#dragon-quest-vii

#dragon-quest-vii

Last year changed the way many of us thought about software. It certainly changed the way I did. I spent much of 2025 building, probing, and questioning how to build software, and in many more ways what I want to do.

This is a look at a never-before-seen map file where a cutscene was filmed for Elden Ring, which showed Miquella planting the Haligtree, as well as the process through which, during earlier development and testing, this cutscene was intended to have been played.

PlayStation has announced a new contest called The Playerbase, allowing winners to have their likenesses scanned to appear in PlayStation games, starting with Gran Turismo 7.

Crystal Dynamics is developing a new The Lord of the Rings game, which would be its third game now in development, joining Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst.

Square Enix is partnering with Google to integrate its AI large language model Gemini into Dragon Quest X, creating a Slime character that players can chat with. This character will respond with AI-generated text, offering tips, tricks, and advice as players navigate the game.

Square has decided to muddy things up further by giving us Dragon Quest VII Reimagined before the expected Dragon Quest IV HD-2D Remake. What's more, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined utilizes bright, cartoony 3D character models instead of the HD-2D pixel art style of the earlier remakes. Thankfully, the models animate well, and they look particularly cool in battle. Ooooh, let me say that again: Dragon Quest fans are "spoiled for choice these days." Shiver Reimagine Dragons

According to the trailer, the game takes place in a land called Philabieldia that's overrun by beasts, where humans must use a spell of safekeeping to keep their only remaining city, the Kingdom of Huther, safe from invasion. The titular Elliot is tasked with exploring a set of newfound ruins beyond the walls alongside his fairy companion Faie. Unknown to them, though, they will come across a door that will take them on a journey that spans thousands of years.

When a video game series goes on for a long time, it raises a question for newcomers: Just where is the best place to jump in? In the case of Dragon Quest, there are nearly a dozen mainline titles, not to mention copious spinoffs and ports that span four decades of history. Of late, though, publisher Square Enix has been releasing a number of remakes that serve as almost ideal entry points for beginners who are intimidated by all of that baggage.

From the trailer alone, there are quite a few other noticeable differences from the previous games, like the lack of character names on the combat screen, as well as the whopping eight party members in combat at once. In previous games, while you have a full party of eight as the name would imply, you'd only select four of them to actually fight at once.

There's a lot about Perfect Tides: Station to Station 's Mara that I find relatable. Like me, she's recently moved to a place simply called "the City" from the middle of nowhere, and like me, she's an avid writer. But these biographical details aren't the important thing; it's the way she's painted by the game's incredibly sharp writing where I start to feel uncomfortably seen.

Danganronpa and The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy are the types of games it's hard to get a big company behind. One's a murder mystery about teenagers killing each other, the other is a sprawling visual novel with 100 different endings. Kazutaka Kodaka, the lead on both these projects, explained how he gets games like this out the door, and it sounds like the key to getting a teenage deathmatch murder mystery approved is lying to your bosses.

Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio recently released a new demo for Yakuza 3 Kiwami, an upcoming remake of the original PS3-era Yakuza 3. And a single alleyway in the demo has become the center of an online debate about whether Yakuza 3 Kiwami is a visual downgrade when compared to the OG game. On January 21, Sega released a demo for Yakuza 3 Kiwami for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, and PC.