Dragon Quest 12 Beyond Dreams announced as development is rebooted

Square Enix has rebooted Dragon Quest XII’s development from scratch and re‑revealed it as Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams, with a new protagonist, storyline, and logo.

• Executive producer Yosuke Saito and series creator Yuji Horii said during the Dragon Quest 40th anniversary stream that the original version, which was unveiled in 2021 as “Flames of Fate,” ran into “a lot of trouble,” prompting a full restart under a new development structure.
• The new story follows “a young hero who’s beset by strange visions in their sleep,” with the subtitle Beyond Dreams tying directly into this premise. Square Enix says the reboot shifts XII back toward a more traditional, upbeat Dragon Quest tone after Flames of Fate had been pitched as a darker, more mature take on the series.
• As with previous entries, Akira Toriyama’s character designs and Koichi Sugiyama’s music will feature again, making this one of the first major Dragon Quest projects released after both creators’ deaths.
• There is still no release window or confirmed platform list, and Saito stressed that because of the restart “it’s going to be a bit longer” before fans can play Beyond Dreams, suggesting the game is still some time away.