I’ve been enjoying the Dragon Quest games and their various spin-offs for a very long time, but it wasn’t until the recent HD-2D remakes that I first made my way through to the credits. Thanks to snappy battle speed options these once rather slow games now fly by, allowing those used to modern games to enjoy the traditional JRPG combat and immaculate vibes of the series. For the latest remake though we’re jumping forward in time, and stepping into the third dimension. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined brings this particularly massive entry kicking and screaming into 2026, but can it keep up with its siblings?
In Dragon Quest VII you play as the son of a fisherman, who lives in a tiny coastal town on a tiny island. Nobody has ever seen another island out on the waves, and you and your royal buddy Kiefer want to change that. With a youthful lust for adventure the two of you set out to uncover the secret of the ancient ruins nearby, and end up teleporting to another world with your childhood friend Maribel. In this new world trouble is brewing, and you’d better believe the gang are more than happy to help.
There’s a really unique structure to Dragon Quest VII, where you gather stone pieces to unlock portals to new islands, adventure through these new worlds, and then see them appear magically near your island home. Each island features its own self-contained story, from the kingdom under peril due to aggressive mechs to the village inhabited solely by animals. Almost all these mini stories are seriously compelling, and when you save the day and bring these land masses back to your world you’ll get to see what happened hundreds of years later as the flow of time is seriously messed up. It becomes clear fairly quickly that there’s a dark force that has sealed away all these different continents, and who better to send it packing than our heroes.
As you’d probably expect from the series, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined features a whole lot of turn-based combat. The battles you have with various slimes and ogres are incredibly traditional, with basic attacks, skills and spells at your disposal. Seasoned Dragon Quest veterans will have all the usual options at their disposal, from spells like Sizz and Bang to boomerangs and whips to hit foes with. Thanks to the battle speed it’s very unusual for the fights to outstay their welcome, and there’s almost a coziness to the familiarity of everything.
There are a few shiny new elements to take into account when fighting though, like that your characters get “worked up”. This happens naturally as you deal and take damage, and once you’re sufficiently pumped you can “Let Loose” to unleash a powerful effect based on your vocation. By default the hero casts a spell that negates all damage from one attack for each party member, Kiefer sacrifices defence to deal massive damage and hit more crits for a few turns, and Maribel causes super effective elemental damage no matter what spells she uses. These ultimate abilities feel great to use, and will often seriously turn the tide of battle.
Your vocation doesn’t just grant you these ultimate attacks though, it’s also how you learn new skills. Much like experience you’ll gain vocation points after every fight, and when you level up a vocation you’ll learn a new spell or skill. Eventually you’ll gain the ability to switch vocations to learn even more moves to use in combat, and can Moonlight another vocation to keep its skills. There’s a nice amount of customisation across the party thanks to this, and I had a lot of fun experimenting.
Despite a few different mechanics to play around with, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is still an old school Dragon Quest adventure at heart. You’ll see all those familiar foes from entries past, collect mini medals, and hear jingles that give you goosebumps thanks to decades of nostalgia. Like all the other recent remakes, Dragon Quest VII feels like those comfy pyjamas you put on after a long day. No other RPG series is even close to this comforting.
Despite this lovely sense of familiarity, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is in fact still a remake that changes some things up. The new 3D visuals have that Akira Toriyama style, albeit in more of an adorable chibi style. You also no longer have to deal with random encounters, with enemies instead showing up in the overworld. You can even attack them first to deal a little damage before combat starts, and if you’re a high enough level they’ll die instantly saving you some time.
I had a lovely time filling in another hole in my Dragon Quest knowledge with VII Reimagined, but it does have some issues that hold it back somewhat. The opening of the game is glacially slow, with practically no combat for a couple of hours. It also takes so long to unlock the ability to change vocations. I’d maxed out all of my starting classes about five hours into the game, and it takes double that to gain access to the place where you can change them. It makes a lot of the early game feel a bit pointless, especially because the difficulty takes a while to ramp up alongside this. The visuals won’t appeal to everyone either, and even I have to admit they pale in comparison to the recent HD-2D games.
Although not my favourite recent remake of this storied series, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is an undeniably cozy and nostalgic RPG experience. The setup of multiple mini stories is very compelling, and the combat is both entertaining and snappy. The pacing especially early on does have some issues, but when there’s dozens and dozens of hours of greatness to follow it’s hard to really complain about.
