It’s taken over three years to get here, but the time has finally come: Square Enix has confirmed that Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age will be arriving in the for the PlayStaton 4 and PC West on Sept. 4.
Dragon Quest XI is the latest entry in the long-running Dragon Quest series which first released on the Famicom back in 1986. Developed by Enix, the franchise was originally seen as the rival franchise of Square’s Final Fantasy series until the two merged in 2003 to create Square Enix.
Though the series (Dragon Warrior, the US name of the first title, in particular) has never been quite as popular as Final Fantasy is in the West, it has been credited with defining the template that future console RPGs should follow.
As for the series’ most recent entry, it can’t be stated enough how long it took for a Western release date to be announced. The Japanese version was revealed three years ago during the Dragon Quest New Title press conference, meaning that it was during a time when we still thought the Nintendo Switch was called the NX. Soon after, unfortunately, SE confirmed it had no concrete plan to bring DQ XI over to the West — a fact which became increasingly apparent as the Japanese release date (July 29, 2017) approached, came and went with no Western release date to speak of.
Thankfully, even if we’ve had to wait an eternity for it, we now have a confirmed Western release date.
Here is an overview from Square Enix:
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age tells a captivating tale of a hunted hero and is the long-awaited role-playing game from series creator Yuji Horii, character designer Akira Toriyama, and series composer Koichi Sugiyama. As the eleventh mainline entry in the critically acclaimed series, Dragon Quest XI is a completely standalone experience that features entirely new characters, a beautifully detailed world, finely tuned turn-based combat, and an immersive story that will appeal to longtime fans and franchise newcomers alike. After its release in Japan, DRAGON QUEST XI won multiple gaming awards and received critical praise, including PlayStation’s Platinum Prize and a perfect 40/40 score from Famitsu (Japanese publication).
In addition to delivering over 100 hours of content, the Western release of Dragon Quest XI will also feature several upgrades and enhancements that were not included in the Japanese release, including:
- English Voiceover
- Draconian Quest, a hard mode that offers additional challenges for more experienced players.
- Overhauled Menus & UI, with graphical enhancements and more intuitive navigation.
- Camera Mode, allowing players to take in views of the beautiful landscape, character renders and ferocious monsters in detail.
- A New Dash Function and many other system enhancements such as improved character and camera movement
Sept.4 can’t come soon enough.
Check out the opening sequence and first English gameplay below:
