Dragon Quest Treasures

While its sheer amount of missions can be overwhelming at first, once you sink into Dragon Quest Treasures you’ll have a great time exploring the world of Draconia at your own pace. Its combat lets it down somewhat, but it’s easily forgiven when the lure to find bigger and better treasure is so strong. It might not be your usual Dragon Quest adventure, but it’s well worth your time.

If you go in expecting to sink 100 hours into Dragon Quest Treasures or think you’ll get the same kind of intricate plot that the series is known for, you’ll come away disappointed. However, if you are a younger gamer that is itching for a taste of what a JRPG is like or you just want something laid back to tackle, there is a lot of fun to be had here. Everything you’d expect in a JRPG is in this game, just stripped back to the basics, all adorned with that timeless Dragon Quest charm.

Dragon Quest Treasures offers a glimpse into the early years of two intriguing Dragon Quest XI characters. The world of floating islands is a wonderful setting for open-ended adventure, where hunting for treasure and monsters can become equally addictive pursuits. The numerous callbacks to other Dragon Quest titles are sure to bring a smile to longtime fans, whether it be familiar pieces of music or the fan service treasure items. This is not only a brand new adventure, but a love letter to the franchise. Dragon Quest Treasures is enjoyable from the start and only becomes better as the story g...

Dragon Quest Treasures is not a perfect experience, but it is a fun and enjoyable one overall. The new ideas and mechanics it blends with the Dragon Quest series' trademarks are sound ones, and they could prove to be vital to the series' direction both in mainline games and what will hopefully be a strong new spin-off series for years to come.

Maybe it’s the Dragon Quest charm, or maybe it’s because I’m happy to be playing a game way less buggy than the last one I reviewed, but I got a kick out of Dragon Quest Treasures. This is the type of game I will happily sink hours into without caring about whether or not I’m actually progressing beyond just building up my cache. A perfect game for those long winter nights, Dragon Quest Treasures will more than tide me over until Square Enix finally gets around to releasing Infinity Strash.

Though aimed at younger players, Dragon Quest Treasures is an adventure for everyone.

Charming and relaxing is not how you’d describe the average action role-player but this wholesome Dragon Quest spin-off is an enjoyably undemanding, family friendly adventure.

Although treasure hunting in Dragon Quest Treasures is fun and the monster recruitment system is robust, it falls short in terms of diverse combat and quality-of-life features.

“Though its core treasure-hunting loop is tedious, there's a lot of charm worth digging up in Dragon Quest Treasures.”

Dragon Quest is a franchise built on simplicity. You can draw a straight line from DQ1 all the way to 11. The monsters, the music, and the general vibe have all persisted in some form since the 80s. Which I love! It’s a testament to their quality that each new game is so much fun. And yet, I found Dragon Quest Treasures just a little too simple for my tastes. At least, it lacked that essential hook the mainline games are known for.

Dragon Quest Treasures experiments with an established formula and misses the mark.

Dragon Quest Treasures is some of the most fun I’ve had just exploring a game world all year, between its great world design and excellent soundtrack. This treasure hunt is a delight for players of all ages and one of the more unique experiences I’ve had on Switch in recent memory. The strange combat system will disappoint some, but if you can just get over that and a few other little quirks, this is an adventure well worth taking.