Square Enix has shared new details about the upcoming Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World. The game follows Bianca and Nera from Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride as children, searching for the fabled Leaves of Life that will supposedly heal their sick fathers. They meet a strange creature called Fluffy, who leads them to the Witherwood and bestows them with the power to befriend monsters.
The Witherwood is your base of operations, from which you'll set out to explore a vast world of beaches, fields, mountains, oceans, and more as the horizon curves in front of you, similar to Animal Crossing. You can also swap between Bianca (Eva Feiler) and Nera (Kimberly Capero) whenever you wish, so stick with one the whole time or mix and match. They're joined by Nera's older sister Debora (Rebecca Hansen), Fluffy (Caius Nicholas) and Debora's friend Fizzy (Harriet Carmichael). These are just three of the friends the pair will encounter on their journey, and they'll no doubt meet more friendly faces.
Some friendly faces might first feel like ferocious foes! You'll encounter a wide variety of monsters on your travels, and can befriend them by scouting or through some secret methods. Monsters do the fighting for you, and level up accordingly. You can also fuse two monsters together to create a new one to further customize your party.
When the game launches on December 3rd, there will also be four DLC packs available for purchase separately or in a pack: The Mega Mole Hole, Monster Marathons, The Metalic Ring, and The Scout Run VIP Card. The first is a special dungeon filled only with monsters you've befriended before so you can scout for monsters with higher stats. Monster marathons is a minigame where you can send out a party of monsters in a platforming stage to earn crafting items, experience, and gold. The last two are items, with the Metalic Ring transforming nearby monsters into various kinds of metal slimes, while the Scout Run VIP card can earn you more monster spawns in Scout Run.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World launches on December 3rd, 2026 for Switch, Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and PlayStation 5. For more on all things Dragon Quest, stay tuned to GamingTrend.
