your monsters but give them tactics for the fight (sound familiar?). If you win all the matches in a round, you get a cash prize and some loot. I had more than a few nailbiters during the early hours of the game, and while they’re simple overall, I’ve found the monster arena battles surprisingly addictive.

To boost your monster roster, you collect “friendly” monsters located in towns, dungeons, or secret areas throughout the map, and they’re visible in the area. If you find more of the same species of a monster, like another Slime or a Drakky, the other monsters in that species level up, too. Most monsters will join you if you approach them, but some require that you do so quietly or mask your smell. Monsters can appear at various times of day, even in dungeons, so I often run through an area twice to make sure I don’t miss any. The Monster Wrangler vocation allows you to sense if one is nearby or might be nearby at a different time of day, too. Honestly, it’s all fairly simple and fun, and it’s incredibly satisfying to build up the monster roster.
Monster collection is also important because it helps beef up the new vocation in HD-2D Remake: Monster Wrangler. Monster Wrangler employs different moves from monsters in battle. Most of these moves come from leveling up, but one particularly powerful move relies on how many monsters you’ve recruited, and has melted multiple bosses in my playthrough with a single use. Monster Wrangler’s stats are mostly unremarkable, with middling strength, agility, and HP/MP values, but that one move alone has made it my MVP. We’ll see how it scales into the endgame, but it’s certainly a delightful addition when most of the game plays quite similarly to previous iterations.

The one major frustration I have with monster recruiting is the time requirements. While you can change the time of day at the inn, sometimes that’s very far away from a secret spot, meaning you have to walk all the way back. It’s especially annoying if you don’t have a Monster Wrangler in your party, as you won’t know if there’s a monster in a given location without going back to town, changing the time, and then going back to check. I don’t have any serious problems with the other “older” mechanics Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake retains, like revives at churches, since they maintain some of the challenges of the original. But changing the time of day for monster recruiting is, frankly, tedious, and something I hope Square Enix patches before release.
There are other promised additions for DQIII HD-2D Remake, notably new cutscenes featuring the protagonist’s father, Ortega, but outside of a few very small cutaways in the opening sequence, I haven’t noticed much else. I’m excited to see what Square Enix has in store, but even if it’s not much, it doesn’t matter. In just ten hours, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake has me absolutely hooked. Playing with different job combinations, exploring the world, recruiting monsters, and just enjoying the wholesome vibes of the Dragon Quest series is exactly what I need right now. If you’re anything like me, I’m confident it will be for you, too.
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake releases November 14th for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Windows via Steam. Learn more about pre-order items and links to storefronts on the game’s official website.
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