Dragon Quest Builders 2

Spinoff games
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Developer(s)	Koei Tecmo
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Designer(s)	Kazuya Niinou
Artist(s)	Marina Ayano Kittaka; Yoshikazu Takenouchi
Composer(s)	Kōichi Sugiyama
Series	Dragon Quest
Platform(s)	PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
Release date(s)	Switch, PS4; JP December 20, 2018; NA July 12th, 2019; EU July 12th, 2019; Steam; INT December 10, 2019; Xbox One, WIndows 10, Gamepass; INT May 4th, 2021;
Genre(s)	Console role-playing game
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone 10+

Dragon Quest Builders 2 ((ドラゴンクエストビルダーズ２　破壊神シドーとからっぽの島), Doragon Kuesuto Birudaazu Tsuu Hakaishin Shidou to Karappo no Shima, lit. Dragon Quest Builders 2: Destruction God Shidou and the Empty Isle) is the sequel to the 2016 sandbox game Dragon Quest Builders. It was announced at the summer 2017 Dragon Quest festival, along with a brief preview video and a few small details addressed by Yuji Horii.

Builders 2 was released for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows via Steam in years 2018 (Japan) and 2019. Among the Windows ports of the Dragon Quest series, Builders 2 is the fourth release, and the first to fully support Japanese.^[1] In May 2021, the game was released on Xbox One, Windows 10, and Gamepass.

Setting[edit]

Unlike the first game, which takes place in an alternate timeline of the original Dragon Quest, this installment takes place following the events of Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line in which the remnants of the Children of Hargon are attempting to make a comeback after their leader's death by kidnapping and destroying builders. The player takes control of an abducted Builder who escapes the cult's ship in the midst of a torrential storm, and washes up on a desert island alongside a fellow abductee named Lulu and a mysterious boy named Malroth. It is up to the player and Malroth to survive on the island until rescue arrives.

Plot[edit]

Upon waking in the Isle of Awakening after the shipwreck seen in the tutorial, the Builder meets Lulu and Malroth. After building a room for the group to sleep in and cooking some food, the gang goes to bed. Next morning, they meet the mysterous Hairy Hermit, a ghastly Hammerhood who owns the island. He decides to gift it to the Builder, who must seek ways to restore the island to it's former glory.

The Builder and Malroth then travels to Furrowfields to seek someone who can help the duo revitalize the island. There they will meet a lively cast of characters and have their first encounter with the evil Children of Hargon, who hate building and seek to destroy everything.

Characters[edit]

New features and changes[edit]

Builders 2 introduces and changes many things from the first title, here is a list of some of them but there are more:

The stack-able block limit has been increased by three, making the maximum 64.
Cooking and forging ingots now takes real time. Each recipe has a different required cooking time.
Doing certain things unlocks unlimited materials when crafting. These unlimited materials can be unlocked by finding every listed material in each Explorer's Shore.
- Explorer's Shores are special islands that generate procedurally each time the Builder visits them. Each has different types of materials, blocks, enemies and items.
The Builder's Best: A late Dragon Quest Builders contest held in Japan rewarded the top 100 winners with their creations being immortalized in Builders 2. Each Builder's Best can appear in an Explorer's Shore with a fitting environment.
Slopes are now built into the game's physics engine. There are three kinds, all available with the chisel tool.
The new trowel tool allows players to replace blocks easily, every kind of block!
Improved water mechanics now allow liquids to be placed anywhere the builder wants. Underwater exploration is possible, and so is making waterfalls.
- There are 7 liquid types: Water, Sea Water, Mud Water, Hot Water, Poison, Lava, and Plasma.
More and improved cosmetic options.
Weapons and hammers are now assigned to separate buttons and no longer break after repeated use.
The ability to dash has been added.
The free build area in the game, the Isle of Awakening, has optional sidequests such as creating a certain amount of forest, creating certain room combinations or more.
- Finishing these optional sidequests awards the player with minimedals and new tools.
- The main story islands contain optional puzzles that also give minimedals.
- Reaching a certain number of targets completed unlocks new hairstyles.
- Finishing them all unlocks the Buildnoculars, a tool that allows builders to build from afar.
Farms can be tilled with the help of a friendly Wiggly, who aerates infertile blocks for cultivation. Farms can be assigned to any area by placing a scarecrow down.
Players may now glide from high elevation via the Windbreaker cape. While gliding, it's possible to perform an aerial attack that boosts the player up and then plummels down for greater damage.
Vehicular transportation is possible with the Buggy-buggy, a car designed after an Army ant. It can also fly.
The player can warp to certain parts of the islands, like the harbor, the base city, or the mountaintop in the Isle of Awakening. The wrap spots are fixed, with two exceptions: the Builder's Best and the Buggy-buggy. The Builder's Best, since it's randomly generated on an Explorer's Shore upon reaching it, changes location each time the player goes to that Explorer's Shore. The Buggy-buggy serves as a warp spot, but the player can place it wherever they want.
Multiplayer has been implemented to allow up to four players, all on the same platform. There is no real crossplay multiplayer.
Island and photo sharing have been implemented. Uploading an island to the noticeboard removes the crossplay limitation, meaning anyone can visit a copy of your island regardless of their platform of choice.
- Photo contests are held each month, with a different theme each time. Winners recieve a special trophy unobtainable via other means.
Animals are present for villages. There are 5 types: Dogs, cats, chicken, cows and sheep. The later three produce materials.
The new magneblocks allow block movement and open up the decoration possibilities with their transformation option.

Trivia[edit]

The sword used for the letter T in quest has been replaced with a wooden mallet, signifying the focus on building rather than combat.
This is the final DQ game released in the Heisei era of Japanese history.
In the English localization, the bo'sun of the tutorial ship the player explores in the beginning makes a reference to Lucasarts' The Secret of Monkey Island by stating that the Builder "fights like a cow's cadaver".