Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake might divide retro and modern RPG fans

This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

After a long wait, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is finally coming to PC and consoles — and yes, that’s its official title. The NES revival launches on November 14 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. An HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest 1 and 2 is set to follow in 2025.

Ahead of its release date reveal during today’s Nintendo Direct, I got a deeper look into all the changes coming to the game, as well as a bit of hands-on playtime. Along with making some key quality of life tweaks, the remake also features some radical changes to story and structure that will bridge it to the first two Dragon Quest games (both of which happen after 3, chronologically). Those modern touches are paired with very faithful decisions that leave the core combat of the original surprisingly untouched – a move that may divide purists and newer RPG fans.

Modern meets retro

First revealed in 2021, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remaster is a project from Octopath Traveler 2 studio Team Asano and Artdink. We already knew that it would give an NES classic a fresh look thanks to Team Asano’s signature HD-2D art style, but details on the game have been scarce over the past few years. That seemed surprising for a remake like this, but it turns out that the project is much more ambitious than originally advertised.

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First, there’s the expected quality of life tweaks. There’s now an auto-save system, which brings more checkpoints and save points to the game. Players can make combat a bit faster with a speed toggle and they even have access to auto-battle tools. In my demo, I was able to either pick each party member’s moves every turn or issue commands to them that they’d follow every turn. Those include having characters focus on healing, liberally using MP-draining spells, defending, and more.