Summary
Before you start running circles around me -yes, I know,microtransactions. This is nothing new from Capcom and it’s entirely unnecessary, greedy, and detrimental. Not to mention, useless - I played the game for two weeks pre-launch before the store even existed, and not once did I ever think anything was missing.
Should they exist? No, not really. Does it matter? Yes, but also no, not really.
Now let me talk about whyDragon’s Dogma 2is a phenomenal game.
A World Four Times Bigger Than DD1
You start out in the Kingdom of Vermund, and will eventually make your way into the Beastren land of Battahl - home to one of the new races in Dragon’s Dogma 2, the feline people of the desert.
Both regions are vast and varied, and offer up so many locations, secrets, and quests to take part in. I’m still finding stuff, and more just pops up all the time, whether it’s on a visit back to the capital, or the same road I feel I’ve traveled a few times now - a new quest will show up, or I’ll find a new cave to dive into.
At first, you might feel like the worthwhile world is concentrated in the places where the roads lead, and will be sparse and inaccessible between - but when you start to trek off the beaten path, you’ll be surprised to find just how much is waiting out there in the wilds. Ruins, locations, and ever-dangerous monsters.
What helps with the scale and the surprise in discovery is the traversal - in a post-Breath of the Wild world, we’re very much used to open-world games offering the ability to freely climb most things, and use gliders to let us soar across huge distances. In Dragon’s Dogma 2, the only climbing will be as you clamber up rocks in an attempt to reach something, but often you’ll have to rely on your legs to find a new way around - or maybe some help from your pawns. You are well and truly grounded in the exploration.
In this sense, it very much feels like an open-world game of Dark Souls design - andyes, I know Elden Ring exists, but I mean classic Dark Souls. A locked door that can only be opened from the other side, meaning you may’t climb over a wall or scale a mountain, but will instead have to find hidden paths, use creative means to unlock new routes, or find caves that might lead to where you need to go - and in the process, discover something else entirely.
The world has grown on me as much as I feel it’s grown alongside me, ever-expanding into something that always has something to offer, and one that I’ve had an absolute joy in uncovering.
It’s Dangerous To Go Alone
This world is filled with threats that will show up at every turn. Wolves will attempt to eat you and Goblins will attempt to dive into you, but these are miniature in comparison to the real threats.
When you’re exploring on foot or traveling by ox cart, you’ll often run into some trouble - that trouble being a very angry Ogre or a stampeding Cyclops. Or, you know, maybe a Griffin for good measure. Or all of the above.
And when you’re exploring the nooks and crannies of the world, you might come across Chimeras, Minotaurs, or even Drakes as they absolutely obliterate you, and these fights are never assured, and always unpredictable. They can take place anywhere, and the environment will take no favorites: you might hop atop the Griffin using the classic ability to climb on big monsters, only for it to take to the skies, show you the sights, and kindly drop you off at its nest.
Like Skyrim where you’ve fought 20 dragons and seeing another one doesn’t quite have the same impact as the first, you’ll eventually get used to seeing a local Griffin or another Cyclops come storming out of some toppling trees, but it remains just as exciting.
A Griffin swooping into a field of Oxen, or a Minotaur obliterating your cart as you travel from town to town - are both things you’ll encounter time and time again, but with such a varied and ever-changing combat dynamic, this makes each scenario its own.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Is A Game Of The Year
I might not have known it, but what I really needed was a huge, open-world fantasy game to give me freedom, scale, and so many opportunities for exploration, while also letting me hire Barry Chuckle and a large man called Balrog into my party of adventurers - and Dragon’s Dogma 2 has, very specifically, delivered on all fronts.
It’s a game that throws you into its world, and then continues to throw more into it for you to find, making adventure the forefront of your experience, no matter where you go, what you decide to do, or the choices you make within the many quests you’ll undertake.
You’ll see time pass as you adventure, and the world will change with it, from meat rotting in your backpack to civilians just living out their lives. Oftentimes, things won’t wait for you either, with consequences passing you by if you fail to act.
Your first, second, and third playthrough of Dragon’s Dogma 2 will be inherently different, from the vocation you choose to play, the companions you bring along, the choices you make, and the things you’ll continue to discover that you didn’t previously come across.
It’s a huge RPG, in every sense of the word, and I can see it continuing to remain atop 2024 when the year comes to a close, and we all look back on the biggest and most impressive games. The likes of Baldur’s Gate 3 took the world by storm in the latter half of 2023, and now Dragon’s Dogma 2 should, in every right, hold strong despite a much earlier release.
Whatever the rest of the year may bring, it’s one to hold highly. The pointless, afterthought microtransactions are present in many games, Capcom’s Resident Evil and Devil May Cry included. They’re not only needless, but detrimental, and the game is complete without them.
Still, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is phenomenal, and it easily sits as one of my favorite games in recent years. I expected to like it, but I never expected to love it as much as I do. The first game was great, though a little less in the spotlight, but the sequel deserves its time to shine more than ever.
