Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below

Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below[1][lower-alpha 1] is a hack and slash game developed by Omega Force and published by Square Enix. It was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan in February 2015,[2][3] and in North America, Australia and Europe only for PlayStation 4 in October 2015.[4][5] It was later released for Microsoft Windows in December 2015. The game received generally positive reviews, with a sequel Dragon Quest Heroes II being released in Japan during May 2016.[6] Dragon Quest Heroes would later be released with the sequel in a compilation for Nintendo Switch in Japan.

Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below
Developer(s)Omega Force
Publisher(s)Square Enix
Director(s)Tomohiko Sho
Producer(s)Ryota Aomi
Kenichi Ogasawara
Designer(s)Michio Yamada
Programmer(s)Yu Ito
Artist(s)Akira Toriyama
Kentaro Yamamoto
Eiichiro Nakastu
Writer(s)Atsushi Narita
Composer(s)Koichi Sugiyama
Series
Platform(s)PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
Microsoft Windows
Nintendo Switch
ReleasePlayStation 3
  • JP: February 26, 2015
PlayStation 4
  • JP: February 26, 2015
  • NA: October 13, 2015
  • EU: October 16, 2015
Microsoft Windows
  • WW: December 3, 2015
Nintendo Switch
  • JP: March 3, 2017
Genre(s)Hack and slash
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Dragon Quest Heroes mixes the hack-and-slash combat of Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors series of video games with the characters, monsters, universe, and lore from Square Enix's Dragon Quest series. The game is much more heavy on RPG elements than most of Omega Force's other titles. The game has a roster of 13 characters that the player can choose from, each having unique weapons and abilities, some of these characters are fan favourite Dragon Quest characters but many other characters show up as NPCs.

Plot

The game is set in the Kingdom of Arba, where mankind and monsters live peacefully. One day, monsters began to attack mankind suddenly leading the captains of the Royal Guard, Luceus and Aurora, to recover the hearts of monsters.[7] The nefarious Velasco schemes to plunge the world into darkness by taking control of all the monsters in order to release the darkness dragon Shadroth: Lord of the Night.

When a dark shockwave sweeps through the city of Arba, the monsters that once lived alongside the people in peace are driven into a frenzied rage. As either the hero Luceus or the heroine Aurora, the player joins forces with a cast of fan favorites from previous Dragon Quest titles, such as Alena, Bianca and Yangus, to bring the rampaging hordes of monsters to their senses and restore order to the kingdom.[8]

Development

Dragon Quest Heroes was developed by Omega Force, who are better known for their hack and slash Dynasty Warriors franchise,[9] and published by Square Enix.

At a Sony Computer Entertainment Japan press conference on September 1, 2014, the game was announced by Yuji Horii.[2] As a promotion, a special edition PlayStation 4, featuring the metal slime from Dragon Quest, was released on December 11, 2014, selling 38,000 units in its first week.[10]

Reception

Famitsu awarded Dragon Quest Heroes a 35/40.[14] More than 594,000 copies were sold in its first week, 325,000 on PS3 and 269,000 on PS4. Dragon Quest Heroes is currently the second best selling PS4 game in Japan, and the first not including hardware bundles.[15] In July 2015, Square Enix announced that they will release more Dragon Quest video games in the West if the company is satisfied with the sales of Heroes.[16] On July 28, 2015, Square Enix announced that the title had sold more than one million units.[17]

In the west, Dragon Quest Heroes received a mostly positive reception, with an average Metacritic score of 77 out of 100 (75 reviews) for the PS4 version, and 73 out of 100 (9 reviews) for the PC version.[11][12]

IGN awarded it a score of 6.2 out of 10, saying "The joy of fighting defenseless creatures in Dragon Quest Heroes only lasts a short while."[18] GameSpot awarded it a score of 8.0 out of 10, saying "affords every lover of the franchise the rare opportunity to cause genocidal destruction with the kind of efficiency you cannot find in a turn-based RPG."[19]

