Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World preview

A stump chump and a bad egg can become a mitey oak in Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World. It's a wonderfully daft family tree, and a useful introduction to this RPG's chief pleasure: finding creatures, raising them and discovering what they can become together. The monsters do the fighting while Bianca and Nera organise the party. A new recruit brings another personality to the procession and another possible parent for a future companion.

Square Enix and TOSE's adventure arrives on 3 December for Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Bianca and Nera, familiar faces from Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, are searching for a cure for their sick fathers. Their guide Fluffy leads them to Witherwood, where the healing Leaves of Life have almost disappeared. A free demo already offers the opening events there, including recruitment and synthesis.

A procession with room to grow

Witherwood is your base for journeys through a world of oversized vegetables, beaches and dungeons. The Waterwing Can gives the rescue mission a pleasingly practical tool: sprinkle a withered Root of Creation and it becomes a travel point where you can heal your monsters and perform synthesis. Water suspicious bushes and you may uncover a creature. Restoring the land puts useful stops along the route, with places to reorganise your companions before heading further out.

Your monsters follow you through these landscapes, including large ones. That visible company is a strong part of the appeal. You spend time travelling with the creatures you're developing, and the scenery gives them suitably odd places to inhabit. Lushland's giant cabbages and pumpkins offer high ground for a look around; Taiboku has bamboo groves, rice paddies and a trap-filled Memory Hall. Powerful enemies marked by a reddish aura give you something to approach with care.

Quick Scouting lets you attempt recruitment directly in the field. Aim at a wild monster and throw meat, then your existing party rushes in for a Show of Force. Better cuts improve the chance of persuading it, and successful recruits join your party or reserves, with overflow sent to the depot. It's an inviting way to keep a journey moving: spot something interesting and try to bring it along while you're still out exploring.

The Scout Run adds a dedicated enclosure with its own allowance of Scouty Snacks and rare monsters found outside the ordinary wild roster. Its inhabitants expand as the story progresses. Between that paddock, field recruitment and synthesis, the collection has several routes to grow. More than 500 monsters are included, with newcomers such as the fluffy, rock-crushing Platypup alongside familiar Dragon Quest creatures. A duck-billed companion with that much bite deserves a place in the introductions.

The family business

A party has four slots, with another four in reserve. Large monsters occupy two slots but gain extra Traits and more actions per turn, so size changes the space available to everyone else. You can issue direct commands or set tactics. Each monster can hold three Talents, developing abilities or attributes as you spend Talent Points. Anyone drawn to Wielders of the Essence's troop-and-spell combinations has another party-building prospect here, this time with turn-based battles and inherited skills.

Synthesis requires two parents raised to level 10. You choose from possible offspring; the parents disappear, and their child can inherit their Talents. A completed Talent may evolve through inheritance. Some creatures are available only through synthesis, so building the collection involves letting established companions become something else. That stump chump and bad egg pairing is one special combination. The attraction is both discovering a new face and deciding which developed abilities should travel down the family line.

Bianca and Nera also help through Wrangler's Spirit, a power with a chance to activate once per battle. Bianca's version heals HP and raises attack; Nera's restores MP and improves defence. You can switch between the heroines or stay with a favourite. Their different support effects give that choice a role in combat, alongside the story of two girls whose search for their fathers' cure has become tangled up with saving another kingdom.

Bigger opponents, different parties

Joint Battles bring both heroines' teams against a giant monster, with the active heroine leading the main party and the other handling reserves. Each party shares HP and MP gauges, and tactics remain available for the reserve team. The opponent has Pet Hates that fill its Rage Gauge when provoked. Rage brings stronger attacks, followed by exhaustion and an opening to strike. The fight has an appealing rhythm: several monsters working together against one very large temper.

Online Joint Battles support teams of up to four players, and the online modes support crossplay. Healing or supporting allied parties builds a Team Bonus that increases everyone's damage and healing. Ranked and customisable Private Matches sit alongside that cooperative option. Online Joint Battles and Ranked Matches disable Wrangler's Spirit, putting the monsters' abilities at the centre of those contests. These are additional destinations for a carefully raised team once story progress opens the online content.

The offline Battle Arena includes regular and joint contests. Further story progress unlocks Wrangler's Gauntlet, which supplies a changing selection of monsters for a run of 50 consecutive battles. You see the next opponent before fighting, then can use the defeated party's monsters in synthesis afterwards. Its creatures and items stay inside the mode. That's a particularly attractive variation for players who enjoy improvising a team from what's available, with a fresh starting roster each attempt.

The demo is a useful way to discover whether collecting and combining these creatures suits you. Up to eight monsters from your main party and reserves can transfer to the full game on the same platform, arriving in the depot at level one with default Talents. Items and gold stay behind. Choose the demo on the platform where you plan to buy the full game, and use its opening to find a few species you'd like to bring with you.