Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake review: A masterful return for the Scions of Erdrick

12 hours ago 1

Ever since the DQ3 remake, I’ve been just as excited for Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake. After all, Dragon Quest 1 is the first RPG I ever played, and, despite its flaws and frustrating gameplay, is the reason I’m in love with role-playing games now. This remake puts both games together in one place, with a suite of important updates to both gameplay and the overall story. DQ1 is often seen as very simple, and to be frank, DQ2 is often cited as one of the worst games in the series.

It had its flaws, but was still a very important part of the Erdrick trilogy that made up the first three games. I’ve put in around 60 or so hours into the Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake, and let me tell you for certain: you will not be disappointed by this one.

Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake features important new story beats for both games

Without spoiling anything major, Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake is the follow-up to Dragon Quest 3. This trilogy of games are connected, with Dragon Quest 3 coming first, with Dragon Quest 1 coming in around 100 years later, and then Dragon Quest 2 is another 100-150 years after that. It tells the story of how the descendants of the legendary hero came to squash threat after threat to the world.

One of the best parts of the DQ1 story is that there are more characters of value than just the Hero (Image via Square Enix)

Dragon Quest 1 was just the lone descendant of Erdrick, out to stop the machinations of the Dragonlord and prevent darkness from consuming the land. While a pretty simple game, the HD-2D Remake added to the story to flesh it out more, and introduced some new locales as well as plenty of terrifying new bosses. The original game just had Green Dragon, Knight-Errant, Golem, and the Dragonlord. Expect way more than that this time around.

Then you have DQ2, which featured the three descendants of the DQ1 hero. The fact that a fourth character was added to the party is already known information, but we won’t spoil where or how that takes place. This game features High Priest Hargon as the primary villain, who some might remember from the ending of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake.

DQ2's rather tragic start also feels expanded upon, and remains important throughout the game (Image via Square Enix)

He’s out to remake the world in his image, and while his reasons weren’t really explored in the original game, you can expect to get way more important story beats in the Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake. That’s probably my favorite part of the games. The story has been expanded and added to, in a way that feels good, and most importantly, makes sense.

Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake brings so many incredible features to the classic games

While there are again, several quality-of-life features in Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake, you don’t really have to use most of them if you don’t want to. Some people prefer to go hunting for every clue or story objective. If you don’t want the game to tell you, you don’t have to turn that on! You can turn on a setting that will show you the next important location on the mini/world map, anytime.

While the Descendant of Erdrick might be alone, he's not at all outpowered by the forces of evil (Image via Square Enix)

To facilitate the need to find things for yourself in Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake, a feature was also introduced where you can memorize whatever text information the last NPC you spoke to gave up. Essentially, it’s a way to keep track of clues or important dialogue for later. It’s a fantastic idea, and gives something to both style of players.

Like the Dragon Quest 3 Remake, all party members get combat abilities, in addition to their normal spells (as well as some new spells)! Sorry, the DQ2 hero still gets no spells. He does, however, unlock some amazing sword techniques that make life so much better for him. That was one of the worst parts of DQ2. The main hero just felt terrible.

This time around, the full party is amazing, and they function well together. You can supplement those spells and skills in DQ2 with Scrolls, hidden throughout the world. Want to use Puff-Puff? Or perhaps Kaclang? You’ll find them out there, somewhere.

The Prince of Midenhall actually feels useful in battle now! (Image via Square Enix)

Perhaps the most important thing is that customized difficulty still very much exists. The default difficulty is still there, with the default Dragon Quest difficulty. That means bosses that regenerate still do, no matter what, being defeated is game over, and bosses are very aggressive.

You can also turn it down to Dracky Quest, and, if you like, also turn on Invulnerability. What it really means is that you won’t drop below 1 health, and the Thwack line of death spells won’t work on your party, ever. Dracky Quest also stops boss regeneration, for the few that have that feature. You can also turn the difficulty up if you think it’s too easy.

