Anime News Network·Japan·Friday, October 9, 2026 at 04:00 PM UTC

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon - Classic HD Switch 2 Review

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Nintendo Switch 1/2, PC/Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

		Description:

Torneko needs new items to stock his weapon shop! Now he must descend into the dark depths of the Mystery Dungeon to find loot while avoiding the countless dangers therein. Explore the Mystery Dungeon in this remaster of a classic title and help Torneko survive and prosper.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon - Classic HD is based on the original title developed by Chunsoft, now published by Square Enix for Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam/PC. A Switch 2 code was supplied for this review.

Review:

Description:
Torneko needs new items to stock his weapon shop! Now he must descend into the dark depths of the Mystery Dungeon to find loot while avoiding the countless dangers therein. Explore the Mystery Dungeon in this remaster of a classic title and help Torneko survive and prosper. Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon - Classic HD is based on the original title developed by Chunsoft, now published by Square Enix for Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam/PC. A Switch 2 code was supplied for this review.
	Review:

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon - Classic HD is a great classic game held back by curiosities surrounding its release.

The facts of the matter are quite simple. This is a rerelease of the 1993 original, the first time it has been released in English. Torneko's Mystery Dungeon is the first spinoff for the legendary Dragon Quest series, and the first Mystery Dungeon game - in that regard, it is a seminal work, establishing two distinct tributaries from the storied Dragon Quest mainline series. In a way, we have this game to thank for paving the way for series such as Dragon Quest Monsters, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, and more. Having this title officially available on modern platforms and in multiple languages is a great step toward preserving this piece of gaming history.

The gameplay is similarly straightforward. You take on the role of Dragon Quest IV's Torneko and venture into the giant mystery dungeon. Each run involves gathering gold, treasure, items, weaponry, and more as you navigate the dungeon levels and try to clear all the way to the bottom floor. The dungeon is full of monsters who are not too pleased you're there, and you will battle them for experience points as you head deeper underground. Along the way, you will find new weapon upgrades, healing items, wands and staves with magical spells, special one-use items, and more to help deal with the increasing challenges. Your goal is to get to the bottom floor and clear the dungeon, but more likely than not you will perish in your first few (dozen… hundred…?) attempts. But of course Torneko doesn't truly die, and instead crawls back to the surface and goes to the shop to recuperate.

You start over at level one, lacking any items, and return to the dungeon. But because it is a strange and mysterious dungeon, the floors will change completely. Nothing is quite the same twice, and you will have to challenge the dungeon and learn it all over again each time you descend anew.

You might be thinking, “Wait a minute, this is a roguelike.” And… yes! It is, in the truest sense, though likely not in the sense you mean it. For you see, dear reader, Torneko's Mystery Dungeon is patterned off the 1980s classic game Rogue, the primogenitor of the genre from which the term roguelike springs. However, if you are used to modern roguelikes with copious progression paths, interconnected sub-systems, and compounding ability synergies, this will seem positively barren by comparison. Torneko's Mystery Dungeon is not a game that is a roguelike; it is a game that is like Rogue - and that distinction is more than mere semantics.

Don't let that relative simplicity fool you - there's a lot to sink your teeth into here. Part of the reason Rogue spawned other beloved franchises like Mystery Dungeon, Diablo, and other gaming luminaries is its highly rewarding, addictive gameplay. Before we had articulated the concept of gameplay loops, Rogue solidified the notion in the minds of the gaming public: delve, die, do it all again. The constant iterations and combinations that can arise from the game's random elements create a nearly limitless number of possible experiences.

Most importantly, Torneko's Mystery Dungeon uses Rogue's turn system. It's not real time, obviously, but even calling it turn-based doesn't quite communicate how it operates. It is more akin to an I-go-you-go board game like chess: the player makes a single move or action, and the rest of the monsters, world, and so on make a single collective move in return. Yet between actions, the player essentially has unlimited time to look over menus, weigh the proper course of action, and decide. Each move, item use, weapon attack, and so on is one tick in the game world, and afterward the game responds in kind.

This is the sweat-inducing beauty of the gameplay. When you are centered in a dungeon room, surrounded by enemies, and carefully weighing whether to take the time to shift one step or reach into your pack to use a wand charge, all that time spent deciding creates a magnified potential energy of tension that suddenly releases when the action starts. It's the roleplaying game equivalent of a slow-motion gunfight where you have all the time in the world to aim your shots, but you are always outgunned, always running low on ammo, and always looking for an escape route. This is why the game became a phenomenon.

Yet it is a challenge to wrestle with the nature of Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon - Classic HD as a modern product in 2026. We have really turned a corner over the past decade or so in terms of Dragon Quest fandom in the English-speaking world. By now, we've had not only huge tentpole releases like Dragon Quest XI, but also spinoff games and full HD2D remakes/remasters of classic titles. Dragon Quest is more than mere curiosity in the English-speaking world; it is a franchise with popularity and name recognition. And with name recognition comes a level of expectations.

It is certainly nice to have this game available from a historical perspective. Older games are increasingly lost to the ether via negligence or active destruction, so it is nice to have this preserved on modern hardware. And it clearly has been remastered on some level, having a color palette and fidelity similar to the mobile/DS remakes of the sprite-based games from recent years. But for my money, I don't find this look as charming as the actual original Super Famicom/SNES visuals, nor as glamorous as the HD2D remasters that have become commonplace. It sits in a strange middle ground where its updates are more of a sidegrade rather than a strict upgrade.

There have also been some other mixed changes. The opening cinematic is brand new (to my knowledge) and made just for this release. It is very charming with an adorable storybook style that fits the game perfectly. That said, this opening cutscene was the only time I experienced any performance issues. It made a bad first impression and made it hard to enjoy one of the only objectively great presentation upgrades brought into the package.

Similarly, there have been some gameplay changes in the core gameplay. This is harder for me to judge, as, to be perfectly honest, I have not played the original title. I never ran into anything that felt alarmingly out of place as a newbie. But the fact remains that the core experience has changed, and alongside the “somewhat remastered but not totally” visual changes, it adds up to a less-than-perfect act of preservation. It is an altered experience on some level, even if it isn't fundamental in either regard.

But this game is released, at the time of this writing, for US$24.99 at full price. That is a perfectly reasonable amount for a game which keeps a classic title available on modern platforms. I also think that despite its almost die-hard adherence to Rogue's principles, that very closeness is what makes it stand out in a sea of games which have branched off on such winding tributaries that it is hard to see the river they are sourced from. This is not a perfect experience, but it is a lot of fun for a reasonable price.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I want to do one more run before bed…

	Grade:
Overall : B+ Graphics : C+ Sound/Music : B Gameplay : A- Presentation : B- + A seminal title available again for modern audiences, highly addictive classic roguelike action, reasonable price − Slight visual and gameplay changes make for less than perfect presentation and preservation ⚠ N/A

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