Key Takeaways
- Absolutely nails the task of remaking a classic with stunning visuals and balanced gameplay.
- The soundtrack is a fantasy, and new additions breathe new life into the well-played world.
- Sluggish combat requires speed-up options, but rewards patience and strategy otherwise.
Dragon Quest has been a big part of my life for a very long time. I’m old enough to still slip up and call it Dragon Warrior. I’ve played as many Dragon Quest games as I’ve been able to get my hands on, from fan-translated Monsters titles to that one weird Wii exclusive where everyone is named after swords. No matter what I play, though, Dragon Quest 3 has always remained my favourite. So when the HD-2D remake was announced, to say I was excited was an understatement.
I was right to anticipate it. Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is a true love letter, a reverential blessing to a classic highly deserving of such an epithet. There’s an impressive level of care poured into each aspect of the game – with its updated graphics being the most striking, followed by the gorgeous orchestral OST, but veterans will be absolutely floored by the enhancements attributed to combat balance, experience scaling, and bringing life, scale, and wonder to once archaic environments.
Humble Origins
Breaking things down to their bare essentials, DQ3 isn’t all that impressive by today’s standards. It has a simple excuse for a plot following a speechless hero being sent out on a quest to defeat a great evil, taking a party of generic, also-speechless warriors with them. Travelling the world has you picking up items to unlock new areas and modes of transportation, grinding for levels, and searching for important plot coupons. Narratively, it pales in comparison to everything we’ve played in the series since the original first launched in 1988.
This isn’t a dealbreaker, though. What DQ3 has is a taste of the olden days, a sleek simplicity that compels you to play even without pathos or ethos sinking their claws into you. It’s a good old-fashioned hero’s journey, propped up by the clink clink swoosh crack of random encounters, quirky NPCs with regional accents, and sound effects that remain essentially unchanged even after more than 35 years.
A Whole New World
This is before mentioning the new content, which breathes wondrous new life into proceedings. Monster Wrangling is something I’ve written about before, a new collectathon that forces you to smell the roses and explore the gorgeously crafted environments made possible by modern HD-2D technology. The new Monster Wrangler class is a joy to play, the arena battles are fun enough to keep you distracted whenever they show up, and the effort put into giving you more items and equipment to play with is admirable.
The expanded and entirely new quests are also a vastly great addition to the game. I don’t wish to spoil any of them, but they do a wonderful job at bringing DQ3 to new heights and make me even more excited for the DQ and DQ2 remakes coming next year.
A minor gripe I have is with combat. A brilliant quality-of-life feature that brings DQ3 into the modern age is variable combat speeds, but combat is so painfully sluggish that it all but necessitates the use of a higher speed. This, in turn, makes battles slightly tricky to follow if you take your eyes off the action for even a moment, and you have little chance of enjoying the animations or sound effects that are so archetypal of Dragon Quest. It might sound like a minor quibble, but when the main gameplay element is turn-based combat marred by imperfection, it adds up to frustration with what is a long yet otherwise stellar adventure.
Thankfully, the meat of combat itself is as compelling as ever. Encounter rates are balanced enough to make long journeys satisfying to complete without being too annoying (with few exceptions – the pyramid curse gauntlet is worse than ever now), and bosses are legitimate challenges that have you feeling truly victorious. Becoming stronger is a satisfyingly gradual process that rewards, if not necessitates, taking your time and not ignoring random encounters. It’s not a game that forces you into a box; it allows you to succeed on the back of your homegrown strategies, as long as you’re willing to put the work in to make them succeed.
During the review period, this was my before-bed game, played on a Steam Deck, and it sent me to sleep with the sweetest of dreams.
It is joy distilled for those of us who grew up in a certain era
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is a triumph – an absolute must-play for anyone who appreciates timeless design, stunning visuals, and the type of game that rewards both patience and strategy. It is joy distilled for those of us who grew up in a certain era and a wonderful glimpse into the past for those lucky youngsters who did not. It delivers on its promise to take stewardship of the classics and makes me thrilled that this is the pedigree we can expect from Square Enix going forward.
Played on PC and Steam Deck
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is the long-promised return of the iconic third installment in the Dragon Quest series. The game that takes place first chronologically, hence it getting the remake treatment before the two games that came before it in terms of release.
- Released
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November 14, 2024
- Absolutely nails the task of remaking a classic
- The soundtrack is a fantasy
- New additions breathe new life into a world well-played
- Sluggish combat forces you to use uncanny speed-up options
- Doesn?t hold up narratively against other modern RPGs
- Good old-fashioned annoying random encounters. NB: not necessarily a con