Nintendo and Square Enix continue to proclaim their rekindled love for one another in the incredibly generous free Dragon Quest 11 demo for the Switch.

This Dragon Quest 11 demo is of the caliber not often heard of, as most video games typically offer players limited, short playthroughs of specific segments.

Nintendo has taken a somewhat similar approach with a couple of their first-party full game trials, and now, it seems as though Square Enix has taken a leaf from Mario’s team. Although I previously speculated that games in JRPG series such as the Fire Emblem series wouldn’t be included in full game demos, I didn’t see this type of Dragon Quest 11 demo coming.

The entirety of the beginning of the game is accessible to players for free, in what one can only assume is Square Enix’s attempt at raising hype for the September 27, 2019 release of Dragon Quest XI S – Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition. All of the grinding and item collection you do in the demo will carry over to a full game save file, should you decide to make the purchase. It’s an ingenious formula, and is sure to bolster sales of the hotly anticipated port all the more.

The eleventh title in the JRPG series released in 2017 on the PlayStation 4 for global audiences and the 3DS for Japan only, but now that it’s coming over to the Nintendo Switch, Square Enix has decided to sweeten the deal by adding in new content exclusive to the Switch release.

The Switch port is actually that of a delayed release, in that Dragon Quest 11 was one of the first titles announced for the WIP name for the Switch, the NX. As issues with the Unreal Engine running the game arose, the development team later decided to not only redevelop the title to work on the Switch, but also include new plot elements, Japanese voice-acting options, orchestral music options, and an awesome 16-Bit map feature borrowed from the 3DS version of the title.

The Dragon Quest 11 demo is available for free on the Nintendo Switch eShop.