Dragon Quest 11 for Switch Rebranded as Dragon Quest 11 S

Dragon Quest 11 was the very first game announced for the Nintendo Switch— back when it was still known as the Nintendo NX, in fact. So it’s been a bit puzzling to see the game basically be MIA for so long, even while other versions of the game have come out. That said, we got a new update on the Switch version of the game at the Tokyo Game Show, even though it… wasn’t exactly a whole lot.

Square Enix announced that the Switch version of Dragon Quest 11 will be called Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age. As you may have noticed, the “S” is new. According to Yuji Horii, the creator of the series, the “S” stands for “Switch”, “Special”, “Shaberu”, and “Seiyuu” (the latter two meaning “speaking” and “voice actor” in Japanese, which is because this version will have voice acting in Japanese, which none of the other versions have).

However, there is something to keep in mind— a lot of Japanese players don’t want voice acting in their Dragon Quest games. This is something Enix seems to be aware of, because Hokuto Okamoto, the producer of the game, explained, “Even though shaberu (speaking) will be taking priority… I think there are some players who would prefer Dragon Quest without voices, and we’re keeping that in mind. Horii will be able to say more about that at some point…”

I assume there will be an option in-game to turn the voices off, if nothing else. That’s all the information we have on the Switch version right now, however. No release date was shared. So now we wait.

Nintendo Switch 用ソフト『ドラゴンクエストXI 過ぎ去りし時を求めて S』の日本国内での発売が正式に決定いたしました！
発売日、価格等の詳細については続報をお待ちください。#DQ11 pic.twitter.com/NYni1NtLuj

— ドラゴンクエスト宣伝担当 (@DQ_PR) September 23, 2018