DRAGON QUEST VII Reimagined

The game

The son of a fisherman on a small, peaceful island, the hero wonders whether there is more to the world than his island. With his childhood friends, he discovers a shrine that sends him into the past, where he finds lands sealed away by an evil force. By gathering tablet fragments, he saves these islands of the past to restore them in the present. Akira Toriyama’s characters are recreated in 3D in diorama-style settings. According to the official stores, the remake adds vocation perks, “Moonlighting” (two vocations at once), adjustable battle speed and auto-battle. Text is available in French; voices are in English or Japanese.

What the press says (PS5 reviews)

Reception is very positive. RPGFan (95/100) finds it true to the spirit of the original while sporting the best look and combat in the series. Region Free (5/5) calls it beautifully realised and smartly updated, and the best way to experience the series for the first time. Push Square (8/10) praises the many improvements, endearing party members, the job system, the art direction and full difficulty customisation. VGChartz (8/10) calls it a great remake, better looking, voiced and better paced than the PlayStation game.

Reservations concern cuts and pacing. Push Square says the story still stalls at times, backtracking remains an issue and NPC models are repeated. VGChartz regrets that too much content from the original was cut or sidelined, so it does not see it as the definitive version. Game8 (72/100) is the harshest: cut islands, hand-holding exploration and a lack of challenge make it less satisfying; it also criticises subtitles that lean too far into accents. Region Free finds some islands a little small.

Our reading

The five PS5 reviews range from 72/100 to 5/5. DRAGON QUEST VII Reimagined mainly targets newcomers and players who gave up on the original because of its length. Purists will have to accept tighter content and lower default difficulty. The PC, Xbox and Switch versions are not covered by these reviews. The displayed average is computed by the site from the five PS5 scores.