Today, Square Enix revealed new infromation on the upcoming Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World. As Nera and Bianca, players can take charge of four monsters in turn-based battles (with four more monsters in reserves you can swap out as you like). Each monster has their own spells and abilities, and it's up to you to figure out how best to use them.
Bianca and Nera can lend a hand with the Wrangler's Spirit. This mysterious power has a random chance to activate in battle, providing different boosts depending on who you're playing as. Bianca will heal the party and boost attack power, while Nera restores MP and raises defense.
Each of the over 500 monsters you can befriend are divided into eight monster families, like slimes or dragons, nine size ranks, and various personality types. After catching a monster through a Show of Force, you need to raise them by having the monster participate in battle. Monsters gain experience with each battle won, leveling up and sometimes earning Talent Points too. A single monster can have up to three talents, and you can invest points into those talents to teach it new abilities or boost its stats. Large monsters might take up two slots in your party, but can have more traits than small monsters in addition to taking more actions per turn.
Once a befriended monster reaches the limits of its power (or just upon reaching level 10) you can synthesize two monsters to create a new monster that inherits their talents. There are even some monsters that can only be obtained through synthesis too! To help guide you along, there are synthesis patterns you can view to get an idea of which monsters to fuse.
The Withered World also introduces new monsters to the roster, and we got a look at three of the today. Slime Balls are bite-size buddies from the slime family that come in the mouthwatering flavors: sour plum, veggie mix, and shrimp tempura. The Bamboo Badboy is of the nature family and likes to lure in hungry folks with his guise of succulent bamboo. Finally, the Groovy Grouse is also from the nature family who moves and grooves to the nonstop melodies that play in its head.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World launches on December 3rd, 2026 for Nintendo Switch 1 & 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. For more on all things Dragon Quest, stay tuned to GamingTrend.
