After 43 years, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii is making a surprise sequel to his NES murder mystery game

Yuji Horii, creator of the Dragon Quest series, has surprised fans with a sequel to his 1983 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) murder mystery game, The Portopia Serial Murder Case. This game, initially released on personal computers before landing on the NES, became a significant hit for Enix, now known as Square Enix. Notably, this murder mystery game even piqued the interest of Hideo Kojima, who credited it as one of the reasons he began his own game development journey.

The sequel, unveiled during this week's Nintendo Direct presentations, is set to hit the Switch 2 and PC platforms in 2027. Despite retaining the text-based detective work and witness interrogations from the original, the new game introduces fresh murders and a different cast of characters. These investigations will unfold in 1980s Kobe, allowing players to immerse themselves in a completely new detective experience.

Horii is overseeing the project as an executive director, although there are no indications of an English language version at this stage. A Steam page detailing the game's features notes that players can gather witness statements and physical evidence to piece together the truth behind the serial murders.

Interestingly, in 2020, Square Enix attempted a remake of the original game using natural language processing (NLP) technology, but this effort was met with a "Very Negative" rating from Steam reviewers. Despite this, Square Enix is not directly involved in the development of the upcoming sequel.