Dragon Quest VII Reimagined

Main series games Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Developer(s) Hexadrive Co., Ltd Publisher(s) Square Enix Designer(s) Yuji Horii Series Dragon Quest Platform(s) Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam Release date(s) Nintendo Switch
^INT Febuary 5, 2026
PlayStation 5
^INT Febuary 5, 2026
Xbox Series X/S
^INT Febuary 5, 2026
Steam
^INT Febuary 5, 2026
Genre(s) Console role-playing Mode(s) Single-player

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is the second remake of Dragon Quest VII, announced on September 12th 2025. Unlike the Nintendo 3DS remake released in 2013 that implemented modest balance adjustments to the original, Reimagined is a total reworking of the adventure that changes several elements to provide a different experience. Certain aspects that were added in the Nintendo 3DS remake have been retained, such as Ruff riding on the back of his adoptive mother and the unnamed Faerie guide dwelling in the Shrine of Mysteries, newly dubbed The Caretaker.

New features

Presentation changes

• Characters are displayed in a handcrafted artstyle and the environments are presented as dioramas, not unlike Square-Enix's Fantasian
• Weapons and shields are now displayed in battle similar to Dragon Quest VIII

Scenario changes

• The game is considerably more non-linear than before, allowing players to tackle the problems of the past in nearly any order provided the requisite tablet fragments have been found
• Fragment locations have been changed
• New scenarios that elaborate on the Hero and Maribel's childhood have been added
• A battle arena has been added, with one section including the three archfiends from the Erdrick Trilogy
• Several new monsters have been added to the game's bestiary in addition to the three archfiends, ranging from common enemies such as slimecicles and toadies to boss characters such as Atlas, Robbin' 'Ood, and even Xenlon

Cut content

• The El Ciclo, Gröndal, & Providence scenarios have been removed
• The casinos, the Excellence Grading Organisation, the Immigrant Town, and Monster Meadows sidequests have been removed
• The vocation uniforms seen in the 3DS version have been removed, with characters retaining their default appearance as in the PSX original

Battle changes

• All five heroes can now travel together, with the fifth being a backup character to be swapped in at will during battle
• Just like the 3DS remake, random encounters have been replaced with on-screen monsters
• Weakling monsters are instantly defeated upon making contact with the player, similar to Nintendo's EarthBound
• Vocation advancement is no longer based on the number of battles fought while in a given profession, instead using a secondary experience point system
• New exclusive starter vocations have been added for every character to increase their ability repertoire in the early game before accessing Alltrades Abbey

• For example Ruff starts in the "wolf child" (オオカミ少年) vocation

• Characters can now take up two vocations simultaneously in a featured dubbed moonlighting
• All vocations now feature exclusive abilities that trigger when a character is thoroughly worked up in battle and selects the Let Loose command, ranging from powerful attacks to life-saving buffs
• Monster vocations have been removed and monster hearts have become a new type of accessory to be equipped to characters, similar to the Monster Battle Road badges in Dragon Quest X and medals in Dragon Quest Treasures
• The Monster Master vocation replaces the Monster Masher vocation
• New spells and skills have been added, such as the Frizz Cracker and Moreheal spells, and fourth-tier attack spells such as Kaswooshle
• Certain abilities have had their MP cost rebalanced, such as Maelstrom taking 16 MP instead of 12
• The Charm, Deftness, Magical Mending, and Magical Might stats have been added

• As a result the Style and Wisdom stats have been removed

• Shields have a chance to block 100% of a physical attack's damage as in Dragon Quest IX, Dragon Quest X, and Dragon Quest XI

Miscellaneous changes

• Characters can change vocations on the fly after being given a special orb by High Priestess Jacqueline, which is automatically assigned to a shortcut button

Development

In a brief video published on the day of the game's announcement, producer Takeshi Ichikawa states that the subtitled of "Reimagined" was chosen as the game changed so much of the original's content. The narrative has been reworked extensively, with new scenarios being added while others were removed to improve the original game's infamous pacing. Yuji Horii notes that searching for fragments is much easier than before. Real-life figurines were scanned to create the in-game models for the characters and monsters, with the developers dubbing this approach the "diorama style". These figurines were created by Studio Nova, a celebrated atelier company founded in 1970. A panel previewing the game was held on September 26th 2025 for the Tokyo Game Show, and live-streamed on youtube. During the panel Horii announced which scenarios and features from past versions of the game would be cut for this remake, in addition to showing footage exploring Aeolus Vale.

Gallery

Promotional images

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  Tokyo Game Show 2025 photo stand, featuring the Dragonlord

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  TGS 2025 display case housing the dolls used to create the main cast

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  A wider shot with the entire cast

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  A close up of the Maribel doll

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  Studio Nova announcing its involvement with the game

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  TGS 2025 poster ad revealing several newly added monsters

Characters

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  The Hero

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  Prince Kiefer

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  Maribel Mayde

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  Ruff and his adoptive mother

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  Aishe

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  Sir Mervyn

External links

• Official Japanese site
• English press release
• Developer interview with English subtitles