A new video on Square Enix’s YouTube channel provides insight on how Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined came together. The RPG from the legendary studio came out on February 5 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and both Nintendo Switch consoles to positive reviews, sitting with an 83 on Metacritic. As the name implies, Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined is a remake of a prior game that originally came out on the PlayStation in 2000 and then in 2001 for North America players.
This is also not the first time Dragon Quest 7 has been remade, since a version came out on the Nintendo 3DS in 2013 in Japan before coming to other territories in 2016. Reimagined makes some changes to the original game’s story and battle system while completely overhauling the graphics to take advantage of modern advancements. The plot is streamlined, and battles take place from the third-person perspective, unlike the original game’s first-person view.
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Square Enix Provides a Deeper Look Into Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined’s Development
A making-of video on Square Enix’s YouTube channel, titled “How Dragon Quest 7 was Reimagined” showcases three members of the game’s development team: Producer Takeshi Ichikawa, Director Masato Yagi, and Lead Scenario Writer Sayaka Takagi. In the video, Takeshi Ichikawa explained why it felt right to make Reimagined since it is the original game’s 25th anniversary and the game’s setting feels relevant to today’s world. Masato Yagi talked about balancing Dragon Quest 7’s darker tone with the franchise’s “handcrafted art style”. Sayakaga Takagi similarly discussed countering the sadder moments with hope and humor.
The video also details the differences from the original game and the efforts made to streamline the experience. The team wanted to make sure the game was not too difficult and that all players would be able to grasp the epic narrative without being bogged down by challenging battles. To that effect, there are three separate difficulty modes, along with the ability to customize several parameters like how much damage is dealt, how much experience is earned, and whether health is restored after battle. The video also discusses the changes to Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined’s vocation system from the original release.
A 10-minute video does not have time to get into the weeds of the development of a game as massive as Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, but the interviews at least show the team’s passion. The making-of feature let the developers share their thoughts and feelings about remaking the game and the artistic process behind the choices they made. There are also moments of reflection as the developers looked back on how things have changed in the 25 years since the original Dragon Quest 7‘s release on PlayStation.
Square Enix’s new take on Dragon Quest 7 with Reimagined aims to please both newcomers to the game and longtime fans. Some purists might always prefer the original release or would have been happier with a more faithful remaster of Dragon Age 7. On the other hand, the changes made to modernize Dragon Quest 7 perhaps make it more appealing to newcomers who might be turned off by RPG conventions of the PlayStation era. Maybe the best of both worlds for remakes in general is for the original to exist alongside the remake on modern platforms.
- Released
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February 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Comic Mischief, Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol
