A slime draws near! Command?
Last years Dragon Quest III: HD-2D remake took an already incredible game and further honed it in Square’s beautiful HD-2D art style to create an all-time classic. After the wonderful treatment DQ3 got, I couldn’t wait to see what was in store for the rest of the series. What we got was not one, but two wonderful remakes in the same package. Dragon Quest I & II: HD-2D Remake brings the first two games in the Erdrick trilogy up to date with an even more impressive set of improvements in that same gorgeous engine. With beefed up stories, a slew of new Quality of Life improvements, and that classic Dragon Quest charm turned up to 11, these remakes have certainly become the definitive way to play these seminal RPG favorites.
I have to admit that when the games were first announced, I was a little bit worried about how Dragon Quest 1 & 2 would hold up, not under the strain of reproducing nearly 40 year old games in this brand new engine, but because the first two games in the series just don’t have the same punch as Dragon Quest III. The original Dragon Quest is among my favorite games of all time, I’ve finished it probably more than any other game I’ve ever played, and it’s status as one of the most influential games ever created is undeniable. If you boil most of the RPG’s that have been released over the last 40 years to their least common denominators they tend to be go here, level up so you can go here instead, buy this equipment so you can go here, kill the dragon (8.0). That formula started (in large part) with DQ1. If you’re playing it now however, without the benefit of nostalgia and through the jaded eyes of someone who has spent decades playing the games it’s inspired, it’s a relatively thin experience. This is a game that mostly depends on walking from one place to another and getting interrupted by monsters along the way, tromping through maze like dungeons with only a few squares of torchlight to navigate by, and grinding enemies until you are strong enough to grind other enemies to pad out it’s ~6-8 hour length. How would they make the experience feel meaningful with QOL improvements like fast travel, maps, and fully visible dungeons? Thankfully, they’ve mostly accomplished that here by completely overhauling the structure of the game.
MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: PC (reviewed), Xbox, PlayStation, Switch
Price I’d Pay: $59.99
When you first boot the game, and select DQ1 from the menu, you’ll be presented with the first set of changes that will hint at how much of a complete overhaul we got here. You’ll pick the language of the voice overs (yep, we get voice overs), the option to turn on objective markers, and your choice of difficulties (the aptly named Dracky, Dragon, and Draconian Quest). The addition of objective markers was present in the DQ3 remake, but it definitely makes a big difference in the gameplay here (and particularly in the second game, which we’ll talk about later).
Navigating the world and what to do next in the original game was accomplished by talking to every NPC in the world and carefully remembering (or writing down) the hints they give you about objectives, items, and locations. That dialogue still exists in this remake, and the handy “Recall” option to save the last thing an NPC told you returns from the DQ3 remake, but if you have objective markers on you really don’t have to pay that much attention. For new players, my suggestion would be to try and play the game without marked objectives first. After a while if you find yourself struggling to know what to do next, you can always flip them on later. If you’re a veteran of the NES version though, I’m going to suggest that you should turn them on. The reason being that, while the order of operations for the original game is well established, trying to finish this version based off muscle memory is actually going to be more confusing than coming into it fresh.
You see the way they’ve turned a ~6-8 hour game padded by slowly walking from town to town into a much more standard 13–15-hour experience is by adding a significant amount of story content. I won’t go into the details around what has been added/moved around in the story for the sake of spoilers but expect to get an experience here with a lot more character development, a much more coherent and complete narrative, and plenty of completely logical connections that flesh out the overarching trilogy. What that means is that they’ve added some new stops along the way and a whole new set of items for you to discover.
If you’ve played the second game already, you know about the sigils (or crests in the original game). These are items that have to be collected in order to progress the story in Dragon Quest II, but don’t serve a function other than that. In the Dragon Quest 1 remake, these sigils are not only added as a series of quest items, they actually perform a key gameplay function. Sigils will allow you to upgrade certain attacks (based on your current level of health) and will also provide certain passive bonuses along the way as well. I was a big fan of the sigils being introduced in this game, I feel like it adds a very plausible connector between the two and has the secondary effect of making the sigils in the second game feel more important to the lore of the world (instead of feeling like McGuffins). From a practical standpoint, it also pads out the games content in a significant way, allows for some underused areas of the original map to have some utility, and also enables them to pull forward some classic elements of the overall Dragon Quest mythos into the world of the first game, before any of those additions were contemplated.
