Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince Reveals New Gameplay Details & Screenshots; Digital Pre-Orders Available

Square Enix has announced that digital pre-orders for their upcoming turn-based JRPG Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince are now available. Doing so will grant players the Head Start set, comprised of the following:

• Stardust Earrings x1
• Scholar’s Specs x1
• Bonus Ball x5

Three paid DLCs will also be available at launch, comprising:

• The Mole Hole / Gothic Vestment
• Coach Joe’s Dungeon Gym / Cake-Maker’s Clobber
• Treasure Trunks / Monstrous Mail

Additionally, the team revealed new gameplay details. Combat will consist of eight party members, with four being active and another four being in reserves. Further, you can manually control your monsters’ actions every turn or set predetermined tactics to let the AI decide, like ‘Show No Mercy’ or ‘Focus on Healing.’ In battle, monsters can enter a frenzied state born from desperation in dire scenarios, enabling greater damage output and additional chances to perform an action.

Monsters can join the party in various ways, listed below:

• They can ask to join after you defeat them in battle.
• The ‘Show of Force’ skill can persuade strong-looking monsters to join.
• Other monster wranglers you’ll meet may be down with combining your monsters with theirs, letting you keep the result.
• Food-based items can increase the likelihood of monsters’ joining or enhance the efficacy of ‘Show of Force.’

Each monster has its own type of Talent, of which there are three broad categories, each comprised of “a mix of skills, magic spells, attribute boosters, and more.” They also have evident specialties, like honing in on healing capabilities or bolstering damage.

You can level up monster Talents, consisting of new spells and abilities, by assigning talent points earned multiple ways, like battle experience. Further, the resulting child monster made through monster synthesis has its own innate Talent and can also inherit a Talent from its parent.

Monsters can be small or large. The former size takes one party slot, with the latter requiring two. Large-type monsters have higher attributes than the smaller kinds, too, and can act multiple times per turn. Moreover, each monster is assigned one of these nine ranks from lowest to highest:

• G
• F
• E
• D
• C
• B
• A
• S
• X

Familiar franchise antagonists reside in S, like Krystalinda and Jasper Unbound from Dragon Quest XI, while Rank X monsters are truly monstrous.

Lastly of note are the two battle arenas, “the Endor Colosseum in the human world of Terrestria, and the Maulosseum in the monster realm of Nadiria.” It goes without saying that conquering the trials here will make your party considerably stronger.

You can view new gameplay screenshots of Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince via our gallery below:

In Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, the demihuman protagonist Psaro was cursed by the ruler of the monster realm of Nadiria, also known as his father, making the youth incapable of harming any being with monster blood coursing through their veins.

• Announcement Coverage
• Cast, Nadiria, DLC & New Monster Introductions
• DLC Outfits
• 1 Save Slot
• Box Art & Japanese Voice Cast
• Krystalinda & Jasper Confirmation

To defy his fate, Psaro becomes a monster wrangler, amassing a sizeable monster following during his quest for vengeance. Additionally, he’ll make new allies, including the elf Rose and the enigmatic Toilen Trubble.

Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince will launch for Nintendo Switch on December 1, 2023. Physical pre-orders are available.