Dragon Quest Builders 2 for Nintendo Switch: The ultimate guide

Dragon Quest Builders 2
Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Image credit: Square Enix Co, LTD)

You're a Builder - a powerful creator who can shape the world in the image that they choose. That's the premise of Dragon Quest Builders, which combines a Minecraft-style building, crafting, and gathering system with the characters, universe, visuals, and story themes of Dragon Quest for an adorable adventure on the Nintendo Switch that launched back in February 2018. Now, a sequel is here, which adds to the fun recipes and exploration that the first game already had in spades.

What is Dragon Quest Builders?

Dragon Quest Builders 2 Nintendo Switch

Dragon Quest Builders 2 Nintendo Switch (Image credit: Square Enix Co, LTD)

Dragon Quest Builders is a game reminiscent of Minecraft, but with a more concrete story and aesthetics, ideas, and set pieces from the Dragon Quest series. You play as a male or female protagonist who is challenged with using crafting to rebuild a world and stopping those who seek to destroy it. You start by gathering basic raw materials to construct items, tools, and buildings, and gradually working your way up to rarer materials and recipes and more challenging builds.

You can essentially play Dragon Quest Builders in one of two ways. You can progress through the game's story, completing quests and building progressively better and better things, or you can play creatively and try to build interesting creations to show off to others, or just for yourself!

How do I play?

Dragon Quest Builders 2 Nintendo Switch

Dragon Quest Builders 2 Nintendo Switch (Image credit: Square Enix Co, LTD)

In the opening of Dragon Quest Builders 2, you'll meet Malroth, a strange young person with no memories. As you've just washed up on a new island, you'll need to begin by getting necessities for survival, such as gathering raw materials and putting together a shelter, finding food and a weapon, and stocking up on other tools. You'll meet characters who will give you quests, and you'll gradually discover more recipes. Gathering materials from the environment around you allows you to combine them into objects that will get progressively more complex as you play, and as you explore you'll encounter both rarer materials and more challenging monsters guarding said materials.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 takes place after the events of Dragon Quest 2, so if you're familiar with that title, you may have some clue as to how the story will play out...

What's new in Dragon Quest Builders 2?

Dragon Quest Builders 2 Nintendo Switch

Dragon Quest Builders 2 Nintendo Switch (Image credit: Square Enix Co, LTD)

Dragon Quest Builders 2 features a separate story from Dragon Quest Builders 1, though the premises are similar. You don't need to have played the first game to understand the sequel, though — the story is simple enough to follow without any prior Dragon Quest knowledge at all.

The gist of the game is the same -- you'll be rebuilding a ruined world that's being actively destroyed by the Children of Hargon, a group dedicated to, well, destruction! In your arsenal, you'll have brand new recipes as well as old ones familiar from the first game, and there will be plenty of new locations to explore and build upon.

There are also new features including fast travel, swimming, dashing, and gliding, as well as the ability to switch into first-person perspective to play.

Can I play with friends?

Dragon Quest Builders 2 Nintendo Switch

Dragon Quest Builders 2 Nintendo Switch (Image credit: Square Enix Co, LTD)

Yes! Dragon Quest Builders 2 allows you to join up to three other friends either using local wireless multiplayer or online multiplayer in a special area, called the Isle of Awakening.

What happens if I have a save file from the first Dragon Quest Builders?

If you have save data from the first Dragon Quest Builders on the Nintendo Switch, you'll unlock extra crafting recipes that aren't available any other way.

Is there DLC?

Yes! There's one free DLC pack for all players, along with three paid DLC packages: Hotto Stuff Pack, Aquarium Pack, and Modernist Pack. You can either pay for these three DLC packs individually or pay for the Season Pass, which includes all three packs plus additional in-game bonus items.

When can I get it?

Dragon Quest Builders 2 launched on Nintendo Switch on July 12, 2019. That means you can get the game now and start crafting away!

Reb Valentine