The very first thing I did in Dragon’s Dogma 2 was fight a griffin. Having selected the Fighter vocation, I spawned in with a party of Pawns and three quest objectives to reach. However, that big ol’bird was right there. And if you think I’m not going to stab it at least once, then clearly we have different gaming priorities. What ensued was a dramatic tussle of climbing on the monster, taking shots when I could, all while my army of Pawns fought by my side and shouted canned, unnecessary phrases.
After depleting one of its four health bars, the griffin flew high into the sky, putting an abrupt end to our battle. However, once I looked at my party, I noticed I was down a Pawn. “Where’s Sara?” I asked aloud, only to look up and realize she was still on the griffin, who was now a mile up in the air. I couldn’t help but laugh as I shouted incredulously, “Did that bastard run away with my party member!?”
Fortunately, the Capcom representative with me informed me that Sara would soon reappear in my party once enough time passed. And after I returned from the event that night, my girlfriend who is more versed in Dragon’s Dogma than I told me that what I experienced is pretty similar to the first game. Hearing that, I couldn’t help but feel kind of amazed. Even if Dragon’s Dogma 2 is just refining what worked the first time around, the result still felt as exhilarating as anything I’ve played this year.
A new vocation
To be fair, I’m not totally green on Dragon’s Dogma 2. I knew I’d demo it at a small event hosted by Capcom, so I did play its predecessor a bit. I had an hour with the sequel, and I knew I had a lot to cover. More than even digging deep into the game itself, I really wanted to get a feel for all the game’s vocations (i.e. character classes).
Fortunately, the demo I played made this part easy. I had free reign to start as either the Fighter, Archer, or Thief, so I wanted to give them all a spin. And right off the bat, I really enjoyed the melee fighters.
Starting off with the Fighter vocation, everything felt solid for a classic “sword-and-board” playstyle. Attacks were weighty, yet my character felt nimble enough that I could react to anything the game threw at me. Using the four active skills I had at my disposal, I easily took down enemies above me as well as foes on the ground. As the role I imagine many will gravitate towards if they’re completely new to Dragon’s Dogma, everything here just felt solid. Even at a basic, early game level, I really enjoyed combat with the fighter.
Conversely, when I took the new Thief vocation for a spin, I got a wildly different experience. As you’d expect, this vocation is fast and nimble, but it also bounces everywhere. Skills can fling you yards towards or away from foes, which was absolutely chaotic. I don’t mean that in a bad way though, as it seemed to be a balance for how deadly the Thief is. When fighting an ogre that towered over me, one skill flung me so far up into the air that my spinning knives cut my foe from its toes to its eyes and all the way back down again. Pulling off those perfect maneuvers wasn’t easy, but man, did they feel good.
As someone who prefers to dodge roll over guard, I absolutely want to start with this vocation in the full game. It seemed like the skill ceiling was higher, but making it all click was incredibly rewarding.
Out on the range
Meanwhile, I will say that the Archer vocation was maybe not quite as impressive. The bow attacks kind of felt like I was throwing pebbles at my foes, and my skills didn’t have that impact the melee fighters had. Maybe this is standard fare for a ranged class, since it was admittedly easier to stay out of harm’s way. The Archer also had a different starting point in the demo, so I didn’t have a fully fleshed out skillset to use. I’m not saying this class was bad, but the first impression just wasn’t quite as strong.
That said, I did finagle my way into swapping from Archer to Mage after a few minutes. And even at level one, I liked this class a bit more. The Mage’s heavy attack from the first game is replaced by a dedicated healing skill, which was really handy. As a Final Fantasy XIV healer main, I felt at home supporting my party and hurling spells in my downtime. Charging offensive magic does take time, which did create situations where my party had already defeated things for me before I could intervene. But this is a class I definitely want experiment with to see how it really plays.
Gleefully lost
So that’s a lot of words about the classes. But what about my time interacting with the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2? Well, that’s just the thing. Despite having clear quest objectives in front of me, I almost immediately got lost exploring instead. And I had a great time doing it.
