''Dragon Quest Builders 2'' is an

action role-playing An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

sandbox game A sandbox game is a video game with a gameplay element that provides players a great degree of creativity to interact with, usually without any predetermined goal, or alternatively with a goal that the players set for themselves. Such games may ...

developed by

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

and

Omega Force (stylised as ''ω-Force'') is a Japanese video game developer and a division of Koei Tecmo, founded in 1996 by Akihiro Suzuki and Kenichi Ogasawara, and is best known for the ''Dynasty Warriors'' video games. History Omega Force was founded ...

, with Square Enix publishing it. It is the sequel to ''

Dragon Quest Builders ''Dragon Quest Builders'' is a sandbox action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, iOS and Android and published by Nintendo for Nintendo Switch. The game is set in Al ...

'', and was released for the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

in Japan in December 2018 and worldwide in July 2019, for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

in December 2019, and for the

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

in May 2021. The game shipped over a million copies by August 2019 and received generally favorable reviews from critics.

Gameplay

''Dragon Quest Builders 2'' is an action role-playing sandbox game as opposed to the ''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publi ...

'' series' typical turn-based style. The games hack-and-slash combat system features two moves; A standard attack, and a "Spinning Slice". The game features the ability for players to find materials and use them to construct buildings and other equipment. New features not found in the previous game include a fast-travel function based on a retro-style map, an optional first-person perspective, underwater exploration, and gliding. Unlike the first ''Dragon Quest Builders'', the game allows for up to four players to play together cooperatively via online play, as well as wireless play on the Switch version. Players are also able to transfer their game data between compatible game consoles and will gain a special bonus for doing so. Players can visit other players' worlds even on other gaming platforms, though they cannot alter them. They can also share photos made with the in-game photo mode and building plans by posting on a cross-platform bulletin board.

Plot

''Dragon Quest Builders 2'' takes place some time after the events of ''

Dragon Quest II ''Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line'', titled ''Dragon Warrior II'' when initially localized to North America, is a role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System ...

'', and centers around a group called the Children of Hargon, who seek revenge for the defeat of Hargon and Malroth by the descendants of Erdrick, by ensuring that all builders are eliminated and that no one be allowed to create anything. Players control either a male or female builder, known as the Hero, who is captured by this group along with all other builders in the world on a ship. The player character escapes, washing up on the Isle of Awakening, where they meet a person named Malroth, who has no memory of his past. Malroth aids the player-character in improving their building powers. After visiting a number of different islands and helping the residents there cast off the beliefs that creation and building are wicked, it is discovered that the world they inhabit is an illusion created by Hargon to protect the soul of the defeated Master of Destruction, none other than Malroth. After a falling out, Malroth abandons the others and the Hero must go after him in an apocalyptic world. After confronting Hargon the hero must battle the monstrous true form of Malroth, but the human side of him resists and allows the Hero to defeat and rescue him. Destroying Hargon and the monstrous form of Malroth together, the Hero and human Malroth return to their friends and sustain the world permanently with their combined powers now that Malroth has learned to build as well.

Development

Due to the sales success of ''

'' and players requests for features that were too big to add to the game, Square Enix decided to make a sequel. For a time, developers were not sure of the direction to take the sequel, or how much to change, but

Yuji Horii (also written as Yuuji Horii; born January 6, 1954) is a Japanese video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the ''Dragon Quest'' series of role-playing games, supervising and writing the scenario for ''Chrono Trigger' ...

reminded them that sequel buyers liked the original game and would be disappointed if it was completely different. Another development challenge was training the games characters to perceive what players were doing and respond accordingly. Of the many requests, four player multiplayer, the ability to build higher, the circulation of water from higher locations were all requested. One result was that developers tripled the height of buildings for ''Dragon Quest Builders 2''. Developers also discussed expanded multiplayer where players don’t just play with each other, but create a kind of playground.

Release

''Dragon Quest Builders 2'' was developed by

Koei Tecmo is a Japanese video game, amusement and anime holding company created in 2009 by the merger of Koei and Tecmo. Koei Tecmo Holdings owns several companies, the biggest one of those being its flagship game developer and publisher Koei Tecmo Game ...

's studio

and

for the

and

, and first released in Japan on December 20, 2018, and in North America and Europe on July 12, 2019. A playable English demo was released on June 27, 2019. A

version was released on December 10, 2019 via

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

, and includes all previous

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

for free. An

and

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...

version was released on May 4, 2021. It also includes the previous downloadable content, as well as cross-progression through

Xbox Play Anywhere The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...

. It was added to the

Xbox Game Pass Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass are video game subscription services from Microsoft. Both services grant users access to a rotating catalog of games from a range of publishers and other premium services, including Xbox Live Gold and EA Play, for ...

service on the same day.

Reception

''Dragon Quest Builders 2'' received "generally favorable reviews" according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. By August 2019, the game had shipped 1.1 million copies worldwide.

Awards

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon Quest Builders 2 2018 video games Builders 2 Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Switch games Omega Force games Open-world video games PlayStation 4 games Role-playing video games Square Enix games Video game sequels Video games developed in Japan Video games with gender-selectable protagonists Video games scored by Koichi Sugiyama Windows games Xbox One games