If you told me that Dragon's Dogma 2 is a remaster or remake of the first game from 2012, I'd believe you. When I played this game, memories from my teenage years came flooding back to my mind. The unique side quests and fun real-time action combat were just as I remembered, but I also remembered all the problems I was having with the lack of quality of life options.
Dragon's Dogma 2 follows Arisen, a hero who rules the Kingdom of Vahmund and is destined to bring peace to the land. When Arisen discovers the impostor, their goal is to expose him and make others believe they are the rightful heirs. It's a very simple story, but it makes the game's side quests stand out and adds complexity and color to the open-world RPG.
One of the biggest strengths of Capcom's titles is that side quests unfold organically and pop up frequently as you stroll around town. I arrived at Batal, the land of beasts, and as soon as I stepped into the palace, someone greeted me. Apparently one of the servants had discovered a plot to assassinate the Empress, and I agreed to look for the culprit.
Surprisingly, despite the physical description, it was not detected in time and the Empress died. Urgent moments like this add strong world-building and keep you excited about what could happen next in your adventure.
But what's really tiring is the sheer amount of backtracking between different locations. The main fast travel options in the game are Oxtail Carts and Ferrystones. The former seems to be only available in large towns, while the latter is a consumable that allows you to return to those towns from anywhere on the map, but it's expensive.
This is exactly what the first game was like. While this does provide some immersion, it gets very stale and very fast, especially if you're trying to complete sidequests in small areas.
What makes traveling on foot so frustrating is that Arisen's stamina meter quickly depletes as you run. Frustratingly, I would always speed up briefly and then do a brisk jog for a period of time while waiting for the meter to fill up again. I wish there were some improvements from the previous game. Perhaps the stamina meter is only depleted during combat?
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As for the combat, not much has changed from the previous game, but the real-time action is as engaging as ever. Arisen has different character classes to choose from, called professions, such as archers and thieves. I chose the sorcerer myself and quickly realized how impressive his magic spells were. The crackling of lightning and the frigid currents of wind were spectacular as they obliterated goblins and bandits throughout the journey.
There are also some new professions, such as Mystic Spearhand. This class wields a double-edged magical spear and performs cool acrobatic moves such as jumping into the air and slamming the spear into the ground. It's really fun to switch up and experiment with professions from time to time and find what best suits your playstyle.
The series' pawn system still works great, too. Pawns are AI-controlled teammates that accompany Arisen and fight alongside her. Not only can you create your own pawns, but you can also recruit two others to make his full party of four. You can find pawns passing in front of you during the game. You can also call pawns created by other players, such as your own friend's pawns. Although there is no direct multiplayer or co-op, this mechanic is a great way to encourage camaraderie between other players.
Unlike the first game, Dragon's Dogma 2 features a truly seamless world, with loading screens only appearing when you open the game or reload to a previous checkpoint after dying.
The power-up of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S definitely helped here, but at times the game looks like it belongs on a previous generation PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.
While the pre-rendered cinematic cut-scenes have impressive graphical details, such as giant griffin wings and dragon scales, the graphics of the environments and character models look similar to the 2023 Resident Evil 4 remake. It's not as impressive as , or even Capcom's other recent releases. His Devil May Cry 5 in 2019. Sometimes technical issues occur, textures are missing, and the game looks bad.
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I would like to express my gratitude to the game's soundtrack. As a very Western influenced game, Capcom's Japanese origins make this game stand out. From the soothing piano in the main menu to the energizing electric guitars and epic chants in the biggest battles, the game's sounds were carefully selected by his director Yoshiyoshi and lead composer Satoshi Hori. It has a very eclectic collection of songs.
Dragon's Dogma 2 feels so stagnant that you feel like you're playing a game from the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 era from almost 15 years ago, rather than a game on a current-gen console from 2024. Masu. The first game and graphics are sometimes disappointing. Still, the sidequest structure and combat have held up over time. Dragon's Dogma 2 manages to maintain the best aspects of its predecessor while fixing its shortcomings.
Dragon's Dogma 2 will be released on March 22nd for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Reviewed on Xbox Series X|S
Score: 7/10
