On March 27, 2025, Square Enix made an appearance at the March 2025 Nintendo Direct to show off the first gameplay trailer for the upcoming Xbox JRPG, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake.
As the name suggests, it's a two-pack compilation featuring remakes of the first two entries of the Dragon Quest franchise, reimagined with gameplay improvements and a gorgeous HD-2D art style presentation as seen in Octopath Traveler and the Live A Live Remake, to name a few.
The gameplay trailer below shows off a sneak peek at the remakes' gameplay, with snippets from each game's story, and even a little hint of significant changes from the original games.
For those unaware, Dragon Quest I and II take place many years after the events of Dragon Quest III and form the latter half of what is known as the 'Erdrick Trilogy' as these games center around Erdrick, the main hero of Dragon Quest III, and their descendants.
Dragon Quest 1 has you play the role of an unnamed legendary hero tasked by the king of Alefgard to rescue his daughter from the evil Dragonlord and save the kingdom from its wrath.
Meanwhile, Dragon Quest 2 has you play as the Prince of Midenhall, who embarks on a quest along with his two cousins to stop the evil sorcerer Hargon from conquering the world.
The original Dragon Quest 1 and 2 released back in the 1980s were considered legendary games for their time as they helped set the standard for how turn-based JRPGs would play on home consoles for generations to come.
Judging from this gameplay trailer, Dragon Quest I and II's gameplay and stories are looking to remain mostly intact in the HD-2D remakes.
I say 'mostly' because, at the end of the trailer, we get a glimpse of a young girl in a yellow dress that's implied to be a new party member for Dragon Quest II.
This is interesting because the original Dragon Quest II only had three party members for the entire game, but in the HD-2D remake, we're apparently getting new ones now, not just three.
Could this imply that we may be seeing some new gameplay additions for the Dragon Quest I HD-2D Remake? Will the hero of Dragon Quest I finally have party members join his quest, unlike the original Dragon Quest, where you didn't get any extra party members at all aside from the main protagonist?
We will have to wait and see as this upcoming Xbox title/upcoming PC title is set to release later this year on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo, and PC via Windows and Steam.
I loved all the gameplay enhancements and changes in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake when I reviewed it so I can't wait to see how Square Enix will reimagine the first two titles of this legendary franchise for the modern era.
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