Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Review – A Classic Reborn

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past was always the black sheep of the series. A sprawling, 70-80 hour odyssey that buried its combat system under hours of dialogue and puzzle-solving, it polarized fans when it first released on PlayStation in 2000 and again with its 3DS remake in 2016. Now Square Enix has taken the most ambitious swing possible: rebuild the entire game from the ground up with a new art style, modernized systems, and a dramatically streamlined structure. Here’s our verdict on whether Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is worth your time and money.

A Visual Overhaul That Demands Attention

The first thing you’ll notice is the diorama art style, and it’s genuinely breathtaking. Every island in the game is presented as a hand-crafted tabletop diorama, with miniature buildings, tilt-shift depth-of-field effects, and a warm, tactile quality that makes the world feel like a storybook you can reach into. It’s a radical departure from both the original pixel art and the 3DS remake’s standard 3D, and it gives Dragon Quest VII an identity that no other JRPG currently matches.

Character models are expressive and faithful to Akira Toriyama’s legendary designs. Spell effects pop with color. Environments transition beautifully from sun-drenched coastal villages to eerie cursed forests. The game earned one perfect-score review specifically praising this visual direction, and it’s easy to see why. If you’ve ever wanted to see what Dragon Quest looks like with a modern budget behind it, this is the answer.

Streamlined Without Losing Its Soul

The original Dragon Quest VII was notorious for not letting you enter combat until roughly four hours in. Reimagined cuts that to under an hour. The core concept is the same: you piece together map fragments to travel to islands frozen in the past, solve their problems, and restore them to the present. But Square Enix has trimmed the fat aggressively. Three full scenarios have been cut, and the overall playtime lands between 40-50 hours for the main story, compared to the original’s 70-80.

Whether that’s a positive depends on your perspective. For newcomers, this is unquestionably the best way to experience one of the most iconic entries in the series for the first time. The pacing is dramatically improved, the story hits its emotional beats faster, and you spend far less time wandering between objectives with no clear direction. The fragment puzzle system is more intuitive, and quality-of-life improvements like auto-save, fast travel, and a streamlined menu keep the experience modern.

The Dual-Vocation System Shines

Combat in Dragon Quest VII Reimagined revolves around the dual-vocation system, and it’s the deepest class system the series has offered. Characters can hold two vocations simultaneously, mixing and matching abilities from warriors, mages, priests, martial artists, and advanced hybrid classes. Want a paladin who can also cast offensive magic? Stack those vocations and build toward it.

Boss fights are tuned to reward experimentation. The game’s difficulty curve is fair but not trivial, and several mid-game bosses will punish you for running a one-dimensional party. This encourages constant class switching, which keeps combat engaging across the entire 40-50 hour runtime. If you’ve played Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake and enjoyed its vocation system, this is a more sophisticated evolution of the same idea.

The Cut Content Controversy

Not everything about the streamlining has been well-received. The Immigrant Town feature, a beloved base-building side activity from the original, has been removed entirely. The Casino mini-game is gone. Monster Meadows, where you could recruit and collect monsters, is absent. Three full story scenarios were cut from the game.

This has created a significant gap between critic and player reception. The Metacritic critic score sits at a healthy 82-83, with OpenCritic at 85. But the user score drops to 7.4, driven largely by longtime fans who feel the remake sacrificed too much in the name of accessibility. “Censorship” complaints also surface in user reviews, though the specifics vary and some are exaggerated. If you have deep nostalgia for the original’s side content, temper your expectations.

Performance and Platform Considerations

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined launches across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC at $59.99. The console versions run well, with PS5 and Xbox both delivering stable 60fps at high resolution. The Switch 2 version targets 30fps in docked mode with occasional dips in dense areas, but remains perfectly playable.

PC is where the issues surface. Shader compilation stuttering plagues the first few hours of play, causing noticeable hitches when entering new areas or triggering spell effects for the first time. This is the same Unreal Engine shader caching problem that has affected dozens of recent PC ports. It improves over time as shaders compile and cache, but the first session is rough. There’s also an Xbox-specific DLC bug that can prevent bonus content from unlocking properly; Square Enix has acknowledged it and a patch is expected.

Steam reviews sit at 88% Very Positive, suggesting most PC players are willing to look past the shader issues. If you’re choosing a platform and have the option, PS5 delivers the smoothest experience at launch.

Who Should Play Dragon Quest VII Reimagined?

If you’ve never played Dragon Quest VII, this is one of Square Enix’s boldest remakes and the definitive way to experience this story. The diorama art style alone justifies the purchase, and the streamlined pacing fixes the original’s biggest flaw. If you’re a fan of JRPGs like story-driven adventures with deep class systems, this belongs on your list.

If you’re a veteran who loved the original’s sprawling side content, the cuts may sting. The core story is intact and beautifully presented, but Immigrant Town and Monster Meadows were meaningful features, and their absence leaves a gap that the main campaign can’t fully fill.