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 compared 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. A demo that covers up to the conclusion of the Ballymolloy scenario was released on January 7th, 2026.

New features

Presentation changes

• Characters are displayed in a handcrafted artstyle and the environments are presented as dioramas, not unlike Square-Enix's Fantasian
• The proportionate size of characters in relation to the environments has been returned to the original PlayStation scale, compared to the compressed 3DS version
• A character's weapon and shield are now displayed in battle similar to Dragon Quest VIII and Dragon Quest XI
• Characters can equip alternate outfits similar to Dragon Quest XI S.

Character changes

• The Caretaker has more personality and a defined backstory, no longer being just a means to simplify the Shrine of Mysteries
• Pollock now has light brown hair instead of black
• Pike stockpiles water from Rainbow Cove to sell to his marks, terminating the infamous empty bottle problem from the original
• The story of the present-day Roamers has been altered so that Aishe joins the party much sooner than in past versions, before Sir Mervyn
• Barbatoses and fandangows now have their usual appearance, compared to both prior versions of the games where the former monster was flesh colored and the latter monster was blue colored.

Scenario changes

• The Castle Estard bank has been replaced with a mini medal exchange, granting players access to prizes much sooner
• The process of opening the Shrine of Mysteries has been altered considerably:

• Kiefer has filched the sizzling stone off of Pike and brought a tablet fragment with him, using both on the statue after his late mother's ring doesn't work, saving the player the trouble of walking back and forth across Estard to acquire them
• A voice speaks through the statue and instructs the Hero and Kiefer to complete puzzles hidden through the island to obtain three fragment shards in order to be granted access to the shrine. Eventually, the voice that instructed them through the statue is revealed to be The Caretaker when Auster and Kiefer finally gain access to the Shrine of Mysteries.
• Dermot the hermit has locked the way to one of these puzzles after being unable to complete it in his youth

• Beyond the opening 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
• The player also has more agency within a given island scenario than before. For example the player's decisions influence the strength of the boss sealing Ballymolloy and the ending of that adventure can be slightly altered
• The Rainbow Cove is now accessible from the overworld, instead of needing to enter through the Shrine of Mysteries
• Fragment locations have been changed and a checklist has been added to the system menu to keep track of them
• New boss battles added such as Florin's new monster form
• New scenarios that elaborate on the Hero and Maribel's childhood have been added
• New scenario featuring an older Kiefer has 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
• The fog over Vogograd at Mount Gora by Gasputin is now generated by hammerhoods instead of forky pigs

Cut content

• The woodcutter and his cabin east of Pilchard Bay have been removed
• 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, though the prizes originally acquired through these sidequests have been retained and are available through other methods. Bonus equipment that was added in the Nintendo 3DS remake is also retained
• 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
• The player can now attack monsters outside of battle for minor damage and even one-shot weaklings, similar to Nintendo's Paper Mario

• Monsters defeated this way can still drop their items as normal

• Characters now have their actions selected individually once their turn comes up as in Dragon Quest XI, instead of the party's actions being selected together at the start of a turn
• New spells have been added, such as the Crag, Deceleratle, Frizz Cracker, Kerfrizz, & Moreheal spells, and fourth-tier attack spells such as Kaswooshle
• The Woosh-family of spells now target random foes instead of a single group. The range increases by tier, such as Woosh hitting 2~3 foes & Swoosh hitting 2~4
• New skills have been added, such as Clap Trap, Hip Drop, Hymn of Light, and Kiss Me Deadly
• 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

Vocation changes

• Vocation advancement is no longer based on the number of battles fought while in a given profession, instead using a secondary experience point system where stronger enemies award more points than weaker ones
• New exclusive starter vocations have been added for every character to increase their ability repertoire in the early portions of the game before accessing Alltrades Abbey

• For example Ruff starts in the Wolf Boy (オオカミ少年) vocation and Aishe begins as Destiny's Dancer

