As his adventure game returns after 40 years, JRPG icon and Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii ponders making another: "It would be fun to investigate a murder case while interacting with AI"
Dragon Quest series creator Yuji Horii's early work in adventure games still calls to him all these years later. With one of his earliest games, The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case, receiving a Japan-only exclusive remake this week some 40 years later, Horii has been thinking about the possibility of making a new adventure game.
In an interview with Sankei News (translated by Automaton), Horii discussed his interest in making "games where players can converse with AI." This notion has him thinking about "various possibilities in the future" for new adventure games.
While Horii hasn't revisited the old-school style of adventure game he made in the '80s since he began his work on the Dragon Quest series, it sounds like the remake of The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case has some new ideas swirling around in his head.
"Technology is now able to distinguish words spoken in real life, which means that players don’t have to search for words that the computer can recognize," he said. "I think this will bring about adventure games where the player can converse with AI. It would be fun to investigate a murder case while interacting with AI."
Even though it's been roughly 40 years since the Serial Murder Case games originally released, they have had an influence over many of Horii's projects, especially Dragon Quest. Using a multiple choice command system in lieu of having players type in anything they could think of removed the pressure of trying to distinguish what exact prompt the game would recognize. This multiple choice system would go on to be a foundational pillar for the Dragon Quest command system.
It seems Horii isn't the only one thinking about new adventure and visual novel games, as Nintendo just co-developed and published Emio the Smiling Man. With the genre going strong, and the possibility of Horii creating something new in the space, the future seems bright and perhaps a bit nostalgic.
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