Dragon Quest 7 remake director calms fans worried the JRPG is being rushed to make up for Dragon Quest 12's absence: "Everyone's pouring their hearts and souls into this"

Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined characters.
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined was only announced earlier this month, but it's already coming out really soon. Like February 7, 2026 soon. Like, only a couple months after the other Dragon Quest remakes drop. But despite the quick turnaround between DQ remakes, the game's director has insisted it isn't being rushed.

As reported on by Automaton, Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined's announcement spurred lots of excitement but also lots of premature online backlash from fans worried that this was a rushed job quickly made to fill the gap left by Dragon Quest 12's prolonged absence.

Twitterers pointed at screenshots that seemingly show how Reimagined is reducing the number of islands you can travel to and maybe even removing monster vocations (which let you transform into iconic DQ beasties mid-battle), with one even calling it a "lazy project" made to plug the DQ12-shaped hole in Square Enix's release calendar.

All the gloomy speculation prompted director Masato Yagi to chime in on social media, and insist "we're not rushing production at the last minute." In fact, according to him, "Everyone's pouring their hearts and souls into this. I just want to make sure that much is understood. Also, I'm not trying to say 'we're working hard so don't complain.' Please don't misunderstand."

Square Enix previously made clear that it was cutting the bloat out of Dragon Quest 7 while also adding "entirely new scenarios," which might explain some of the missing content in its reveal. Plus, if Squeenix was actually rushing out remakes to make up for DQ12's absence, surely they'd spread the games out more, right?

Dragon Quest creator hints he hasn't forgotten about the Zenithian Trilogy: "There are various projects in motion, it's just that 7 happened to get completed first"

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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