Home » Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World (Preview)

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World is the next installment of the Dragon Quest Monsters series. Considered as the fourth entry in Japan, The Withered World offers players a different approach to battling, and its new features will make this Dragon Quest game uniquely different.

A Charming New Adventure

The demo offered was separated into two experiences. The demo included two main components: the story and battles, as well as the synthesis system. The game’s demo starts off at the beginning, where you watch these animated cutscenes of the backstory of the two protagonists: Bianca and Nera. After mysteriously appearing in a new world, the two carry the same goal: to find the cure for their ill father. When you begin, you are asked to choose between Bianca and Nera. Each has their own set of stats and traits, such as being favored by monster species (i.e., slimes). You’ll also be asked a set of questions; depending on what you answer, it will determine what monster will join your team first. Think of it like getting your first Pokémon but with a surprise at the end. You don’t have to choose the monster offered and can repeat this set of questions until satisfied. You’ll come across the same monster later in the game, so players shouldn’t fret too much about what they are getting now.

You will discover that the kingdom, which once had the ingredient to cure the illness, is now inaccessible due to evil forces engulfing the land. You’re tasked to take a watering can and water roots and buds across the world to bring back the plant’s life. That’s the basics of the story, as most time was spent wandering around the lands, battling, and recruiting monsters. The game offers a useful set of quality-of-life tools, such as auto battle, which helps make repetitive battles go quicker, and it also includes an option to increase battle speed. The visuals look vibrant and fun. Music, still a bundle of joy for Dragon Quest fans with its energetic scores for battle and whimsical tunes for adventuring.

Travelling provides a more unique flair than general role-playing games. Instead of a flat land to wander, it feels like you’re traveling on a sphere. Making you guess what lies over the horizon. Is there a monster there? A treasure chest? The game encourages players to contemplate what will happen next, creating a more dynamic experience than previous Dragon Quest titles during exploration. The game’s menu designs are also enjoyable, with a playful animation of your team walking and the user interfaces clean and vibrant.

Gotta Scout ‘Em All

When it comes to battling, you’ll need to rely on your monsters to do the grunt work. Your monsters will perform both regular attacks and skill attacks to weaken your enemies. Similar to Pokémon, you “scout” monsters to join your team. You can weaken them enough to perform the scout command to have a higher chance of recruiting the monster. Depending on the percentage in the gauge, the enemy can withdraw as your foe and joins your growing team. You can proceed to scout them at any time of battle, but success rates vary. Even if you defeat them in battle, the enemy may ask to join you. After defeating them in a few battles, we haven’t encountered the option to recruit monsters after battle, so it seems to be a matter of chance. The combat system is simple and easy to execute. You can pick up and play anytime you are ready.

When monsters level up, their stats will go up as well. Additionally, after a certain level, your monster will earn talent points to upgrade their skills. This system makes your monsters feel more unique than the average monsters you encounter in the field. You can create a team of slimes that can cast various skills, and if you do that, call yourself the slime master.

Building the Ultimate Team

The other piece of the demo we explored was the synthesis system. With the synthesis system, you can combine two parent monsters to create a brand-new offspring. Think of it like a fusion: combine two monsters to get one. Also note that the parents are gone from your roster. The new monster will change into a whole new creature, and you can carry over a certain set of skills to the offspring. Additionally, monsters can increase their plus value, which grants bonus base attributes that may elevate them to a higher rank than their offspring.

The parent monsters have to be at a certain level before you can start making offspring. There are over 500 monsters for players to collect, raise, and fuse together. If you enjoy monster catching and collecting, then you’ll like Withered World. I spend most of my demo time trying out different offspring and seeing how the results work.

A Monster Worth Chasing

At first, I had some speculation about how this new Dragon Quest spin-off game would be just from watching trailers and looking at screenshots. After spending time exploring the world, battling monsters, recruiting, and syncing them, the experience was a lot of fun. The visuals are much better in action than in stills. With so many games coming out this year, and glad to see this one coming out in December to give breathing room to my game library, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World is a game that’ll fly under people’s radar.

Dragon Quest: The Withered World is set to launch for the Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on December 3, 2026. Fans can visit the game’s official website for additional information and purchasing options. We appreciate Square Enix for giving us the opportunity to test out the latest Dragon Quest Monsters at PAX West.