‘Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World’ Is Out This December

InnovationGaming‘Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World’ Is Out This DecemberByOllie Barder,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Ollie Barder covers Japanese pop-culture and gaming from Tokyo.Follow AuthorJun 10, 2026, 04:22am EDT'Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World' takes much of its inspiration from games like 'Pokémon'.Square EnixFollowing the announcement of a new Dragon Quest Monsters game on the 40th anniversary livestream, we now know the game is out this December.Furthermore, while it wasn’t overly clear if this was a new game or a remake, it’s clear from the Japanese title that this is, in fact, Dragon Quest Monsters 4.The new gameplay trailer (shown below) also goes into more detail about the game, and if you’re unfamiliar with the Dragon Quest Monsters games, these are effectively Dragon Quest meets Pokémon.In that, you roam the game world finding cute monsters designed by Akira Toriyama and then tame them to fight other monsters as you go.This whole monster angle was also added into the HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest III, with a whole monster arena subgame and a new character class that was specifically built to tame and capture monsters.Like my beloved Dragon Quest Builders, which merged classic Dragon Quest with Minecraft, the Dragon Quest Monsters series was all about bringing in new and younger fans to the main Dragon Quest games.In my case, with Dragon Quest Builders, it definitely worked, and with Dragon Quest Monsters, it certainly has created a large following of younger players who are into things like Pokémon.So a new Dragon Quest Monsters game is something that will likely have a very beneficial impact on the Dragon Quest series, both in Japan and the West.Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World is released December 3 for Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently...