Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age will arrive to the Nintendo Switch in 2019, at least in Japan.
Square Enix released the first teaser trailer for Dragon Quest XI S for the Nintendo Switch at the Jump Festa event in Japan. The trailer showed off Japanese language voice overs, which was not available when the RPG was originally released in Japan on July 2017 for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo 3DS.
Square Enix added English language voice overs for Dragon Quest XI‘s North American release in September 2018 for the PlayStation 4 and PC.
The voice overs are now coming to the Japanese version of Dragon Quest XI S, with 200 voiced characters excluding the main character. Square Enix also said that it was preparing a surprise announcement related to the game for January 1, 2019.
In our Dragon Quest XI review, we described the game as “a hallmark of excellence for the genre,” and while it adheres to plenty of classic tropes with plenty of grinding that may frustrate some gamers, the RPG scored an 8.0 for a memorable story and characters, wonderful visual design, and deep customization options, among many other positive notes.
Dragon Quest XI and its predecessor, Dragon Quest X, were actually the first games to be announced for the Nintendo Switch, which was then known as the Nintendo NX.
The Nintendo Switch version of the highly acclaimed RPG will not be a direct port though, as hinted by its title for the hybrid console. Dragon Quest XI S will come with a major change that will affect the game’s ending.
Spoiler alert!
In the original Dragon Quest XI, players are locked into a single marriage choice. However, in Dragon Quest XI S, players will be able to choose their bride. They will also have the option of living with two male characters, Erik or Hendrik, revealed Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii said in an interview with Famitsu.
The release has only been confirmed for Japan so far. However, with the English voice overs already available from the PlayStation 4 and PC versions, it should not take long for the Nintendo Switch version to find its way to North America.