The environments in Dragon’s Dogma 2 are quite pretty. But more importantly, I constantly saw things that piqued my curiosity off the beaten path. Whether it was a treasure chest atop a large pillar to get to, or just a group of enemies around a campfire I could use, I found it so easy to simply forget about my actual quest objectives. For context, I generally feel overwhelmed in open world games, which quickly makes me disinterested in them. So the fact that Dragon’s Dogma 2 could immerse me in its world felt really special. The core mechanics here are just solid, so I was content to just mess around and see what I’d find.
Adding to all this was, of course, the Pawn system. For those unfamiliar with Dragon’s Dogma, Pawns are AI party members that take a more active role than your average Action RPG companions do. Just like the first game, they’ll hit you with cheesy canned lines whether you’re exploring and in combat. And make no mistake, Dragon’s Dogma 2 unapologetically leans on the camp in this regard.
For example, I had a Pawn leading me to a quest objective. However, I got distracted and decided to explore a mine I found instead. This triggered a sassy response along the lines of “well, if you aren’t going to follow me, then I simply won’t put in the effort,” which made another Pawn pipe up about how everyone needs to settle down and trust that my judgment on this one. To be clear, no one should have trusted my judgment. I had no clue where I was going. But these moments added an air of levity that made exploration feel lively and silly in equal measure.
The Pawns seemed tonally similar to the first game, but I had the impression that the developers were having fun within that framework. It really seemed like the team behind this one were just as big fans of the original game as anyone.
A few small observations
I do want to mention that, in this early demo build, the game’s performance wasn’t quite nailed down yet. I don’t say this to cause alarm, as it was clear to me that this is an early build. However, seeing frame rates drop on a PlayStation 5 indicated that Capcom still has work to do. For this reason, I’m hoping Dragon’s Dogma 2 will get the time it needs to have its rough edges polished. In other words, maybe don’t expect this one by early 2024.
That said, I think Dragon’s Dogma 2 still has a few surprises in store for us. As much as I played with each vocation, there’s still so much I want to discover. By the prompting of fans of the first Dragon’s Dogma, I asked a Capcom representative if the fan favorite Mystic Knight vocation might return in this sequel. This was met with a simple “we can’t say” response, which, of course, is literally not a confirmation or denial. But even just playing the base vocations, I had almost no time to play with equipment or new skills. It’s all stuff I’m dying to learn more about in the future.
As a prime example, even seeing the food in Dragon’s Dogma 2 sparked so many questions. For those who haven’t heard, you can cook food at campfires in Dragon’s Dogma 2, and it looks spectacular. And it’s not like this is just a visually stunning game, even if it firmly looks good enough. But no, that steak I saw on my screen looked so good that I literally asked if I was looking at FMV footage. These are the hard-hitting questions I ask as a games media representative. Even the representative with me didn’t have an answer, but you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll dig until I know the answer. Something about this game just makes you want to know the finer details.
The open world I’m looking forward to
The most incredible part about Dragon’s Dogma 2 was that, even with demo-specific performance issues and no nostalgia for its predecessor, I still had a blast. The game certainly doesn’t feature photorealistic characters, and it tonally feels as campy as the first game. But these all feel like deliberate design decisions this time around, which I found delightful. I got a real feeling that this was a game that just wants to be a good ol’ fun time over literally anything else, even if it means getting cheesy or silly.
Obviously, that’s only based off roughly an hour of doing nothing but messing around. The tone of the final game could be different. But for my tastes, I really vibed with what Dragon’s Dogma 2 put on the table. Whether it was great gameplay or a juicy looking steak.
I have seen some say that Dragon’s Dogma 2 is just, well, more Dragon’s Dogma. And admittedly, Dragon’s Dogma 2 certainly felt immediately familiar to me after warming up with the first game. But for a sequel to a game that first came out over ten years ago, I think its heading in the right direction. I’m already convinced the world needs more Dragon’s Dogma, and that is exactly what this sequel delivers. It has some refinements, but it firmly remembers what it was, and I find that ethos absolutely refreshing. Even as I write this, I’m still thinking about that griffin that flew off with my Pawn, and the sheer joy I felt through that entire encounter. And when Dragon’s Dogma 2 finally comes out, you better believe I’m settling the score with that monster.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. No release window has been unveiled at this time.
