Dragon Quest XII Started Over: Why The Flames of Fate Became Beyond Dreams
Five years after its reveal, Square Enix scrapped Dragon Quest XII's original version and rebuilt it under a new name. Here is what changed, what survived, and what is still unknown.
On May 27, 1986, a role-playing game called Dragon Quest went on sale in Japan for the Famicom. Forty years later to the day, Square Enix used the anniversary livestream to make an announcement few fans expected: the next main game in the series had been started again from scratch.
Dragon Quest XII was first announced in 2021 as The Flames of Fate. On May 27, 2026, series creator Yuji Horii and executive producer Yosuke Saito revealed that version had been halted, the team reshuffled, and development restarted under a new title: Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams. There is no release date, and Square Enix has not confirmed platforms.
What happened to The Flames of Fate
The original pitch, shared in 2021, promised a darker, more adult Dragon Quest, with meaningful choices and an overhauled turn-based combat system. It was a bold idea for a series famous for its warm, classic feel.
Five years later, Saito admitted that "work on the original version, Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, hit a lot of hurdles along the way." While discussing with Horii what a mainline Dragon Quest game should be, the team decided to start over, with a reshuffled team and a new structure.
Horii's message on the new direction was hopeful: "What lies beyond dreams? Surely not a world of darkness but a bright and exciting future." He did not share story details, but the shift in tone from "flames of fate" to a "bright and exciting future" speaks for itself.
What the teaser showed
The short trailer shown at the livestream offered a few clues:
- An open world with a castle, grassy plains, a beach and a desert.
- Monsters and characters including a woman repairing a ship, a floating robot and an armoured lizard-like humanoid.
- A redesigned logo.
The hero, Square Enix says, has strange visions while sleeping, which ties neatly into the new subtitle. Whether the player choices of the original pitch survive is not yet known.
What survived: Toriyama and Sugiyama
The most emotional question for fans was whether the series' two legendary artists would still be part of it. Character designer Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, died in March 2024. Composer Koichi Sugiyama, who wrote every Dragon Quest score, died in 2021, while working on Dragon Quest XII.
Horii confirmed that Beyond Dreams will still feature Toriyama's character art and Sugiyama's music. No new character designer has been named.
The rest of the 40th anniversary
The same broadcast announced Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World, starring Bianca and Nera from Dragon Quest V, for Switch 2, Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Square Enix also confirmed that the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake and Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake have sold a combined 4 million copies, and Dragon Quest VII Reimagined launched in February 2026.
What's next
Restarting a mainline Dragon Quest is rare, and it usually means a long wait. Horii said only that "the game's coming along really well, so I hope you look forward to the next announcement." Our expectation is that the next big update will come on a future Dragon Quest Day, and that the release is still some years away.
Until then, the HD-2D remakes and Dragon Quest VII Reimagined are the best ways to spend time in this world.