Dragon Quest series creator Yuji Horii briefly updated the community about the upcoming Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate on Twitter today, saying he wants the game to be worthy of the posthumous works of Akira Toriyama and Koichi Sugiyama.
Yuji Horii initially thanked fans for congratulating him on Dragon Quest Day, which is celebrated on May 27 in Pajan, before discussing the upcoming Dragon Quest title. He understood that there had been some worry regarding Dragon Quest XII, but says that he had been in a meeting about the game recently and he’ll be doing his best to make sure it lives up.
Akira Toriyama is known as the creator of the iconic Dragon Ball series, and worked as a character designer for the Dragon Quest series. He passed away March 1 this year, which devastated the manga and gaming community.
Koichi Sugiyama, meanwhile, worked as a composer for all 11 games in the series. He also passed away back in September 2021 (the year Dragon Quest XII was announced).
It is unclear exactly how much Toriyama and Sugiyama’s work was part of the game’s development before their death, but given Horii’s comments, we can expect at least some.
Although Horii could not share any details of the game just yet, it can be assumed that Dragon Quest XII’s development is going according to plan at Square Enix. The game is said to have a darker tone than the previous Dragon Quest games and that it will be aimed towards adults.
Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate is expected to come out late this year or in 2025.
For more on Dragon Quest, check out All Dragon Quest games in order of release, on Pro Game Guides.
