Square Enix has announced that the long-awaited Dragon Quest III HD-2D remake will be released on November 14, along with a fresh announcement that Dragon Quest I and II will receive an HD-2D remake in 2025! The refreshed RPG classic will appear on Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Dragon Quest 3 is actually a prequel to the first two games, taking place many years before the original game, telling the story of an earlier part of Erdrick’s heroic line and featuring the first battle with the devil Baramos. Although the first two games featured Erdrick’s descendants, this one is commonly known as the Erdrick Trilogy. For this reason, Square started with the third game in the series to re-release them in chronological order.
Further reading: Dragon Quest at 35 – the story of a JRPG icon
Dragon Quest 3 was originally released on the Famicom in 1988 and sold over one million copies on its first day of release in Japan. Over the years, it was remade and ported to many later consoles, first in the 1996 Super Famicom remake in Japan, an adaptation of the Game Boy Color for Western audiences, and then in 2009 in more newfangled smartphone ports that spawned ports on Wii, 3DS, PS4 and Switch.
However, this HD-2D remake is a completely different story. First announced in 2021 to celebrate the series’ 35th anniversary, the leaked trailer showed a transformation towards the art style popularized by Octopath Traveler. It took AMATA KK and Team Asano about three years to get close to the full version. We’ve really seen the HD-2D style work fantastically since Octopath Traveler, and Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake looks simply gorgeous. We’re excited to see what else the team has improved and adapted to the game, although I’m sure they’ve stayed true to the game’s original intent.
