Key Preview Takeaways:
- The Toriyama art style makes the latest version in this long-running Dragon Quest sub-series instantly appealing.
- A staggering 500 collectible monsters left me blown away by the variety and sheer roster size.
- Some people in my preview session experienced motion sickness while exploring the world map.
While the core Dragon Quest games are the main draw for many fans of this long-running franchise, the well-established Dragon Quest Monsters sub-series has garnered its own dedicated following since its debut in 1998. Much like its counterpart in the Pokemon series, Square-Enix’s monster-collecting RPG is all about capturing Dragon Quest’s weirdest critters and training them to be the very best. With the upcoming entry Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World, the sequel is looking to elevate the monster-collectathon and turn-based battle gameplay even further, all channeled into Dragon Quest’s stylized, high-fantasy storytelling that’s brought to life by the art style of the legendary Akira Toriyama.
At PAX West 2026, we got some hands-on time with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World, seeing the expanded narrative with multiple protagonists, collecting some of the Dragon Quest franchise’s strangest monsters, and adding them to our party. It’s so far got the makings of one of the strangest and most expansive entries to date with over 500 monsters to collect — but above all, it’s especially focusing on the heart and plentiful charm that Dragon Quest Monsters is all about.
The Withered World focuses on the further adventures of Bianca and Nera, the returning protagonists from Dragon Quest V, as they embark on a new journey in another realm. After both of their fathers contract a mysterious illness, they find that the only cure is in a new realm known as the Witherwood, which is dealing with its own crisis. After discovering a magical watering tool to help restore sacred trees in the decaying lands, the pair will team with other monster wranglers and gather a massive party of monsters to help bring balance to the realm and save their parents.
What makes the Dragon Quest Monsters sub-series such a well-loved spin-off is that it often goes for a more light-hearted, folksy adventure that’s enjoyable for all ages. Moreover, it really leans into the inherent charm and weirdness of the Dragon Quest series by letting you team up with some of the franchise’s most bizarre foes. Yes, you can have a party full of the Slime monsters, and that could very well be a powerful team if you power them up well enough.
But what Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World focuses more than other games is the experience of its lead monster wranglers, Bianca and Nera. In contrast to Pokemon, DQ Monsters makes the lead monster wrangler more of a key fixture of the party than previous games, and The Withered World especially does that with both Bianca and Nera having unique perks and favored monster types. This creates more opportunities and benefits for building out specific monster parties for the specific wranglers, especially with Bianca’s preference for dragon and beast types.
Though there’s more of a narrative following with The Withered World, there’s still plenty of time to explore the different zones and build up your party at your leisure. The two areas I got to explore were the starting desert zone around Witherrealm’s core kingdom and the tropical island zone with some seriously powerful monsters roaming around. Depending on the protagonist you chose in the beginning, you’ll have a party that’s built for certain conditions – such as Nera’s glasscannon-style build of healing all MP post-battle for magic-focused monsters and resurrecting fallen allies, or Bianca’s more brawler build favoring keeping the party’s HP topped off and having an easier time bedazzling foes. Still, despite your choices, the protagonists and new monster wranglers will meet up over the course of the adventure and blend their parties.
Much like other DQ Monsters games, battles play out in the familiar turn-based design, with the monster wrangler offering suggestions on targets and specific attacks, using items to heal allies, or even letting the monsters do their own thing with the auto-battle function. It’s fairly standard with its approach and execution, but it all makes for a satisfying flow. I especially appreciate the way party composition works. While you can have a party of four mid-sized monsters, bringing in the larger ones will take up more individual slots, making for a smaller party, but a potentially stronger one depending on your chosen wrangler and what their abilities are.
With apparently over 500 collectible monsters to train and evolve, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World is really emphasizing the vast roster of allies to acquire. Even during my limited hands-on time, I was blown away by how much variety there was in the selection of monsters. Also, the designs are so expressive and colorful, which really leans into the Toriyama influence. The core way to expand your party is, of course, through battling and scouting. Depending on the type of monsters, you’ll meet certain conditions to be able to scout them in the middle of a fight. If you are stronger than them, or if you’ve managed to beat them down enough, you can outright recruit them during battle, which will add them to your roster and end the fight.
Along with the familiar beats of battling and collecting monsters, The Withered World also adds the ability to synthesize new ones, essentially merging many of the familiar Dragon Quest monsters into new creations. This is on top of the already large number of base monsters, many of which are spiced versions of existing creatures – such as the Coconut Slime, a more tropical cousin of the enduring Slimes. In my case, I combined a Bantamweight rooster monster with a Platypunk to create a Bullfinch monster, a new powered-up beast that helped add some power to my party.
Unfortunately, one notable issue that came up during previews was that some users might be prone to motion sickness while playing. While I personally didn’t experience this, some players in my session and others didn’t react well to the visual style of world exploration in particular. This visually interesting world map is presented as a stylized, rolling map that can look a little disruptive to some. Fortunately, the game’s accessibility options include ways to ease motion sickness by adjusting the camera and visual effects during exploration.
So far, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World is shaping up to be another solid and charming entry in the sub-series. The monster-collecting style of RPG is a fairly crowded market these days, but Square Enix’s efforts to double down on the charm and wholesomeness of Dragon Quest’s world are what make this series so unique and fun to dive into. I had a blast with my limited time with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World, and I can’t wait to see what other oddities and weird creatures to uncover.
While you’re here, check out these recent previews of other big upcoming games we’ve checked out recently!
Alessandro Fillari is a longtime games media professional. Talk video games with him on BlueSky at @afillari.bsky.social.
