If you've been wondering what the hell is happening with Dragon Quest XII, you're not alone. Following five years of radio silence, a special livestream for the series' 40th anniversary revealed a new title for the latest entry to the historic series, as well as some reasons for the lack of information.
To begin, Dragon Quest XII was initially unveiled as Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate during a livestream in 2021 to mark the series' 35th anniversary. Today's livestream, however, revealed that the subtitle has now changed to Beyond Dreams. A new logo was also unveiled to go along with this.
Far from just cosmetic changes, it appears as if the entire concept for the game has been reworked from the ground up. Somewhat candidly, executive producer Yosuke Saito admitted that development had restarted on the project, along with a reshuffle of the team. The gameplay footage shown also seems to suggest a much brighter world than initially expected.
What's not mentioned here is the fact that composer Koichi Sugiyama and character designer Akira Toriyama both passed away in 2021 and 2024 respectively. Even though it's unclear just how much this affected development, their passing leaves two gaping holes in the franchise that have yet to be filled.
Surprisingly little was also said about the initial claim that Dragon Quest XII would "completely renew" the series' battle system. Although the assumption is that Dragon Quest would be shifting to real time combat like the Final Fantasy series did many years ago, no clarification has been offered on that front.
On the subject of Final Fantasy, the lukewarm sales of Final Fantasy XVI could offer one reason why Dragon Quest XII is pivoting away from a darker style of storytelling. Square Enix admitted that the title "did not meet our expectations" back in 2024, but analysts have pointed out that this was because of the exclusivity window on PlayStation 5.
No release date has been confirmed yet, so keep your eye on the official Dragon Quest X account for more details.
