Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- Available Today

During today’s Nintendo Direct Presentation, amidst a sizzle reel of various games coming soon to Nintendo Switch & Switch 2, Square Enix casually dropped snippets of a trailer for Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD-, an HD remaster of the previously Japan-exclusive Dragon Quest spinoff featuring the merchant Torneko from Dragon Quest IV. Thankfully, Square Enix also provided a full trailer for the game, giving Torneko the top billing he deserves:

This title was one of the earliest Dragon Quest spin-off titles and established Chunsoft’s Mystery Dungeon series, turn-based roguelike dungeon crawlers that have since crossed over with some of the biggest RPG franchises like Final Fantasy and Pokémon. This marks the first time Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon will release officially in English (though there is an excellent fan translation available for the Super Famicom original).

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- sports a new opening video and fresh HD-2D look that compliments the top-down pixel art presentation of the original, giving it a new diorama feel that makes the corridor-and-box style of the procedurally generated dungeons pop. In typical Mystery Dungeon fashion, items and familiar Dragon Quest monsters like Slimes and Drakkies spawn randomly, and you must make progress in the dungeon by making use of the items and equipment you find along the way. Each run is unique, so mastering item combinations and learning monster behaviors, traps, and preparing for the worst are necessary to succeed in your dungeon delves. If you fall in battle, you’ll lose all your items & gold and have to start over from level one, though there are ways to carry over equipment between runs to make things a bit easier. Torneko’s perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds is certainly something to be admired!

On the Steam version, there’s also a free DLC (considered a beta release for now) called Streaming Up a Storm: My Dungeon, Your Rules, which adds streaming features for YouTube and Twitch. The full description is below, along with several screenshots of this mode:

A thousand different adventures, a thousand different voices!

Let your viewers join the adventure! In this unique dungeon, your audience can influence your journey directly through YouTube and Twitch using votes, choices, and other interactive elements. 

■ Guided by Mysterious Voices 
Every few floors, a mysterious event will occur. The outcome is decided either by a vote from all viewers or a single viewer chosen by you. Will your audience help you survive—or lead you into chaos?

Trust your audience, embrace the chaos, and clear the dungeon together!

* The features included in this DLC are provided as a beta version. This service may be modified or discontinued without prior notice, and the content may become unavailable as a result.

The best part of this news? Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is available TODAY on all major platforms, including Nintendo Switch & Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam! If you’ve been curious about the portly merchant’s solo adventures or the Mystery Dungeon franchise in general, this is a great place to jump in for the first time. [Editor’s Note: Gee, Ben, it sounds like you may want to review this surprise release!]

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World Demo Out Now

That wasn’t the only Dragon Quest news today, as the upcoming Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World now has a free demo on Switch & Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Xbox on PC! This demo includes the first chapter of the game, and you can transfer up to eight monsters you capture in the demo into the full game when it releases on December 3rd! There’s a large new batch of screenshots today as well, to coincide with the demo release: