Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age — Definitive Edition arrives for Nintendo Switch this fall

Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age — Definitive Edition for the Nintendo Switch has a release window. Fans can expect to play the game this fall.

The critically-acclaimed role-playing game, originally titled Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age, features the work of series creator Yuji Horii. Players take on the role of a young man known who discovers he is the reincarnation of a legendary historical figure. The game was included in our round-up of the 50 best games of 2018.

This new version of the game includes a few interesting changes, including new character-specific stories. There’s also a 16-bit-inspired graphics mode that appears to be pulled from the 3DS version of the game. The game will also include a fully orchestrated soundtrack alongside the original, as well as English and Japanese audio tracks. Players will be able to switch between all of these modes on the fly.

Square Enix

From Polygon’s Michael McWhertor:

Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age staunchly sticks to many of the series’ formulas, for the better. It’s a grand role-playing game, spanning dozens of hours (as required by JRPG law) filled with turn-based battles against slimes, dragons, golems and other cute tongue-wagging monsters. I love it, for all its slavish adherence to the Dragon Quest formula. I love visiting charming towns, exploring the countryside with a party of endearing and sweet heroes, and vanquishing evil. Dragon Quest games have always had these things, and Echoes of an Elusive Age has more of them, in high fidelity and polished to a comfortable smoothness.

Originally released in Japan during the summer of 2017 for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation 4, Western localized versions for PS4 and Windows PC via Steam have been available since September. Square Enix announced a Nintendo Switch version back when the console was still known by its codename, NX, but didn’t confirm a release window for Dragon Quest 11 on Switch until late last year.