Key Preview Takeaways:
- The Toriyama artwork fashion makes the most recent model on this long-running Dragon Quest sub-series immediately interesting.
- A staggering 500 collectible monsters left me blown away by the range and sheer roster dimension.
- Some folks in my preview session skilled movement illness whereas exploring the world map.
Whereas the core Dragon Quest video games are the primary draw for a lot of followers of this long-running franchise, the well-established Dragon Quest Monsters sub-series has garnered its personal devoted following since its debut in 1998. Very similar to its counterpart within the Pokemon sequence, Sq.-Enix’s monster-collecting RPG is all about capturing Dragon Quest’s weirdest critters and coaching them to be the perfect. With the upcoming entry Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World, the sequel is trying to elevate the monster-collectathon and turn-based battle gameplay even additional, all channeled into Dragon Quest’s stylized, high-fantasy storytelling that is introduced to life by the artwork fashion of the legendary Akira Toriyama.
At PAX West 2026, we obtained some hands-on time with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World, seeing the expanded narrative with a number of protagonists, gathering among the Dragon Quest franchise’s strangest monsters, and including them to our celebration. It is so far obtained the makings of one of many strangest and most expansive entries to date with over 500 monsters to acquire — however above all, it is particularly specializing in the guts and plentiful attraction that Dragon Quest Monsters is all about.
The Withered World focuses on the additional adventures of Bianca and Nera, the returning protagonists from Dragon Quest V, as they embark on a brand new journey in one other realm. After each of their fathers contract a mysterious sickness, they discover that the one remedy is in a brand new realm often called the Witherwood, which is coping with its personal disaster. After discovering a magical watering device to assist restore sacred bushes within the decaying lands, the pair will group with different monster wranglers and collect a large celebration of monsters to assist convey steadiness to the realm and save their dad and mom.
What makes the Dragon Quest Monsters sub-series such a well-loved spin-off is that it typically goes for a extra light-hearted, folksy journey that is fulfilling for all ages. Furthermore, it actually leans into the inherent attraction and weirdness of the Dragon Quest sequence by letting you group up with among the franchise’s most weird foes. Sure, you’ll be able to have a celebration stuffed with the Slime monsters, and that might very nicely be a strong group in the event you energy them up nicely sufficient.
However what Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World focuses greater than different video games is the expertise of its lead monster wranglers, Bianca and Nera. In distinction to Pokemon, DQ Monsters makes the lead monster wrangler extra of a key fixture of the celebration than earlier video games, and The Withered World particularly does that with each Bianca and Nera having distinctive perks and favored monster varieties. This creates extra alternatives and advantages for constructing out particular monster events for the particular wranglers, particularly with Bianca’s desire for dragon and beast varieties.
Although there’s extra of a story following with The Withered World, there’s nonetheless loads of time to discover the totally different zones and construct up your celebration at your leisure. The two areas I obtained to discover have been the beginning desert zone round Witherrealm’s core kingdom and the tropical island zone with some critically highly effective monsters roaming round. Relying on the protagonist you selected to start with, you may have a celebration that is constructed for sure circumstances – reminiscent of Nera’s glasscannon-style construct of therapeutic all MP post-battle for magic-focused monsters and resurrecting fallen allies, or Bianca’s extra brawler construct favoring holding the celebration’s HP topped off and having a better time bedazzling foes. Nonetheless, regardless of your decisions, the protagonists and new monster wranglers will meet up over the course of the journey and mix their events.
Very similar to different DQ Monsters video games, battles play out within the acquainted turn-based design, with the monster wrangler providing strategies on targets and particular assaults, utilizing objects to heal allies, and even letting the monsters do their very own factor with the auto-battle perform. It is pretty normal with its method and execution, nevertheless it all makes for a satisfying circulate. I particularly admire the way in which celebration composition works. When you can have a celebration of 4 mid-sized monsters, bringing within the bigger ones will take up extra particular person slots, making for a smaller celebration, however a doubtlessly stronger one relying in your chosen wrangler and what their talents are.
With apparently over 500 collectible monsters to prepare and evolve, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World is absolutely emphasizing the huge roster of allies to purchase. Even throughout my restricted hands-on time, I used to be blown away by how a lot selection there was within the collection of monsters. Additionally, the designs are so expressive and colourful, which actually leans into the Toriyama affect. The core manner to broaden your celebration is, after all, by means of battling and scouting. Relying on the kind of monsters, you may meet sure circumstances to give you the chance to scout them in the midst of a struggle. If you’re stronger than them, or in the event you’ve managed to beat them down sufficient, you’ll be able to outright recruit them throughout battle, which can add them to your roster and finish the struggle.
Together with the acquainted beats of battling and gathering monsters, The Withered World additionally provides the flexibility to synthesize new ones, basically merging lots of the acquainted Dragon Quest monsters into new creations. That is on high of the already massive variety of base monsters, lots of that are spiced variations of current creatures – such because the Coconut Slime, a extra tropical cousin of the enduring Slimes. In my case, I mixed a Bantamweight rooster monster with a Platypunk to create a Bullfinch monster, a brand new powered-up beast that helped add some energy to my celebration.
Sadly, one notable concern that got here up throughout previews was that some customers could be susceptible to movement illness whereas taking part in. Whereas I personally did not expertise this, some gamers in my session and others did not react nicely to the visible fashion of world exploration particularly. This visually attention-grabbing world map is offered as a stylized, rolling map that may look a bit disruptive to some. Luckily, the sport’s accessibility choices embody methods to ease movement illness by adjusting the digicam and visible results throughout exploration.
Thus far, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World is shaping up to be one other stable and charming entry within the sub-series. The monster-collecting fashion of RPG is a reasonably crowded market as of late, however Sq. Enix’s efforts to double down on the attraction and wholesomeness of Dragon Quest’s world are what make this sequence so distinctive and enjoyable to dive into. I had a blast with my restricted time with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World, and I can not wait to see what different oddities and bizarre creatures to uncover.
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Alessandro Fillari is a longtime video games media skilled. Discuss video video games with him on BlueSky at @afillari.bsky.social.