The game retains most of the series' role-playing game elements, such as turn-based combat and the experience level system. ĭragon Quest VIII uses cel shading for the characters and scenery and is the first game in the series to have fully 3D environments and character models. A version of the game for Android and iOS was released in Japan in December 2013, and worldwide in May 2014.

It is the eighth installment of the Dragon Quest series and it is the first English version of a Dragon Quest game to drop the Dragon Warrior title. It was released in Japan in 2004, in North America in 2005 and PAL regions in 2006, making it the first main series installment released in the PAL region. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2.