Sequel

As the game received positive reception, Square Enix announced that they would be developing a sequel for the game, titled Dragon Quest Heroes II.[20][21] It was released for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita in Japan on May 27, 2016, and for the PlayStation 4 in North America and Europe in April 2017.[17][22][23][24]

Dragon Quest Heroes I·II, a compilation featuring this game and the sequel, was released as a Japanese launch title for the Nintendo Switch on March 3, 2017.[25]

Notes
  1. Known in Japanese as ドラゴンクエストヒーローズ 闇竜と世界樹の城 (Doragon Kuesto Hīrōzu Yamiryuu to Sekaiju no Shiro, lit. "Dragon Quest Heroes: The Dark Dragon and the World Tree Castle").

References
  1. Robert Ramsey (2015-04-17). "Bad News for Us Writers as Dragon Quest Heroes Gets a Massive Western Subtitle – Push Square". Push Square. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  2. Michael McWhertor (2014-09-01). "Dragon Quest Heroes brings the series back to PlayStation in Dynasty Warriors style". Polygon. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
  3. "Dragon Quest Heroes: Yamiryuu to Sekaiju no Shiro". PlayStation.com. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  4. Dan Seto (2015-02-25). "Dragon Quest Heroes Coming to PS4 in 2015". Sony Playstation Blog. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  5. Karmali, Luke (2 June 2015). "Dragon Quest Heroes Release Date and Collector's Edition Revealed". IGN. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  6. Romano, Sal (24 February 2016). "Dragon Quest Heroes II debut trailer, gameplay, new details". Gematsu. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  7. "［TGS 2014］100万体のモンスター軍が迫る！ 「ドラゴンクエストヒーローズ 闇竜と世界樹の城」デモンストレーションステージをレポート". 4gamer.com. 2014-09-22. Retrieved 2015-01-07.
  8. "Dragon Quest Heroes". Dragon Quest Heroes. Archived from the original on 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  9. Colin Moriarty (2014-09-01). "Dragon Quest Heroes revealed for PlayStation 4". IGN. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
  10. Ishaan (2014-12-23). "The Dragon Quest Metal Slime Edition PS4 Sold 38,000 Units In Japan". Siliconera. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
  11. "Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  12. "Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  13. "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1369". Gematsu. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  14. ドラゴンクエストヒーローズ 闇竜と世界樹の城. "ファミ通クロスレビュー: プラチナ殿堂 (35点)"
  15. 「ドラゴンクエストヒーローズ 闇竜と世界樹の城」が合計59万4000本のヒットとなった「ゲームソフト週間販売ランキング＋」. Aetas, Inc.
  16. Kollar, Philip (July 6, 2015). "More Dragon Quest games could come to North America if Dragon Quest Heroes sells". Polygon. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  17. Romano, Sal (July 28, 2015). "Dragon Quest Heroes II Slated Spring 2016 in Japan". Gematsu. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  18. Mc Shea, Tom (October 14, 2015). "Dragon Quest Heroes Review". IGN. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  19. Concepcion, Miguel (October 7, 2015). "Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below Review". GameSpot. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  20. "新たなる冒険の幕開け！『ドラゴンクエストヒーローズII』制作決定のお知らせ". Square Enix. April 2, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  21. "Official Website".
  22. Ashcraft, Brian. "Square Enix Just Disappointed The Hell Out Of Dragon Quest Fans". Kotaku. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  23. McWhertor, Michael (April 1, 2015). "Dragon Quest Heroes 2 coming to PS3, PS4 and PS Vita". Polygon. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  24. Romano, Sal (8 December 2016). "Dragon Quest Heroes II for PS4 coming to North America on April 25, Europe on April 28". Gamasutra. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  25. Van Duide, Erren. "Dragon Quest Heroes I and II coming to Nintendo Switch". RPG Site. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
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