In 1997, I used my brother’s PlayStation to boot up Final Fantasy 7, and my life was forever changed. It launched me into a campaign of devouring every single RPG I could get my hands on — all of those games were an escape from the troubles of my childhood. Now, Dragon Quest 3’s remake is one of the starkest reminders I’ve found of why I fell in love with games to begin with — a dazzling return to a world filled with wonder and childlike innocence; something people might just need right now.
It’s not hyperbolic to say that Dragon Quest 3 is one of the most important video games ever made. It was utterly foundational for the very idea of what we see as role-playing games — the “hero’s” quest, an overworld map to explore, the introduction of class and job systems, and a day/night cycle. It’s a game that quite literally wrote the blueprint and now, nearly 35 years later, things have come full circle. Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is a dazzling re-creation of the RPG that keeps the “classic” heart of the game intact while making some smart modernizations to help newcomers. There are a few places where it feels like Square Enix could have gone a bit further, but just like the original was a blueprint for RPGs at large, this feels like it could be a blueprint on how to remake them.
The Hero’s Journey
Dragon Quest 3 takes place in a medieval fantasy world, opening with the quaint and idyllic castle town of Aliahan. A fiend named Baramos threatens the safety of everyone and everything, and you set out from Aliahan as the son or daughter of the legendary hero Ortega, destined to follow in your father’s footsteps of saving the world. Yes, Dragon Quest 3 has a simple story, but after three decades, it feels almost charmingly nostalgic. We’ve seen the chosen hero story played out in so many forms and fashion, but getting back the rawest form of that story feels like a warm reminder of why it works so well in the first place.
If you’ve played any Dragon Quest game, or even another turn-based RPG, you likely know what to expect. You travel the world, fight a ton of monsters, dive into dungeons, and outfit your party with the best equipment possible. Dragon Quest 3 is “simple” in some regards, but that simplicity is actually a vital piece of the game’s brilliance.
More than anything, this remake enhances the Dragon Quest world’s whimsy and escapism. Whereas Final Fantasy focuses on rich character storytelling, Dragon Quest has always been more about the world itself, the act of exploring and learning about it. The most obvious change with this remake is the graphical style, completely updating the game in a luscious HD-2D style. As someone who’s consumed every HD-2D game buffet-style, I’m not afraid to say this is Square Enix’s absolute best one yet in terms of visuals.
Every single town, dungeon, and character is rendered with an immense amount of care and detail. The style still evokes the nostalgia of the original game but is enhanced through lavish little details — your lantern illuminates the area around you with a warming glow, a babbling river flows through a town, and fireflies lazily float out of the overworld’s forests at night.
Everything about Dragon Quest 3’s world has been blown up on a bit larger of a scale, including the overworld map. It makes the game feel grander than the original, and more of a journey. Another important aspect of Dragon Quest is its sense of humor, which is entirely intact here. You meet a wide array of bizarre characters across your journey, and part of the fun is seeing who might be lying in the next town — from a group of Robin Hood-esque pirates to a town made up of ghosts that only appear at night. There’s so much personality and variety packed into Dragon Quest 3’s world that the act of exploring it is where the story really lies.
Dragon Quest 3 has always been an experience built on exploration. The game doesn’t tell you what to do. You need to find villages and characters, talk to NPCs, and figure out what you’re supposed to do yourself. But a superbly smart change has been implemented for anyone who might want a little more guidance. You can now toggle on an option to outline the next objectives, giving you a rough idea of where you need to go and who you need to talk to. If you want the entire “classic” exploration-based experience intact, of course, you can simply turn the option off. It’s an incredibly clever move that makes Dragon Quest 3 feel more in line with what modern players might expect, but still provides accessibility options for anyone who wants them.
Two Steps Forward
From a gameplay standpoint, Dragon Quest 3’s remake doesn’t do anything incredibly new, but rather refines the core structure a bit. The turn-based combat remains virtually unchanged outside of the visual upgrade, however, there are now options to increase the combat speed — an absolute godsend in longer dungeons.
But a few of the systems around combat have received some major updates. The class system returns and it’s just as interesting as before. In games like Final Fantasy, you can swap jobs at will, but in Dragon Quest 3 you can only swap classes once you reach level 20, and it resets your character's level while retaining half of their stat points and all abilities. This means you need to be much more strategic in the party you build, and what classes you’re using.
To that end, the remake has added an entirely new Monster Wrangler class to complement the enhanced Monster Arena and recruitment systems. As you travel around the world, you can find specific monsters hiding in spots in towns, dungeons, and the overworld. These monsters can be recruited and then used in the Monster Arena, a robust feature that lets you put together a party of monsters to go through tournaments and win prizes. Finding multiples of the same monsters lets you level them up, and then in turn these monsters can be used to enhance the Monster Tamer class.
Everything about the monster systems now feels like a fully fleshed-out subgame within Dragon Quest 3, instead of the small minigame it was in the original. There’s a ton of depth to both the new class and the Monster Arena, providing a fantastic distraction to keep up with alongside your adventuring in the main game.
There are a handful of other new touches that really help enhance Dragon Quest 3, making it feel fresh. When you recruit new party members at the tavern, you can now customize their look. New story segments help flesh out the story of your father Ortega, voice acting adds even more whimsy to the quirky world, and the new orchestral soundtrack is beautiful.
The array of changes really helps make Dragon Quest 3 feel more modern, even while its core design is inherently nostalgic. There are a few quibbles I have with the game — I wish I could adjust the frequency of random battles as I could in Bravely Default, I wish the item management was a little more intuitive, and I wish the ship you get could move faster. But these are all such minor complaints that pale in comparison to everything this remake achieves.
To the Past, and the Future
With Dragon Quest 3, it really feels like Square Enix has cemented itself as the king of remakes and remasters. From Final Fantasy 7 Remake, to Star Ocean 2, and now this — Square Enix has consistently shown why remakes can be meaningful and the role they play in the larger ecosystem of video games. Dragon Quest 3 isn’t just a rehash of a tremendously influential RPG, it’s a chance to really reinforce why this game was so important in the first place. That creates a bridge for new fans to get into the wide world of Dragon Quest while honoring the lasting legacy this game has left.
But more than anything, it’s proof of why this franchise has endured for decades — Dragon Quest 3 is a chance to step into an enrapturing fantasy world where fears and worries melt away, and where the hero really does save the day. Good prevailing over evil is a simple joy, and that’s the beauty of it.
9/10
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake launches on November 14 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Inverse reviewed the Nintendo Switch version.
INVERSE VIDEO GAME REVIEW ETHOS: Every Inverse video game review answers two questions: Is this game worth your time? Are you getting what you pay for? We have no tolerance for endless fetch quests, clunky mechanics, or bugs that dilute the experience. We care deeply about a game’s design, world-building, character arcs, and storytelling come together. Inverse will never punch down, but we aren’t afraid to punch up. We love magic and science-fiction in equal measure, and as much as we love experiencing rich stories and worlds through games, we won’t ignore the real-world context in which those games are made.
