Dragon Quest Walk: Square Enix Challenges Pokémon Go with New AR Mobile Game

Here’s a sneak preview of the game everyone’s talking about. Plus the answer to that all-important question: Will it need microtransactions to play?

No mobile game has garnered an international player base as large as Niantic’s smash-hit Pokémon Go which allows players to walk around the real world and catch pokémon with the swipe of a finger.

But what franchise has been alive and kicking even longer than Pokémon? You guessed it: Dragon Quest.

Renamed as Dragon Warrior for the North American release, Dragon Quest debuted on the original Famicom in Japan in 1986. One of the longest-running JRPG series of all time, new Dragon Quest titles have steadily been released every four to five years resulting in a total of 11 main titles in the franchise.

So if there’s any title capable of challenging Pokémon Go in the augmented reality game market, it’s the new Dragon Quest Walk. Feast your eyes on this.

Built by leading Japanese game developer and publisher Square Enix, Dragon Quest Walk will be released on both Android and iOS this year. Beta testing began Tuesday this week, with 10,000 iOS and 10,000 Android users being lucky enough to try it out. However, there’s still no word of an official release date in Japan or overseas.

What to expect from the Dragon Quest Walk gameplay

Essentially: Battles. These can be initiated by walking around in the real world and tapping on monsters once you get close enough to their location on the in-game map. Players have the option of simply walking around to battle monsters that pop up on the map or accepting quests to advance the story.

In terms of party size, the revealed gameplay video in a press conference hosted by Square Enix on June 3 showed parties of up to four warriors. While the exact details weren’t explained, it seems that the game can be played by yourself or with a friend.

The in-game map overlay includes a quests button that displays the player’s current chapter in the game. Going further into the quests menu shows the player’s available quests, the quest information, and the quest rewards, as well as the crystal cost to accept the quest.

Does Dragon Quest Walk require microtransactions to play?

Each quest will have a crystal fee to accept it, but instead of sleazily forcing the player to cough up real-world cash in the form of microtransactions (typically used to add cosmetic items or to level-up your characters faster), Dragon Quest Walk employs a cost-free and healthy way of gaining more crystals: Walking.

Quests begin with…
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Originally published at https://blog.gaijinpot.com on June 13, 2019.

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