• Characters can now take up two vocations simultaneously in a featured dubbed moonlighting
• All vocations now feature exclusive perk 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
• All spells and skills learned through a vocation are now tied to that vocation, meaning for instance that a Pirate will not be able to perform the Flying Knee skill unless the character is also moonlighting as a Martial Artist. This restriction is stricter than that found in the Nintendo 3DS remake, in which all abilities learned through beginner-grade vocations were permanently available to a character, but it also adds another layer of strategy in assigning vocations and reduces the overabundance of techniques that cluttered a character's command menu in past versions of the game

• The Hero's exclusive spells, The Great Leveller and The Greater Leveller, are permanently tied to him regardless of his vocation

• Monster vocations have been removed and monster hearts have become a new type of accessory that grant monster-themed traits 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
• Characters can change vocations on the fly after being given the career sphere by High Priestess Jacqueline, which is automatically assigned to a shortcut button. Using it will allow Jacqueline to telepathically change a character's vocation, and in the present her descendant Jacqui will handle the duties

Miscellaneous changes

• You can pet the cats and dogs by interacting with them, in keeping with the Hero's kindly nature.
• Zoom now functions as it does in the HD-2D remakes of the Erdrick Trilogy, allowing the player to fly to shrines and dungeons as well as towns and castles. It can now be used in the past as well, though the player cannot travel outside of an island's scenario

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 six main characters, with the developers dubbing this approach the "diorama style". These figurines were created by Studio Nova, a celebrated atelier company founded in 1970, and the studio's work was then used as the template to base the secondary characters and monsters on. 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.

Trivia

• The game's opening cinematic features a panning shot of the Hero, Maribel, & Kiefer resting on the steps leading to the Shrine of Mysteries. As the camera pans to Kiefer it lingers on him flicking a seed or nut into his mouth, a cheeky reference to his reputation as a "seed thief" (種泥棒) among fans

Gallery

Promotional images

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

  Maribel's day off dress, available through the demo

• 

  Game Informer cover art

• 

  Tokyo Game Show 2025 photo stand, featuring the Dragonlord

• 

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

• 

  A wider shot with the entire cast

• 

  A close up of the Maribel doll

• 
• 

  Studio Nova announcing its involvement with the game

• 

  TGS 2025 poster ad revealing several newly added monsters

• 

  Jump Festa 2026 booth

• 

  Collaboration art by Final Fantasy illustrator Tetsuya Nomura

• 

  Promotional art by the Warriors of Eden author Fujiwara Kamui.

• 

  Yuji Horii and Yoshinori Kitase in a Famitsu interview

Characters

• 

  The Hero

• 

  Prince Kiefer

• 

  Adult Kiefer

• 

  Maribel Mayde

• 

  Ruff and his adoptive mother

• 

  Aishe

• 

  Sir Mervyn

• 

  The Caretaker

Promotional events

SHIPS

On January 27th 2026 the Japanese fashion label SHIPS announced that it would be producing merchandise for a collaboration with VII Reimagined. The centerpiece is a navy blue slime plush, serendipitously celebrating the nautical theme shared between the company and game.

• 
• 

  Collab window display

• 

  King slime photo booth

• 
• 
• 
• 

ZONe ENERGY

On January 28th, 2026 ZONe ENERGY announced it would be producing limited edition cans of its chief energy drink flavors to coincided with the release of VII Reimagined, including one based on a metal slime.

• 
• 
• 

Kameda persimmon seeds

The Kakinotane company announced a collaboration with the game on January 30th, 2026, in which its persimmon seeds would be sold as seeds of strength and seeds of agility. Humorously, the social media for the promotion advises against wasting any on Kiefer.

• 
• 

Shinagawa station

From Febuary 2nd through the sixteenth, Shinagawa station hosted a display case containing the dolls created for the six main characters. Several trains were also decorated to advertise the game

• 

  A rendering of the display case at the station

• 

  A train compartment decorated with VII Reimagined branding

External links

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