Three years ago, Square Enix announced the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake, and remained completely silent about the project — until now. In a new teaser clip on social media, coinciding with the series’ anniversary, Square Enix simply says “The legend of Erdrick draws near.” That indicates an update on the game’s release is very close, but even more interestingly, the post’s lack of details has fans speculating on a wild theory. Backed up by a prominent leaker, it’s looking increasingly likely that Dragon Quest 3 could actually be a trilogy.
If you’re unfamiliar with the first three Dragon Quest games, while they’re all standalone titles, they have connective elements that make them the “Erdrick Saga.” The very first Dragon Quest told the story of a descendant of the legendary hero Erdrick, with a lot of what the player does following in the figure’s footsteps. Dragon Quest 2 built on that with three descendants of Erdrick, but Dragon Quest 3 really put a twist on things by being a prequel and actually having you play as the hero that would become known as Erdrick. This creates a continuous story in the trilogy, with each game fleshing out a part of the overall plot.
That leads us to the Dragon Quest 3 remake. Upon its initial announcement, some wondered why Square Enix would pick the third game and not the first Dragon Quest, or if it meant the company had plans for the others. The series has multiple other trilogies, but the first three games are by far the most connected, and would make the most sense to put them together into one game.
Square made an interesting choice not mentioning Dragon Quest 3 specifically anywhere in the teaser, especially pairing that with Erdrick’s emblem and a “The legacy begins” tagline. Even the logo at the top left is the more general Dragon Quest logo used for the series at large. All this has led to rampant fan speculation that a trilogy is in store.
This theory is given more credence from comments made by the prominent leaker Midori, mostly known for talking about Sega and Nintendo projects. In a thread on X (formerly Twitter) Midori says they’ve heard Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D will be displayed at the next Nintendo Direct, and they believe it is now the “Loto trilogy,” which is what the Erdrick trilogy is known as in Japan. Midori has a proven track record for revealing game updates, as they leaked the existence of Persona 3 Reload and its The Answer DLC before their official announcements.
Considering it's been three years since the initial announcement, it’s hard to say if this remake project was always planned to be a trilogy, or if things changed during development. Nintendo has confirmed it’s holding a virtual Direct showcase sometime in June 2024, so it’s looking absolutely certain we’ll have the answers to these questions before long.
