UPDATED 18:41 EDT / JULY 09 2015

NEWS

Square Enix announces a new Dragon Quest and it looks like Minecraft

Yesterday video game developer and publisher Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. announced the most recent spin-off game from the long-running Dragon Quest series and it looks surprisingly like a block-placing game we all know. The game is named Dragon Quest Builders and, readers may already have guessed, it has an aesthetic that’s uncannily similar to Minecraft.

While the game is set for a release in Japan in the winter, Western players may be in for a longer wait as there is no release date for the Americas or Europe set. We do know the game is in development for release on the PlayStation 4, PS3, and PS Vita platforms.

According to a post on 4Gamer (Japanese site) the game is a “block-building RPG.”

The Dragon Quest series is a venerable and long JRPG series that started with Dragon Warrior (US name, 1989 release) that was a 2D tile-based RPG with turn-based combat, similar to the original Final Fantasy game, both on the Nintendo gaming console. Since then Dragon Quest has seen 10 iterations, with Dragon Quest X released for the Nintendo Wii in August, 2012. The series has also seen more than seven spin-offs released for Nintendo handhelds and other mobile devices.

Looking at the graphics provided, the ‘block-building” elements may be a grab at the extreme popularity of Minecraft. The popular block-building game itself sold more than 20 million copies on OSX/PC and 70 million total by July, 2015. So it’s not hard to see why other game developers still want to cash in.

Although Minecraft has been out since May, 2009 its intrinsic draw is undeniable.

Dragon Quest Builders will most likely include its usual RPG elements—a main hero, strange humor, and an epic quest—but the title and the graphics suggest that “building” will become a theme that will drive that RPG play.

Image credit: Square Enix

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