In July 2015, Square Enix announced that both Dragon Quest X and Dragon Quest XI would be ported to the NX at a fan event celebrating the venerable franchise. However, these comments were later retracted, with the studio stating that an NX version of the series’ eleventh mainline title was still under consideration.
However, a new interview with Horii offers confirmation that Dragon Quest XI will indeed be released for the NX, and well as the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation 4. Developing the title for three separate pieces of hardware has offered up considerable challenges, according to a report from Nintendo Life.
Horii notes that each version has a different “look,” including the option to switch between 2D and 3D modes in the handheld port. He also suggests that character movement might feel slightly different across the various versions of the game.
Despite the challenges of working on three very different versions of the game at once, Horii maintains that Dragon Quest XI will release across the three systems at the same time to cut down on spoilers. Given that Square Enix wants the game to launch in Japan before May 27, 2017, this suggests that it will be one of the first titles released for the NX, which is expected to debut next March.
However, Western audiences will likely have to wait a while longer. Role-playing games typically feature plenty of dialog, which makes for a lengthy translation process, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Dragon Quest XI fails to reach North America and Europe before 2018.
