Square Enix has confirmed plans to publish a sequel for Dragon Quest Builders, the surprise hit sandbox game spun off from the publisher’s beloved RPG series. Details are incredibly limited right now and, in typical Square Enix fashion, there isn’t even a proper trailer for the project yet. But many people (including this reporter) don’t need to learn much more than we already have to get excited about development of Dragon Quest Builders 2.
The big DQB2 announcement arrived during Square Enix’s first Dragon Quest Summer Festival, a massive, two-day celebration of all things DQ held at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center (aka Tokyo Big Sight). The festival, announced back in May, is part of Square Enix’s ongoing efforts to celebrate the franchise’s 30th anniversary. It was also the first time anyone outside of the publisher’s payroll got to see early Dragon Quest Builders 2 footage. And it sounds like there are plenty of new features and other gameplay changes to get hyped about, including a pair of new ways to explore the map. We were already big fans of the original, which debuted back in 2016, and the publisher’s plans for the sequel sound even better than the first DQB.
According to Square Enix, the next Dragon Quest Builders will introduce the multiplayer support that the first game desperately needed. Groups of up to four players will be able to explore and build together, assembling sprawling communities while they complete the game’s narrative content. Dragon Quest Builders 2 will also include two new forms of travel: swimming and hang gliding. The former is likely to be a welcome addition, since deep water will no longer be life-threatening, while the latter should expedite longer journeys across the map. Polygon says a smattering of early DQB2 footage was also shown to festival attendees; however, that gameplay has yet to make its way online. If/when the footage is uploaded, we’ll add it to this post.
Unfortunately, this weekend’s Dragon Quest Builders 2 announcement didn’t include a timeline for the sequel. Square Enix says the game will use Sony and Nintendo’s current hardware, without specifying whether or not the game is getting PS4 Pro optimization. At this point, we don’t know if DQB2 is a late 2017 release or if fans should settle in to wait for a 2018 debut. The latter seems much more likely, given our proximity to the end of the year, but anything is possible these days.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is in development for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for additional Dragon Quest Builders 2 news in 2017 and however long Square Enix supports DQB2 after launch.
