Dragon Quest Games in Order

Why this order?

Dragon Quest is built so you can start almost anywhere. Every numbered entry tells its own complete story with its own hero and world, so there is no mandatory order and no cliffhangers carrying between games. That freedom is the whole point of this page: pick a starting line that fits you, not one the series forces on you.

Release order is the default here because it shows how the genre's grandfather evolved — from the single-character grind of the 1986 original to the sprawling, voiced 3D worlds of the modern entries. If you simply want the best place to begin, skip ahead: Dragon Quest XI (2017) is the ideal modern starting point, a gorgeous, generous adventure that distills everything the series does well, and Dragon Quest VIII (2004) is the runner-up, the game that first took the franchise fully 3D and cel-shaded.

Two loose trilogies reward players who want connective tissue. The Erdrick (Loto) trilogy ties together I, II, and III, with III sitting chronologically first as an origin story for the legendary hero — so a "lore-first" run plays III, then I, then II. The Zenithian trilogy links IV, V, and VI through a shared celestial mythology rather than direct sequels. The remaining numbered games — VII (2000), IX (2009), and X (2012), the series' lone MMO — stand fully on their own. You can enjoy any of these in isolation; the trilogies are bonus context, not prerequisites.

Worth knowing: in the West the early games shipped as "Dragon Warrior" for trademark reasons, and numbering jumps around because not every entry reached every region on launch. This list covers all eleven mainline numbered titles, with a twelfth in development. If you love what you find, the wider series — spin-offs like Dragon Quest Builders and the Monsters games, plus stablemates such as Square Enix's Final Fantasy — runs far deeper than the numbered line alone.