The new Dragon Quest spin-off, Treasures, has me hyped and counting down the days on my calendar. The game is releasing later this year, on December 9th, for the Nintendo Switch.
Why the hype for Dragon Quest Treasures? Because it’ll be an entirely new, fresh way to explore the Dragon Quest world! It’ll be combining elements from the other spin-off titles, like Monsters, with a heavy focus on exploration and adventure.
Just from the gameplay trailer, and the details I’ve gathered from the Official Website—the game is giving me serious Pokémon Legends: Arceus vibes… In the best way.
The game is coming off hot from the success of the newest mainline title, Dragon Quest XI, which I’ve also reviewed (the original version). Treasures follows one of the main characters, Erik, and his younger sister Mia.
The spin-off focuses on the pair during their younger days, before the grand adventure of saving the world in XI. When they’re children on a Viking ship, dreaming of a time when they can explore the world for treasures.
This dream one night comes to fruition, when they encounter the otherworldly creatures, Porcus and Purrsula. They’re whisked off to the mystical, magical lands of Draconia!
The game lets you control either sibling, and progression, as well as character development, is shared between the two. It’s currently unknown if there’ll be unique abilities tied to the characters.
It’ll feature a massive open world to explore, made up of several islands and environments with monsters freely roaming! This is where the similarities to Legends: Arceus start to show up.
The different biomes will house different monsters, which Erik and Mia can also communicate and co-operate with! You’ll be able to recruit monsters to join you on your adventures.
This makes sense, considering that Treasures was originally planned as a Dragon Quest Monsters title. It was announced years ago as a Monsters game—does anyone remember the original concept art released?
However, as the game kept on developing—the ideas driving the gameplay kept transforming. It hit a point where the developers thought it’d be better off to give it a brand-new title and start a new spin-off series.
Dragon Quest Treasures reveal was met with a warm reception, however, Monsters’ fans were unsurprisingly disappointed. Not with the game itself, just that it meant we’ll be waiting even longer for a new, proper creature-collection game.
However, Square Enix was quick to confirm that we’ll still be getting a new Dragon Quest Monsters title! So no need to be disappointed on that front.
The combat system also has me extremely excited. It looks like they’ve built off previous Dragon Quest titles, where you’ll battle wherever you encounter the enemy instead of taking you to a generic background.
You’ll also battle as either Erik or Mia alongside your monster friends! The visuals look absolutely gorgeous, and the user interface is clean. It has a very sharp and minimalistic style.
Akira Toriyama’s art shines through, too. His signature style is present in all the Dragon Quest games and media, and it really is timeless. I can’t wait to see how it transfers to the environments and the rest of the monster designs.
The heart of the gameplay loop is finding treasure. It’s what will motivate your characters, as you set out to find new treasure, appraise it, and keep it out of rival gang’s hands.
Even the treasure finding system is in line with the game’s themes. Using either Erik or Mia, you’ll be able to connect with your recruited monsters, and look through their eyes using an ability called Fortune Finder.
Each monster will also be unique in regards to their link with Fortune Finder and the treasure they can find. You’ll also be able to use the monsters to ride and traverse the world, as well as carry treasures back to your base!
Different treasures will have different conditions and values. The higher, the better obviously! This loot will help you grow your home base—which functions as a hub, and rank up your treasure hunting level!
Doesn’t Dragon Quest Treasures’ gameplay sound very Legends: Arceus-esque? Having a base hub, exploring open-world environments in a free-roam style, collecting monsters, and ranking up?
The real cherry on top—or blue slime in Dragon Quest’s case, is that you’ll also be able to discover rare, iconic treasures from other games in the series! This is a nice throwback and Easter Egg.
Hopefully, the game is a sweeping success! Other Dragon Quest spin-offs, like Builders have done incredibly well, and I don’t see a reason why Treasures shouldn’t. The open world, Breath of the Style-like focus on exploration has huge appeal and is all the rage.
I’m a massive Dragon Quest (and Akira Toriyama) fan. Even covering the 3D movie based on Dragon Quest V a few years ago! If you share the same excitement, I’d love to hear it.
You can stay up to date with all my articles on either Twitter or Subscribe to my weekly newsletter! Dragon Quest Treasures is releasing for Nintendo Switch on December 9th. Hopefully, we see a port to other platforms down the line, like PS5 and PC!
This doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility, as Builders and XI were later released on other platforms.