Dragon Quest XII Rebooted; New Monsters Game Coming to Xbox

Square Enix used a roughly 10-minute 40th anniversary showcase to provide development updates for two Dragon Quest projects and to release short in-development footage and messages from the team. The presentation focused on the next mainline entry and a new Monsters-series title.

DRAGON QUEST XII has been retitled DRAGON QUEST XII: Beyond Dreams. According to Square Enix, the project encountered “a lot of hurdles” and has restarted development under a reorganized team and new development structure. The game received a refreshed logo, and the showcase included a brief slice of in-development gameplay alongside recorded remarks from series creator Yuji Horii and executive producer Yosuke Saito.

DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: The Withered World was announced as a new entry in the Monsters franchise. The title will appear on Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam and Windows. The game follows Bianca and Nera, characters introduced in DRAGON QUEST V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride. Square Enix listed the release timing as TBD.

The company did not provide release dates or detailed timelines for either project during the showcase. The presentation was limited to status updates, footage, and the creator and producer messages that have been posted online.

Outside the new announcements, Square Enix reported combined sales of four million copies for DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake and DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake across all platforms. The publisher said further details and expanded gameplay demonstrations for the announced titles will be shared in future updates.