Yuji Horii On The Secret Sauce That’s Kept Dragon Quest Going For Nearly 40 Years
Dragon Quest will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year in 2026, and with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined launching in February, the occasion is off to a good start. I visited Square Enix’s Tokyo, Japan, offices to play two hours of Reimagined, interview the team behind it, and speak to Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii about the series’ long-running history, and more. There’s plenty of Reimagined content to read here, but I also took this opportunity to ask Horii about the secret sauce behind Dragon Quest.
According to Horii, it’s two things: warmth and ease of access.
“The key concept that I really try to prioritize, or keep important to me, for Dragon Quest is that, you know, older computer games didn’t really have a sense of warmth,” Horii says on the games he played preceding his work creating Dragon Quest. “But [warmth] was something that I really wanted to bring for the Dragon Quest titles. That, and accessibility for the players.”
Horii tells me that when developing Dragon Quest, he specifically wanted to launch it on the Nintendo Famicom, recognizing its ease of access for players compared to home computers, which still carried a hefty price tag comparatively.
“I think [warmth and accessibility] are pretty important in terms of what makes Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest,” he continues. “But one thing that I also have in mind, one potential reason why it’s been beloved for so long, for almost 40 years, is that the Dragon Quest series also serves as a sort of communication tool for players. A lot of people might have memories of playing the Dragon Quest games with friends; they might have a memory of playing the game with their older brother […] who they might ask to play the game on their behalf so that they can grind and skip the [leveling process challenges].
“So I think that for a lot of people, Dragon Quest games just have a special place in their heart, and that’s why it’s been so successful for so long.”
An image from the Dragon Quest re-release on Nintendo Switch
Seated beside Horii during this interview was Reimagined producer Takeshi Ichikawa. In my time playing it so far, Reimagined retains the warmth of the original island-hopping Dragon Quest VII adventure, and the new visual aesthetic lends itself well to those feelings. That’s one of the bigger takeaways from my preview: it’s cozy, warm, and invites adventure. I asked Ichikawa the same question I posed to Horii, curious about his takeaway.
“I think all the RPG elements the series has to offer are the biggest strength of the Dragon Quest series, and I like to call it part of the Horii-esque elements,” he says. “All the humor, the jokes in the narrative, the dialogue, and the expressions and the portrayals; It’s just so adorable at times, and when you look at the story, it’s an epic story but also somehow feels relevant to you at the time.”
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined launches on February 5 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC.
In the meantime, check out this article breaking down everything in the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined issue of Game Informer, and be sure to subscribe here if you haven’t yet to access the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined cover story, our deep dive into Dragon Quest history with creator Yuji Horii, and so much more.
What do you think the secret sauce of Dragon Quest is? Let us know in the comments below!
