At PAX West 2026 this year, T-Ono was invited to a hands-on session of Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World - the newest addition to the Dragon Quest Monsters series. The title follows dual protagonists, Bianca and Nera (from Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride), on a quest for the fabled Leaves of Life that will supposedly heal their sick fathers.

The girls are visited by a lovable creature named Fluffy, who then transports them to the Kingdom of Witherwood, where these magical leaves are said to be found.However, when they arrive, they find that Witherwood has been ravaged by evil forces that have destroyed the Leaves of Life. Fluffy grants the girls the ability to befriend monsters, and so their quest begins to revive the Leaves of Life. After a quick personality test, we were given our first monster - Demonite. I was pleased with this monster because of how silly it looked - it seemed like a creature that I would pick anyway. I explored the first zone quickly scouting nearby monsters, adding them to the roster. The battle system was straightforward and easy to understand. For anyone that has played any sort of turn based RPG, this should be very familiar. The UI is simple and welcoming, and I did not find myself having to figure things out at all. It felt like a pick up the controller and jump-in type of game. The idea of DQ Monsters seemed very much like Pokemon at first. Battle monsters, level them up, but I knew that had to be more to it. I quickly went around and collected four other monsters nearby and continued on with the story.

Demonite

In the next section of the demo, the synthesis system was introduced. Synthesis is combining two monsters to produce a new creature. Having never played a DQ Monsters game, this process immediately reminded me of Fusion in the Persona series where two or more cards are combined to create stronger Personas. In DQ Monsters: The Withered World, there are over 500 monsters to tame in total. Some are scouted through battle, while others are only discovered through synthesis. I was able to synthesize some adorable ones (like the Slime Stack and the Sacksquatch) out of the list of monsters that was already in our inventory.

The graphics are bright, colorful and simply lovable. The monsters in the game are so incredibly fun and quirky. With over 500 monsters to tame, I am looking forward to creating my perfect team. I played with the English audio and the voice acting for the two girls was just too cute. It is no wonder why Dragon Quest is and has always been a beloved franchise in Japan. The demo is available now on the Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X|S, PC via Steam and XBOX on PC.

DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: The Withered World is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X|S and PC via Steam and Windows.

Publisher: Square Enix

Release Date: December 3 2026

https://www.dragonquest.com/dqmtww/en_US/