Square Enix’s Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is a full rebuild of the original titles and it launches on October 30, 2025 for PS5. Producer Masaaki Hayasaka discussed design choices, added scenarios, and quality-of-life improvements in a developer interview on the PlayStation Blog.
The remake employs the HD-2D visual style and combines classic command-battle mechanics with modern conveniences, including destination markers, autosave, and shortcut commands. Exploration and combat are shown in a new gameplay trailer, and a canonical trailer is available for viewing.
The team behind the project emphasised a careful balance between preservation and change. Converting 2D maps into 3D while keeping original layouts forced the team to match building placement and staircase paths closely, which tested level design and required lengthy iteration. Producer Hayasaka said the map and planning teams worked to preserve landmarks so returning players could rely on memories of the original layouts. “I seem to remember that if I go over here, then I’ll find this thing… Yep! There it is!” appears to be the kind of reaction they aimed for.
Square Enix leaned into the HD-2D look after seeing how the style illuminated older designs, and Team Asano applied lessons from previous remakes. Random encounters remain. The remake includes new story beats and extra scenarios totie the Erdrick trilogy together when played in the intended order of III, I, II.
One of the headline additions is a playable Princess of Cannock in Dragon Quest II, introduced to give the sequel a distinctive new party option; the team framed that choice as a counterpart to the monster wrangler vocation added to the Dragon Quest III remake. Hayasaka described some of the choices as meant to feel natural within the originals, and the development process involved frequent discussions with Yuji Horii to avoid undermining the core games.
Development challenges centred on story and structure, with much time spent refining narrative changes and ensuring they sat well alongside the originals. The remake also bundles both I and II in one package to present the Erdrick story more quickly and to avoid splitting production into separate releases. Preorders are live and the title will be available on PS5 from October 30, 2025.
Share your thoughts in the comments, then follow and chat on X and Bluesky for quick reactions and updates.
