Dragon Quest Treasures comes to the Nintendo Switch on December 9

Alongside today's Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase, Square Enix revealed that Dragon Quest Treasures will launch for Nintendo Switch on December 9.

While Dragon Quest Treasures was formally announced at the Dragon Quest 35th Anniversary Event in 2021, a concept art had appeared as early as November 2018, where younger versions of Erik and Mia were shown to be the protagonists of an unnamed Dragon Quest Monsters title. However, Yuji Horii has stated that Treasures is not a Monsters sub-series entry for Dragon Quest, but a new type of RPG instead.

New English footage of Dragon Quest Treasures was shared at the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase event, which gave a first glimpse at gameplay. Erik and Mia ventures with several iconic Dragon Quest monsters to complete objectives. They have access to a Fortune Finder to detect nearby treasure.

Plus, they can utilize monsters as traversal tools. Erik and Mia can bounce off a Slime to reach higher ground or call upon a Dracky to safely glide down. Several bigger monsters are rideable too. Treasures brought back to the siblings' base receive a valuation of how much they are worth. The base can be expanded to enhace their abilities overtime.

You can find the announcement video from the Nintendo Direct below.

Additionally, the Japanese version of the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase gave Dragon Quest Treasures a deeper dive and new gameplay footage in a separate trailer.

Square Enix today announced that the new RPG treasure hunting adventure DRAGON QUEST® TREASURES will launch worldwide for Nintendo Switch on December 9, 2022.  A completely new spinoff from the DRAGON QUEST series, DRAGON QUEST TREASURES explores the childhood escapades of the siblings Erik and Mia, who first appeared in DRAGON QUEST XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age.

Players will take control of Erik and Mia as they explore a treasure hunter’s paradise where boundless adventure awaits. Loot can be hidden in the most fiendishly inaccessible locations, so players must recruit a variety of well-meaning monsters and make use of their unique treasure-hunting abilities. These charming creatures will help players to race over open fields, scale cliffs with a single bound, and glide over gaping chasms. They will even provide assistance in battles against rival treasure hunters! Collecting treasure will increase the player’s vault value, allowing them to expand their home base and further build up their brigade of friendly monsters.