Dragon Quest RPG: The Cursed Tree and the Chosen Isle hits mobile

Square Enix has announced Dragon Quest RPG: The Cursed Tree and the Chosen Isle for iOS and Android. It's a brand-new mobile spin-off, and its first official trailer is scheduled to air tomorrow, Tuesday, November 10, at 11:00 AM UTC (3:00 AM PT / 6:00 AM ET / 8:00 PM JST).

The company is billing the project as "the next adventure in the Dragon Quest series," though concrete details are scarce before the broadcast goes live. We don't have a release window, a confirmed development studio, or a clear picture of how the combat works. Everything shown ahead of the stream carries a standard disclaimer noting that it's "for content still in production."

A Slime with a sage's staff and a floating island

Right now, the only visual clue is a piece of teaser artwork showing a floating island surrounded by heavy clouds, paired with a new mascot icon: a standard blue Slime wearing a scarf and carrying a sage's staff. Putting "RPG" right in the middle of the title is a funny choice for a franchise that practically invented the console role-playing template on the Famicom back in May 1986, though it's likely meant to separate this project from puzzle spin-offs, card games, and location-based walkers.

It remains unclear whether this is a standalone, premium game or another free-to-play gacha title. Square Enix's mobile catalog leans heavily toward the latter, so a single upfront price tag would be a genuine surprise.

Square Enix's mobile graveyard is getting crowded

Skepticism around a mobile-only Dragon Quest game is earned, mostly because Square Enix has a brutal track record of pulling the plug on them. Over the past decade, the publisher has launched and subsequently shut down a long list of smartphone spin-offs, particularly in Western territories.

Dragon Quest of the Stars closed its global servers in 2021. The digital card game Dragon Quest Rivals ended service that same year. The tactical RPG Dragon Quest Tact shut down its English version in February 2024, and the melee battle royale Dragon Quest Champions didn't even survive a full thirteen months in Japan before closing in July 2024. While the AR game Dragon Quest Walk remains a massive hit in Japan, international players have learned not to get too attached to anything tied to a live-service server.

From a game preservation standpoint, it's a frustrating cycle. When Square Enix ports mainline classics like Dragon Quest I through VI or Dragon Quest Builders to iOS and Android as paid downloads, they stick around and remain playable for years. When they build a custom mobile RPG around microtransactions and daily login bonuses, the entire game usually vanishes into thin air within twenty-four months of launch.

Console players still have December 3

At least this mobile project isn't the only thing on the calendar for the series created by Yuji Horii and the late Akira Toriyama. Console and PC players who have no interest in touchscreen controls won't have to wait long for something else, as Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World is scheduled to launch on December 3 for Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

We'll find out tomorrow morning whether The Cursed Tree and the Chosen Isle is a self-contained adventure worth playing or just the next temporary stop on Square Enix's live-service treadmill.