The confirmed list of games that are headed to Nintendo’s upcoming and highly mysterious new gaming platform, code-named ‘NX’, is steadily growing larger. Today, we got another official addition to the platform’s library, as Dragon Quest creator, Yuji Horii confirmed today that Square Enix will be proceeding ahead on an NX release for upcoming RPG sequel, Dragon Quest XI: In Search of Departed Time, which may or may not get a subtitle change for a potential (and likely) international release outside of Japan. Horii confirmed the news in a translated Japanese interview with Nintendo Dream.
Square Enix previously claimed that they were making Dragon Quest XI for NX back when the game was first announced at a Japanese press event last year, which also confirmed versions of the game for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo 3DS. They soon after retracted the claim and revised it to state that Dragon Quest XI was merely under consideration for NX, which was believed to be in response to Nintendo demanding that the announcement be retracted, as no games had been announced for NX at that point. Considering that it was brought up in the first place though, it seemed all but inevitable that Dragon Quest XI would have to be made for NX to preserve Square Enix’s reputation among RPG fans.
Dragon Quest XI has been confirmed to be an offline turn-based RPG, and will involve the series’ usual progression and battle system within a brand new story. The PlayStation 4 version of the game will be developed with Unreal Engine 4, and seems to be primarily being built with Western RPG fans in mind, while the Nintendo 3DS version, which seems to be designed mainly for Japanese gamers, will apparently come in two versions, according to Horii; A 3D version and a 2D version. The NX version’s details are obviously still very muddy at this point, though it’s believed that it will be close to the PlayStation 4 version in terms of power and visual fidelity. Horii has claimed that these four versions of the game will all be released simultaneously in Japan at least, since spoilers going around would be a big problem if one or more versions were delayed after others.
Dragon Quest XI is the sixth confirmed NX game, and the fourth confirmed third-party game. Square Enix is also bringing MMORPG offering, Dragon Quest X: Awakening of the Five Races Online to NX in Japan, though as with Dragon Quest XI, it’s only been confirmed for a Japanese release at this point, especially since none of Dragon Quest X’s many ports have released outside of Japan at all so far. Ubisoft confirmed at this past E3 that they are releasing a port of Just Dance 2017 for NX, which will almost certainly be a launch title, and Sega confirmed at last month’s San Diego Comic-Con that an NX version of next year’s all-new Sonic game from Sonic Team, scheduled for Holiday 2017, will release for NX alongside ports for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Nintendo themselves have confirmed two first-party games for NX so far, with the first being an NX version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which will also come to Wii U, and the second being a mysterious all-new Mario project, which they’ve teased a brand new concept for.
Keep adventuring to Eggplante for all major news and updates on Dragon Quest.