The Dragon Quest Monsters series focuses on catching, raising, and combining ("synthesizing") iconic series creatures to build a fighting team.

Players take control of a Monster Wrangler who commands monsters in turn-based, strategic combat rather than fighting directly.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World features a robust collection of more than 500 new and fan-favorite monsters, evolved graphics and an engaging narrative that follows dual protagonists Bianca and Nera as they embark on a journey to bring the world of Witherwood back to life.

Square Enix revealed new details about the game’s combat and Synthesis system.

Team up with your favorite monsters and lead them into battle!

The heroes of the DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS series are monster wranglers – adventurers with a special ability for befriending monsters to help them on their journey. Monster wranglers don’t fight in battle themselves. Instead, they assemble a party of loyal critters to fight in their place. They must all work together to take down the many foes that stand in their way!

You can have up to four monsters in your party and four more in your reserves – that’s a maximum of eight monsters with you at any one time. You can even swap them in and out whenever you like.

Issue direct orders to your monsters or give them a general strategy to follow. Whichever method you choose, knowing your monsters’ strengths is paramount.

Monsters have a multitude of spells and abilities to put to use. Some will decimate every foe before you, while others can heal your injured allies.

In addition to their spells and abilities, each monster comes with its own set of Traits that can have special effects during battle.

Bianca and Nera’s Mystery Power: the Wrangler’s Spirit!

Once per battle, this mysterious power has a chance to activate,providing a range of beneficial boosts that will support your monsters and potentially turn the tide of battle in your favor. The Wrangler’s Spirit will have different effects when you’re playing as Bianca and as Nera. Bianca’s heals HP and boosts attack power, while Nera’s restores MP and raises defense.

Befriend monsters and raise them however you like!

You’ll run into many monsters when exploring the world and its dungeons, and you’ll first start befriending them during battles. The game features over 500 monsters divided into eight families, such as slimes or dragons. Each monster will also have one of nine ranks from G to X, a size of either small (S) or large (L), as well as its own personality. So, once you’ve found some monsters you like, it’s time to raise them into a powerful party!

Found a monster you want to befriend? Use a Show of Force during battle to try and recruit it! If you succeed, the monster will join your team.

On rare occasions after you win a battle, a defeated monster may ask to join you of its own volition. You can use items to increase the chance of this happening, or to boost the success rate of a Show of Force.

Your monsters gain experience after every battle they win. Accumulate enough and they’ll level up, sometimes earning Talent Points in the process.

A single monster can have up to three Talents. The Talent Points a monster earns from levelling up can be invested into its Talents to teach it new abilities or boost its base attributes.

Monster Sizes and Personalities

Large monsters take up two slots in your party instead of one. However, they have more Traits than small monsters and they can also perform more actions per turn. A monster’s personality determines the upper limits and growth rates of its attributes, meaning two otherwise identical monsters can develop quite differently. There’s a wide variety of personalities and there are even items for changing between them.

Fight, synth, repeat – how to make stronger monsters

Synthesis is the miraculous process of combining two monsters to produce a new creature. Once you’ve befriended a monster, you’ll have to raise it to level 10 before you can use it as a parent for synthesis. After synthesis, both parents will disappear, leaving behind a child monster that has the potential to become stronger than its predecessors by inheriting their Talents. Some monsters can only be obtained through synthesis, making it a vital process in the quest for a powerful party!

When you choose two monsters for synthesis, you’ll be presented with a selection of possible children to create. These offspring will usually be from the same monster family as one of their parents.

A child monster can also inherit the Talents of its parents. If you’ve maxed out the points in a parent’s Talent, it may evolve when a child inherits it.

Combining a mud mannequin (material family) with a jumping jackal (beast family) can synthesize an escudogre (material family).

High Plus Values Make More Powerful Monsters

In this game, synthesis can produce monsters with an attribute called a Plus Value. You can increase this value with every subsequent synthesis – do this wisely, and a child monster’s Plus Value can grow high enough to earn a bonus on its base attributes; the child may even be a monster of a higher rank than its parents! When a parent monster has a large Plus Value, keep an eye out for a plus symbol on some of the synthesis options, as it may indicate the child monster is a higher rank than its parents. For example, this mud mannequin (rank G) and this jumping jackal (rank E) are able to produce a well wisher (rank D).

Discover special synthesis patterns to obtain amazing monsters

Among the many synthesis possibilities, there are some specific monster combinations that can produce unexpected offspring. If you’re lucky, you may even discover monsters that can’t be befriended any other way. See what you can find!

A starry icon indicates that a monster is the product of special synthesis. For example, a stump chump and a bad egg can be used to synthesize a mitey oak! What’s more, some special synthesis patterns involve combining four different monsters!

Introducing a trio of the game’s new monsters!

In addition to a host of familiar monsters from throughout the DRAGON QUEST series for you to befriend, this game features plenty of new additions to the roster. The monsters here are just a few of those appearing for the very first time. Keep an eye out for info on more of these fresh faces as the release date approaches.

• Slime Balls: These bitesize buddies from the slime family come in three mouthwatering flavors: sour plum, veggie mix, and shrimp tempura.
• Bamboo Badboy: This nature family monster lures in hungry folk in the guise of a succulent bamboo shoot before attacking.
• Groovy Grouse: A monster of the nature family that moves and grooves to the nonstop melodies that play in its head.

No experience with past Dragon Quest Monsters games is needed to dive into this monstrously fun new adventure.

Pre-orders are now live, with Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch digital pre-orders starting at a later date.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam) on Dec. 3, 2026.