In addition to the sigils, you’ll find a host of other new content here as well. New scenes between characters that take relatively thin, two dimensional (no pun intended) NPC’s and add a significant amount of flavor and importance to their appearance here. The story feels much more cohesive and well told and is supported by some great in-engine cinematics, the aforementioned voice overs for key dialogue, and a punchy new intro that makes for a much more memorable entry into the world of Alefgard. Dragon Quest 1 has always felt relatively disconnected from the rest of the games, by virtue of its relative simplicity, but this remake fleshes out its place in the series in a remarkable way.
Once you actually get your hands on the controls here, you’ll immediately notice some other major changes. The original Dragon Quest is a solo adventure. Limitations of the time allowed only for one hero and one enemy at a time, matching up mano-a-monstro. While the remake retains the solo hero concept, you’ll now face multiple monsters at a time, with some new monsters thrown in that will be familiar to fans of later games in the series. Supporting your ability to battle these foes are a whole new set of abilities and spells for your hero. The remake has swapped out your hero’s relatively basic set of moves and magics for a whole suite of new ways to explode, punch holes in, blow away, set fire to, and generally wreak havoc on the various slimes, drackys, ghosts, and armors that you’ll meet along the way.
Most of the new abilities and spells will be instantly recognizable for fans of the series and they give you plenty of options for dealing with your newly outnumbered state. This addition, while adding a lot of depth, does also mean that some of the battles in the game (particularly with bosses who have adds) are significantly harder than in the original. Brute force leveling isn’t going to be enough most of the time to face off against 4 or more foes at a time, and you’ll need to make careful use of the new equipment, items, and combat abilities to survive. I think expanding the combat in the game was a necessary step to bring DQ1 closer in scope to the other games in the series, and I’m grateful they didn’t add party members to the story, but it can create some frustrating moments in major battles.
In addition to the combat expansion, you’ll also get several new dungeons and locations, including the return of “secret spots” from the DQ3 remake (which you can choose to display on the map or leave off so you can discover them organically). You’ll also find a host of new boss battles, including bosses that are protecting items that were unguarded in the original. All in all, this remake of Dragon Quest 1 is excellent and certainly the way I would recommend anyone entering the series to play through the game for the first time. The DQ1 remake does suffer in comparison to the other remade games, mostly by virtue of its relatively short run-time and the feeling that it (as Bilbo Baggins might say) is butter spread over too much bread, but it’s a significantly more accomplished retelling than I could have originally imagined.
While I had concerns around the ability to flesh out the relatively basic Dragon Quest 1 into a full-blown remake, my concerns about the Dragon Quest 2 remake were completely different. By most accounts, Dragon Quest 2 is the least popular game in the entire series. The original game is known to be overly grindy, difficult, obtuse with its objectives, and relatively thin in the character development department. Its positives are generally expanded content compared to the original, which for the time was very innovative, but likely already experienced for a player in 2025 by virtue of the fact that most of them were expanded on in the already remade Dragon Quest 3. A party of heroes, already in DQ3. The ability to travel by boat, already in DQ3. An expansive story with a larger explorable world, you get the point by now. Yes Dragon Quest 2 is the third game in the chronology, but its status as number two in the release order means the developers at Square needed to find a way to craft a standout remake of a game that, in many ways, was overshadowed by a game they already remade. I’m pleased to report that they’ve knocked it out of the park. For these reasons, I think the Dragon Quest 2 remake included here is the most impressive of the bunch. Dragon Quest 3 is still the better game, but what they’ve managed to accomplish with this remake of the much maligned second game is outstanding.
I won’t rehash the QOL improvements here, suffice to say all the ones I mentioned above for DQ1 make their way over here as well. I will note that any of your option selections (battle speed, map displays, control settings, etc.) do not make their way across games. You’ll need to set them all over again when you drop into the second game, which is a slightly frustrating oversight in an otherwise pristine package.
