The wind is pushing me into the clouds again

The original Dragon’s Dogma was a game that fell under the radar when it was released. I can remember checking it out and being in awe of what it was doing. There was nothing else like it. The experience was special, and for 12 years it slowly garnered word of mouth, going on sale for $5 and having tons of new people discover it. Finally, after over a decade Capcom has delivered the sequel, well more of a reimagining of Dragon’s Dogma. It is easier to think of this entry as a second chance to fully realize what the devs had in mind with the original. Heck, even though the title screen calls the game Dragon’s Dogma, there is no ‘2’ in sight.

This is evident right out of the gate as the opening sequences feel very similar to the original. Players are once again tasked as the Arisen. In the world of Dragon’s Dogma there is only one Arisen, and they have the ability to control what are known as pawns. They also have had their hearts stolen by a dragon, so yeah, the story is a bit outlandish. I still think about the ending to the first game. It was wild and so anime in design that if I told you, you would call me a liar.

MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $69.99

The second game strays a little bit right off the bat as someone in the kingdom has been impersonating you, claiming to be the Arisen, but a few people know otherwise. So, the journey begins with your character investigating this in order to prove that you are truly the one and only Arisen.

For the uninitiated, Dragon’s Dogma is a mix of action and RPG that focuses on the world itself. This game is all about the journey. My suggested way to play the series is to pick your class, build your pawn, and explore. The quests are the weakest parts of these games. Sure, they move forward the plot, but where Dragon’s Dogma excels, is in its world. Compare it to things like Breath of the Wild or Elden Ring, where every nook and cranny is ripe for a surprising adventure. There are caves aplenty to explore. Weird side quests to stumble upon, and a bevy of creatures scattered throughout the world that can just show up without warning.

Very few games manage to make their world feel alive. Dragon’s Dogma is one of the best to do it. When giant ogres are slain, their corpses remain in the world and decay over time. You can be ambushed while making camp and must fend off a horde of goblins. There is just so much life to this world and it is never forgiving. This is one aspect anyone coming in needs to know. Dragon’s Dogma is hard…dang hard. The game will kill you over and over again. It will throw you into impossible situations, learning that you will die regularly will make your experience more tolerable. Now this isn’t like Dark Souls where death means losing progress, instead it feels more like, that was a bad set of circumstances, best to avoid that next time.

The combat in the game varies depending on the class chosen. Don’t worry though, players are never locked into just one. We have standard melee fighters, ranged fighters, and magic users. All of these have different stats and abilities along with their own weapons and gear. Swapping between vocations is as simple as purchasing the class and equipping it. Each one also has a level system that increases proficiency in said class. It is a very open system that rewards experimentation. I was constantly swapping classes to see what meshed well with me. I ended up going archer as the power and range was a solid compliment to each other.

Skills are earned through points that can be used to unlock new abilities which can then be equipped for use during combat. As with the previous game, players can also climb onto larger enemies ala Shadow of the Colossus to stab them in various body parts. There is never a dull moment in combat. There are always tons of things happening, magic spells being cast, and one hit deaths are never out of the question. It is chaos at times, and the lack of a lock-on mechanic, while annoying, does lead to some hilarious moments.

The pawn system returns with quests that can be completed as well as a plague that can wreck a game. If your pawn brings back a plague it can literally cause them to go berserk and murder everyone in the town. Dragon’s Dogma has zero chill when it comes to affecting your world. This is a game of consequences and as I mentioned at the outset, it is best to just play and see what happens. That is what makes it interesting.

This brings me to the issues at hand. This game has a lot of archaic designs that will annoy a lot of people, me included. The fast travel system is atrocious. While this is the same as in the original game, the Dark Arisen update remedied this. For them to revert it makes zero sense. Basically, you have to obtain stones (which are a one-time use) to fast travel. There are also specific points you can travel to. I get they want us to explore, but sometimes I just need to go back to town to unload all my crap. Which brings me to encumbrance. I hate this in every game, it doesn’t matter if it adds to the strategy. Don’t give me six thousand things to collect if I can only carry five of them. Especially when I must walk all the way back across the world just to make more room.

The AI can be trivial at times. One example is a mission early on where I had to sneak into a dungeon to save a prisoner. I walked around trying to find them for a solid five minutes, walking past every guard without issue. Suddenly though they decided I didn’t belong there and jumped me without warning. I ended up in jail, lost all my items, and had to escape. I like those moments when they are telegraphed, but when they come out of nowhere, it can be extremely frustrating.

The performance of the game is also a huge issue. The game looks amazing. The world feels alive, and the character creator is one of the best ever made, but it comes at a cost. With these new consoles and cross-gen support we have become accustomed to buttery-smooth performance modes. Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t have that, and it rarely has a stable 30fps as well. This game lags in several spots. Even after the patch that allows turning off ray tracing, the game still struggles. I hope they remedy this at some point, but right now performance is not optimal. Also, the lack of Into Free ~Dangan~ is criminal.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a fantastic experience that comes with a lot of baggage. I suspect it will get those things ironed out over time, but if you can get past all these issues, this is an experience unlike any other. The world feels more alive than 99% of all other games. The sense of discovery is amazing, and there truly is nothing else like this out there. I highly recommend checking it out, or at least dipping your toes in with the extremely cheap original game. Capcom has done an amazing job of creating another unique experience that everyone should see at least once.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.