Having access to Whip weapons sure is nice in DQ1 (Image via Square Enix)

I can tell you that Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake still has a pretty steep difficulty curve. Or at least, DQ2 certainly does. They’re very completable, and incredibly fun, but you’ll have to use status ailments on most bosses to get through them smoothly. As long as you think about all of your options, it’ll be just fine.

Speaking of combat changes, you can also have the game show you enemy weaknesses in your spell/ability lineup. If a skill or spell is flashing/glowing, that means the enemy is definitely weak to it, allowing you to see what attacks are going to hit harder. It’s a little change, but such an important one.

What about Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D’s “new ocean-themed content”?

One of the big advertising points for the DQ2 portion of Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake is that there’s a whole new section of the game around the ocean. It is a very large section of content, some of it required, and some of it not. I don’t want to spoil anything, but simply having the boat isn’t going to be enough anymore.

Now all I need is a singing crab, and I'm set (Image via Square Enix)

The storyline featured in the underwater parts of the game is fantastic, because it reminds me of DQXI’s mermaids. It adds some depth to a world that was feeling pretty flat in the original game. After completing all of the underwater content, I can tell you that the story is excellent, and there are some truly punishing optional bosses found beneath the waves.

Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake feels like one of the overarching goals was to better connect this trilogy, and that includes the fairies and mermaids in the lore. Both were important to the franchise as a whole, so seeing more content like that in these two games was a solid improvement for me.

Combat is definitely more challenging in both versions of Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake

Another point that Square Enix focused on was that the Hero of DQ1 would be fighting groups of enemies, instead of the 1 vs. 1 that the original game had. For the most part, I think this was a brilliant idea. The fights do feel more balanced, and thanks to his suite of powerful combat skills and spells, not to mention items with spell effects, things are much safer.

Some fights are just going to feel brutal, but you can get through them (Image via Square Enix)

However, the Dragon Quest difficulty curve still very much exists. There are fights that, I’ll be honest, just felt unfair. Quite a few boss fights felt like, if I didn’t spam specific spells (Fizzle and Snooze in particular), I would just lose in a few hits, or things would just get out of control. I still also hate every Dragon Quest boss that regenerates. Thankfully, fewer do it here compared to DQ3.

That kind of difficulty just feels forced. If you aren’t constantly doing damage, you’re putting yourself behind, but you also need to use buff items/spells, status ailments on bosses, and things like that. It’s not quite as bad in DQ2, but expect more bosses to have friends to help them fight, to add to the difficulty.

Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake is gorgeous, and features a strong voice cast

My thoughts on both of these haven’t changed since the DQ3 Remake, but I love this visual style. It fits the retro Dragon Quest games perfectly. The world is more vibrant, more colorful, and the monster types retain their iconic designs from Akira Toriyama himself. This game just made me miss the mangaka even more.

The Japanese dub in particular is phenomenal (Image via Square Enix)

A great deal of Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake is voiced as well. Regular NPCs don’t have voice lines, but all important characters do for any pivotal moment of the game. Whether hero or villain, you can expect solid dialogue. It’s all still in Middle English, as the original games were written.

It’s very over-the-top, but I still love it. If you liked the design and graphics of DQ3, you’re going to be satisfied here, too. In particular, the underwater areas of DQ2 are just great. It’s really just the little touches that make it look and sound fantastic. Whether on the Switch 2 or PlayStation 5 Pro, the game looks and feels remarkable.

Final Thoughts

Whether you're still new, or a long-time fan, this is a pair of games you won't want to skip (Image via Square Enix)

After a total of 70 or 80 hours across two consoles, I can tell you that Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake looks, feels, and plays incredibly great. Load times are great, no lag spikes or dips in quality, and all of the love and challenge you remember from the original games is here. It’s clear to me that this team knows and loves the Dragon Quest franchise.

Sure, there are fights that are going to break your spirit, but the Descendants of Erdrick never give up. Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake is exactly what I was hoping it would be; it’s a real masterpiece.

I had incredibly high expectations after the DQ3 Remake, and this game more than met them. There’s plenty of new content, but it doesn’t exist simply to stretch the games out. It fits, and it makes sense. It all just feels right.