If you’ve played Dragon Quest 2 before, you know that the first and most important key difference between it and the first game is the addition of two new party members. Cousins and descendants of Erdrick, the Prince of Midenhall, the Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke all bring different skillsets, equippable items, and tactics to the table. In the original game, the relationship between the three is relatively thin. You get a couple of references to them knowing each other as cousins, but not much more than that. Perhaps the most important change in the remake is how well fleshed out each of the main characters’ personality is, both individually and as a group. The Princess of Moonbrooke is serious, courageous, and the logical thinker of the group. The Prince of Cannock desperately wants to live up to the legacy of his ancestors, but he’s also kind of a clutz and has a tendency to say or do the wrong thing at the wrong time. The Prince of Midenhall (the “main” player character) is mostly the strong silent type, who communicates more through nods and gestures. The interactions between these three characters range from poignant and sweet, to humorous, to inspiring as the game plays out and I cannot express to you how much the expansion of their relationship and their chemistry enhances the story of the game. It actually makes the fact that they are established characters with relatively set backgrounds and move sets an advantage compared to the customizable party members in the third game and the sprites in the game, though well done throughout all three remakes, really sell the characters in Dragon Quest 2.
The main story in Dragon Quest 2 revolves first around finding and recruiting your cousins and then traveling a greatly expanded world to find the sigils and put an end to the new big bad, Hargon. One of the key moments in DQ2 is the realization that the entire map (albeit a partially resized version) from Dragon Quest 1 is present in a corner of the world and that is an even cooler experience in the remake by virtue of the fact that most players will have immediately come in from that world. There are plenty of new items, weapons, spells, abilities and locations in the remake that help to flesh out a pretty significant expansion to the main quest on offer here. You also get a new playable character, which I won’t spoil, but is a neat addition as well.
One thing that has been added to both games is the ability to add new abilities and spells by finding scrolls out in the world. These one-time use items will permanently add the spell/ability to your selected character and include some long time Dragon Quest favorites and certain spells/abilities that are only available through these items. It’s a neat feature and helps to reward exploring all parts of the map.
As mentioned, Sigils play a huge role in the story of Dragon Quest 2 and, as opposed to their functionality in the original, have the same sort of benefits to your party as mentioned above for the Dragon Quest 1 remake. Sigils are also one of the more controversial items from the original DQ2 by virtue of the fact that many of them seem very obscure to find. On the NES you needed a sharp mind, a notepad, and a special item picked up later in the game to have a chance at locating all of them. That’s still the case here, provided you have “Show Objectives” turned off in the options. If you have it turned on, the process of locating each of the sigils is a pretty rudimentary experience. I’m of two minds on this. On one hand, it does certainly streamline the experience, and it removes one of the more frustrating aspects of the original (especially for people who haven’t played it before) but on the other hand it makes the item used to locate them (itself the reward for a quest/dungeon/boss battle) almost trivial. On the whole, I think the addition of these options is a positive but my suggestion would be to try playing the game the first time with the objective markers turned off and only turn them on if you feel like you’re getting lost.
I played through both games exclusively on the Steam Deck and I can confirm that it’s a perfect place to play them. Performance is exceptional, I was able to play through both games on the highest graphical settings with a consistent 60 FPS in handheld mode and was even able to mostly maintain 60 (with a few drops down to 45 or so) with the system docked and running at 1080p. With the expanded save options and a really tremendous autosave they suit gaming on the go very well.
It’s pretty incredible what Square Enix has managed to do with these HD-2D remakes. To bring this trilogy of games, which first hit consoles starting nearly 40 years ago, so brilliantly into the modern age while using an art style that perfectly walks the line between nostalgia and fidelity is an incredible achievement. Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D remake suffers only slightly in comparison to Dragon Quest III HD-2D, and only by virtue of the fact that Dragon Quest 3 was the superior game to start with. As someone with so much nostalgia for these games, particularly Dragon Quest 1, playing these remakes was an absolute joy and makes me want to go back and start the DQ3 remake over again. While the Dragon Quest 1 remake on offer here is a great reimagining of the revolutionary but somewhat limited progenitor of this massive series, I cannot sufficiently express how much of an improvement the Dragon Quest 2 remake is. For the first time, it feels like a worthy and critical entry in the arc of the series and not just a steppingstone technologically between 1 and 3. Dragon Quest I & II: HD-2D Remake is an absolute must play for anyone who loves this series or the genre of RPG’s as a whole.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
