It’s been 39 years since the tale of Erdrick’s descendant was told for the first time. It’s a story about dragons, princesses, and heroes, and after all these years, it’s still capable of showing the imaginative power behind this simple premise. This fantasy tale has now been modernized with Dragon Quest 1 HD-2D Remake, which highlights the strong aspects of the original material, providing what I consider the best way to experience this adventure.
Dragon Quest 1 HD-2D Remake uses all the power and visual charm of the HD-2D treatment that other games in the series got, while keeping Akira Toriyama’s original character design, to tell the story of a hero who comes from the great Erdrick’s lineage (the protagonist of Dragon Quest 3), and is the only one capable of facing the evil Dragonlord. What was already a great game — great enough to give birth to a whole genre of role-playing games — is now even better with the changes and additions brought by the remake.
Structurally, Dragon Quest 1 HD-2D Remake remains faithful to the original game. It’s a turn-based RPG, where every battle gives your character the experience he needs to level up and prepare for the final challenge. Yes, I said “he.” That’s because Dragon Quest 1, unlike the other games in the series, has a party of a single character who will constantly fight groups of two or three enemies. While it feels the game lacks complexity due to having fewer characters to work with, the one-man-army approach actually forces you to understand your character’s limitations and carefully plan how to use your turn.
In the game, exploring this beautiful world and venturing to the farthest corners of every dungeon is not only a rewarding experience but also a fundamental aspect of your character’s progression. Most of the time, checking jars and opening chests will give you healing items or even the rare Mini Medals. But if you’re curious enough to check every corner of a dungeon and village, you may find a Special Scroll. Once read, these scrolls teach your character a new spell or ability that they couldn’t unlock in any other way, telling you that his strength came not only from the battle he won but also from the real experiences he had.
This doesn’t mean you won’t need to grind. After all, this is still a Dragon Quest game, so you inevitably need to spend some time killing the same monster to level up or farm gold. For many players, grinding is not the most enjoyable aspect of playing an RPG, but instead of changing this core aspect of the game’s design, the developers added quality-of-life elements that actually make the process less painful and dull.
The game now automatically saves after every battle, so you don’t need to run to the church — the only place where you could save your game in previous games — after a few clashes, fearing you will die and lose all your progress. You can choose to recover HP and MP when you level up, which also significantly reduces the time you spend going back to the inn to heal yourself. The shortcut commands remove the annoyance of having to open multiple menus only to use an item or cast a spell. With two buttons, you can heal yourself or cast Zoom to teleport to wherever you want.
Beyond all the battles, magical chests, and experience points lies a compelling fantasy story. Don’t let the simplicity of Dragon Quest 1’s plot fool you. The journey of the hero to save the world is no monotone power-trip adventure. There is a princess tormented by a cruel creature with illusions of her parents dying. A group of adventurers, longing to become heroes, gets lost inside the first cave they enter.
The remake enriches this world by turning old myths into reality and adding classical elements to the narrative that weren’t present in the original game. The old stories about a hidden village of fairies turn out to be true, and there’s much to learn from them to help you with your journey. At the same time, people are talking about a unique key that opens all doors, the Thief’s Key, which you’ll definitely need to open all the red doors you find.
Dragon Quest 1 HD-2D Remake has tragedy, comedy, and mystery, always pushing you to play a bit more, wondering what’s going to happen next.
Although it is still a story about a hero in a world of princesses and dragons, Dragon Quest 1 HD-2D Remake manages to improve an already great game. It’s not promising anything other than being a classical fantasy story, and if you’re open to accepting Dragon Quest 1 as it truly is, then you’re going to have a memorable experience.
