Dragon’s Dogma 2 has been an fascinating journey. Over the previous week I’ve watched my Pawns slay drakes, floor griffins, and blind cyclopes. They’ve led me to unknown treasures, guided me on missions, and generally, for causes identified solely themselves, sacrificed their very our bodies to the Brine. It’s been an intriguing journey that has provided greater than its fair proportion of enjoyable. Nonetheless, the extra I play I can’t assist however really feel like one thing is lacking.
Like many followers of the Dragon’s Dogma world, I too was pleasantly shocked when Capcom introduced that they have been engaged on a sequel over a decade later. I rapidly drifted via fond recollections of my prior journey. One the place I began as a lowly archer, haphazardly scaling chimeras and hydras. I slowly realized the ins and outs of the world, solely to be thrust again right into a nook by a brand new, extra highly effective, and infrequently extra mesmerizing menace. That problem pushed me ever ahead as I mastered numerous vocations, min-maxing my Arisen (the heroes of this world) in order that I could overcome the final word foe, the very dragon that took my coronary heart (in a violent method, not in a fall-in-love-with-a-dragon method like Donkey from Shrek). When it appeared clear that I had lastly triumphed over the sport’s brutal but enchanting challenges, I used to be thrust into the Everfall: A spot the place I may be a part of Arisen from everywhere in the globe in an effort to defeat the sport’s true end-game boss. I traipsed via the world again and again, turning into ever extra highly effective as I rinsed the panorama and razed it clear of all treasures.
Then got here Dragon’s Dogma: Darkish Arisen. It was an growth that really improved on the whole lot launched by this genuinely distinctive RPG expertise. It added extra intrigue with its Bitterblack Isle. It was a frightening mount to traverse, however one which left adventuring Arisen aptly satiated with its new enemies and highly effective gear held inside its intimidating façade. By the top of the journey, even Demise himself was nothing however a minor inconvenience in my seek for dominance.
Each the preliminary outing of Dragon’s Dogma and the expanded world of Darkish Arisen have been punctuated by the seemingly ceaseless choices for the Arisen themselves. Dragon’s Dogma has an fascinating tackle courses. They’re primarily based across the weapon you wish to use, but additionally stage independently of each other, even individually out of your general stage. Every one influences your stat will increase in numerous methods, nevertheless, leaving you to contemplate the way you construct your character with numerous roles, or for those who simply wish to go pure into one factor. In a while, you’d even purchase twin Vocations, courses that benefited from two completely different faculties of energy in a method. Magic Archer was my private favourite, leveraging the wanton destruction capabilities of magic towards the pinpoint accuracy of a bow and arrow. You might actually construct nevertheless you wished, switching issues up as you went, and discovering what labored for you. Having a Pawn that you could possibly additionally customise was simply the icing on the cake.
Whereas the unique Dragon’s Dogma sport was initially slept on, it will definitely grew to become considerably of a traditional. The eccentricities that made it so distinctive grew on gamers and cemented it as top-of-the-line motion role-playing video games of the trendy age. So, it got here as no shock {that a} sequel being introduced would lead many to organize to as soon as once more play their position as Arisen as we unraveled a brand new story in Dragon’s Dogma 2. With Darkish Arisen increasing on the core sport, there was little doubt that Dragon’s Dogma 2 would pulverize our imaginations with gameplay and mechanics that transcended the whole lot that got here earlier than. The issue is, I, and I’m positive different followers, are nonetheless ready to be wowed.
Don’t get me incorrect, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an efficient sport. When you favored the primary one, there’s a robust chance that you just’ll like this one as nicely. But it surely doesn’t really feel like a sequel. It’s as if the group kind of forgot they even made Darkish Arisen. As I performed longer, I spotted what I used to be taking part in felt extra prefer it was constructing on the unique core sport, ignoring the superb additions it had already acquired throughout the growth that had breathed life into the sport and helped cement its reputation within the annals of RPG historical past (in addition to being certainly one of Capcom’s best video games). The range it added to the sizable rogue’s gallery of mythological and fantastical creatures, the fascinating new weapons and armor, and an endgame that actually examined your mettle left followers chomping on the bit. It paved the way in which for what may observe and what actually ought to have adopted.
Most followers of Dragon’s Dogma anticipated Dragon’s Dogma 2 to construct upon that strong new basis, and fairly so. That’s often how this stuff go: sport comes out, sport will get updates, sport will get DLC that provides numerous new issues, sport ends. Then: new sport in collection follows up and cherry-picks from the earlier sport and continues to construct upon what made the earlier sport nice in its remaining state. Someway, someplace, Dragon’s Dogma 2 received misplaced on that path.
What we now have right here is an efficient sport that looks like a Dragon’s Dogma 2.0 reasonably than a sequel. It doesn’t construct, and at factors feels pared again. There may be much less means to construct precisely the character you need proper now, with Vocations being extra outlined and capped by their Maister skills. You’ll be able to nonetheless grow to be highly effective, but it surely all feels a bit extra inflexible, at the least in the meanwhile. Then there’s the dearth of a significant perpetual endgame in the meanwhile, one thing that even vanilla Dragon’s Dogma had. There’s no actual equal to the Everfall, not to mention an expansive dungeon like Bitterblack Isle.
This lack of “newness” is compounded by the truth that sport director Hideaki Itsuno promised a much bigger sport through the press run, and most moderately anticipated larger to imply extra than simply the scale of the panorama. Extra choices, extra selection, simply… extra. All of this was offered by Darkish Arisen, which helped make Dragon’s Dogma be remembered so fondly.
Proper now, Dragon’s Dogma wants that. It wants an injection of one thing massive and one thing new. The nostalgia of the good Pawn journey of yore is sporting off. Dragon’s Dogma 2 isn’t scratching that itch for that Darkish Arisen journey. I’d love nothing greater than to face face-to-face with loss of life as soon as once more in a creepy dungeon. To step right into a world with greater than only a cyclops, an ogre, or a griffin ready for me. To have vocations that be happy to experiment and never locked into typical courses like another run-of-the-mill RPG. Whereas I’ve had enjoyable with Dragon’s Dogma 2, it hasn’t delivered on these fronts.
It wants… one thing. And what that one thing could also be is a brand new Darkish Arisen to rise. It doesn’t have to be a Bitterblack Isle. The identical enemies don’t must return. However some factor must shake issues up in Dragon’s Dogma 2 to make it really feel like a real sequel, and a component that’s greater than only a “2” slapped onto a title.