Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Review (NS2, Nintendo Switch 2)
Summary: Dragon Quest VII Reimagined turns an overly long classic into a much more streamlined adventure.
4.8
Classic JRPG
Dragon Quest VII has always been the series’ most ambitious yet flawed entry, a sweeping time-travel epic slowed by pacing and technical limitations. Now, with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, Square Enix has finally found a way to honour this 2000 classic while making it enjoyable for new players.
Your father, a celebrated fisherman in Pilchard Bay, has traversed every corner of the ocean only to discover endless water, nothing more; just a single island in a seemingly empty world. But when you venture out with your childhood friend Kiefer, Prince of Estard, you uncover a startling mystery. Your journey turns into a mission to restore the world, traveling through time to fix past tragedies and rebuild the islands that were lost. This setup lets each island have its own story, and you’re always meeting new characters and facing different conflicts. Dragon Quest VII feels more like a series of interconnected stories rather than just one linear adventure.
The biggest change in Reimagined is its gorgeous diorama-style environments. Characters now look more like they did in the original PlayStation entry, with taller designs instead of the shorter 3DS sprites, but with a hand-crafted miniature look. The toy-like graphics add a warm, Pixar-like feel that matches Akira Toriyama’s classic character designs. The audio is just as impressive, and Koichi Sugiyama’s orchestral music has been re-recorded, giving new energy to the classic songs that long-time fans will instantly recognise.
On Switch 2, the game runs smoothly and has virtually no loading between areas. This is a huge step up from the long load times on PS1 and the slower transitions on 3DS. The tilt-shift camera makes the world look even more like miniature, but it works well and feels natural. This style makes Reimagined stand out from the recent HD-2D remakes by Square Enix.
Reimagined fixes many of the original game’s biggest problems. For example, the addition of the Career Sphere allows you to change classes anywhere, any time. Save points and autosaves are placed at natural stopping spots, and new travel shortcuts make it easier to get around the huge map. You can also automate battles to speed up fights while travelling. Monsters now appear in the overworld, and depending on their toughness can be defeated right there and then, allowing players to continue their adventure at a brisk pace. Moreover, the slow start of the original has been improved, so you reach the first puzzles and time-travel parts much faster than on PS1. Even compared to the 3DS version, which already sped things up.
Perhaps the most controversial change is the extent to which Square Enix has sped up the game. Some islands and dungeons are now shorter or gone entirely, so the completion time drops from over 100 hours to about 35-40 hours. Many mid-game areas that felt like filler have been removed, and the dungeons that remain focus on the best parts. Some longtime fans might miss the cut content, but these changes fit modern gaming behaviour, understanding that a lot of players don’t have 100 hours to commit to one RPG, even if it’s a classic. The game keeps its chapter-based structure and the emotional stories for each island, but there’s now less backtracking and filler. The result is a game that still feels big and epic but doesn’t drag on too long.
The 3DS version updated the systems and made the game shorter for handheld play but Reimagined goes further. It keeps the unique island-hopping, but now everything looks and feels like a game made for 2026. The diorama style gives the game its own look instead of just improving old graphics. The class system is bigger and allows characters to equip two vocations at the same time. These changes bring in new ideas from recent Dragon Quest entries but keeps what makes VII special.
Final Thoughts
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is without a doubt the best version of this classic JRPG. The diorama graphics look phenomenal, the new features save you time without losing out on the game’s identity, and the Switch 2 makes everything run smoothly. Some completionists might not like how much content was cut, but these changes turn a hard-to-finish epic into an adventure new players can actually complete. If you gave up on the PS1 or 3DS versions, Reimagined clears almost every obstacle between you and one of the series’ best stories.
About the Author
Jade Darton Jade is a web developer and Computer Science BSc student from Suffolk, UK with a passion for games and writing about them.
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