The Dragon Quest series began in the mid-80s, with 11 mainline titles and countless spinoff games. Of these numerous releases, Dragon Quest 10: Awakening of the Five Tribes is the first massively multiplayer online game in the franchise, originally launching on the Nintendo Wii in 2012, and still has a steady player base. Not everybody enjoys playing the game as an MMO, however, and it seems that developer Square Enix is looking to fix that.
When the game released in Japan, it had impressive sales but still ranked as having one of the worst sales debuts of a mainline Dragon Quest game. One of the reasons for that was the difficulty many players had interacting with other people, although the early stages of the game seemed to require a party to progress. While much of that has changed over the years with regular content and gameplay updates, the MMO aspect of Dragon Quest 10 still has not been attractive to some players.
In the Dragon Quest 35th Anniversary stream that took place on May 26, the producer of Dragon Quest 10, Takumi Shiraishi, revealed that an offline version of the game is currently in the works with a planned release in Japan in 2022. Dragon Quest 10 is one of the only titles in the franchise to not be released in the West, and there is as yet no information on whether Dragon Quest 10 Offline will be released internationally nor which platforms the game is being developed for.
With Dragon Quest 10 Offline, Square Enix hopes to create a standalone version of the game that will be easy to pick up and play. In that regard, the game has undergone a few alterations that will make it slightly different from its online cousin. Most notably, the graphic style of the characters has changed from the “normal” size seen in Dragon Quest 8 and 11 and returns to a more chibi style reminiscent of 2009’s Dragon Quest 9 and earlier titles. The goal, according to Shiraishi, is to create a visual style that is both charming and nostalgic.
In addition, Dragon Quest 10 Offline will feature a more compact map when compared to that of the expansive world of Dragon Quest 10 Online, which should appeal more to gamers who love Dragon Quest and don’t necessarily play MMORPGs. Other alterations to the online format will be shared in future announcements. These changes will hopefully modify the game enough that it will interest even those who already enjoy Dragon Quest 10 Online.
To date, there have been five versions or major story additions released for Dragon Quest 10 Online, with Version 6 announced to be coming this fall during the Dragon Quest 35th Anniversary stream. While the offline version of the game will include many of the characters and stories available in the MMORPG, it has not yet been revealed which versions will be included in Dragon Quest 10 Offline out of the box, or whether future online updates will be made available for the offline version via DLC or free expansions.
Dragon Quest 10: Awakening of the Five Tribes is available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Wii U.