DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake Review

In 1986 and 1987 a legendary series was born and sequeled; that franchise was called Dragon Quest. Like any JRPG nerd, I have, of course … played sod all of them. I played and adored Dragon Quest XI but never got the chance to go back and play them all.

Well, with some re-releases, the chance has finally come, and now you can play the first and second entries in this amazing series in waaaaay prettier fashion.

The Dragon’s Quest begins

Dragon Quest 1 tells a simple story of a hero who travels to a castle. Here he discovers that the princess has been taken by the big baddy, the Dragonlord. The hero is asked by the king to go and find out more information about an old hero, Erdrick, and follow his footsteps to find and defeat the Dragonlord.

Dragon Quest II is set in the same world, but 100 years later. Here on a new continent we have a bunch of descendants of that same Erdrick who cast his heroic shadow over the first game. One of the castles, Moondrick Castle, is attacked by a crazy wizard who wants to summon a demon. You play a prince who has to go out and defeat this wizard, with some other challenges like undoing some magic that transformed a princess into a dog, because why not.

They are fantasy games, but I mean, it was the 80s.

The action!

Playing Dragon Quest I and then Dragon Quest II, you quickly discover how far game design has come in a short space of time. Exploration and things are classic JRPG, but the combat is different. Dragon Quest I has one member in the party. When you go into a battle, your hero doesn’t show up on the screen. Then there are other quirks, like when you use spells that hit multiple targets, it will only hit multiples of the same enemy. It took me a while to get it, but it’s charming in its own way.

Dragon Quest II, on the other hand, is a much more conventional JRPG. You have a party for one thing. You initially have a companion who does her own attacks, but as you pick up other characters, you can control their actions. Initially they do their own attacks, but you can change that to manual for more control. Personally I found I was happy leaving them to their own devices, but on higher difficulties you may want to control their use of MP more.

The style!

The games have been rebuilt with an absolutely stunning pixel art style. Having not played the original games, I had no idea how good they looked originally.  After a quick Google, it is clear this isn’t a remaster; they have been built from the ground up to give the game a stunning look that feels old but is too detailed to be old. I absolutely loved looking at these games.

Both games have a whole unique battlefield style where the enemies appear lined up in front of you and the characters disappear when attacks happen. It’s quirky and weird and feels more like the style you see in dungeon crawlers. I love the classic JRPG battlefields and prefer them to this; however, this is fun and quirky.

Should you play Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D?

For any fan of JRPGs, this is an easy hell yeah. The craft that has been put into bringing these games back to life is exquisite. They have kept some of the weird quirks that show how old the game is but have made it look gorgeous and made it easier to play in 2025. I am glad to have these ones on my playlist now!

9 Hell Yeah!

Some aspect may be dated, but this game is as fun as it is iconic.