Dragon Quest XII is the star of the series' 40th Anniversary celebrations as much as it was for the 35th anniversary, but in a surprising capacity. The game originally known as The Flames of Fate, is no more, as development has been rebooted, fundamentally changing the next entry in the JRPG series by Square Enix.
During today's broadcast, series creator Yuji Horii and series executive producer Yosuke Saito confirmed that the new entry in the series will take longer to release than anticipated. Work on the original game hit several hurdles, and it was ultimately decided to start development from scratch. This was a major decision, but the development team believes it was the right one.
With development getting rebooted came a logo and subtitle change. Dragon Quest XII is now known as Beyond Dreams, a subtitle that's heavily tied to the new protagonist, who is beset by strange visions in his sleep. These visions, according to Horii-san, are only the beginning of a grand adventure and a bright future for the hero, suggesting that the darker tone the game was supposed to have has been set aside.
More importantly, Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams is set to be a landmark release for the series, as it will combine the classic character design from Akira Toriyama and music from Koichi Sugiyama, who both sadly passed away, with plenty of new features never seen before in the series.
In addition to revealing the rebooted Dragon Quest XII, the 40th anniversary broadcast confirmed a new spin-off game the team hopes to release before the new mainline entry in the series: Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World. Unfortunately, the teaser trailer did not show gameplay, but it did confirm the game is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and the original Nintendo Switch "soon."
As Dragon Quest XII is still far from release, we shouldn't expect a new look at the game to come soon. Still, it is good to finally see it in action for the first time and to know that development is now proceeding well after 5 years of almost complete silence.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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