In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the long-running Dragon Quest series, Japanese broadcasting corporation Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) developed a special program dedicated to the franchise. While you’d be hard-pressed to find this footage online, a new video has now surfaced which shows off new gameplay and behind-the-scenes development for Dragon Quest XI: In Search of Departed Time.
As reported by Polygon, the two-minute long clip (which you can check out above) shows off a brief glimpse of gameplay. Along with a few instances of running around the open world and engaging in combat, the footage showcases the ability to ride a dragon as a means of transportation, a mechanic that was popularized in a handful of RPGs (specifically, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim comes to mind). For a series that has traditionally focused on engaging dragons in combat, it’s interesting to see this shift in direction.
While Dragon Quest XI has not been confirmed for release outside of Japan, the shift back to a single-player focused experience does raise its chances of receiving a localization for Western audiences (Dragon Quest X was never translated due to the difficulties of translating an MMO into another language). As of now, Dragon Quest XI is set to release on the PlayStation 4 and the upcoming Nintendo Switch, with these versions to run on the Unreal Engine 4 (which is also being used for Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII remake). The game is also in development for the Nintendo 3DS, though it remains to be seen how the handheld version will stack up.
