Dragon’s Dogma was an unappreciated gem when it launched back in 2012. I’ve no idea why it didn’t blow up, maybe everyone was still busy with Skyrim. All I know is, if you missed it back then, please play it now before the sequel releases. I’m begging you.
Easy to learn but hard to master
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is dropping March 22, 2024, meaning you’ve still got just over four months to thoroughly explore the world of Gransys and get your daggers stuck into some chimera guts and troll eyes. Directed by Hideaki Itsuno of Devil May Cry prestige, it combines a high-fantasy world based on the gorgeous island of Sicily with the colossal boss-climbing of Shadow of the Colossus and the fast-paced combat of DmC. There was very limited fast travel when the game first launched, meaning you had to get acquainted with the world and the monsters that inhabit it, but the combat and exploration both hold up to this day, making long journeys exciting rather than a grind.
There are nine classes, starting with the standard fighter, strider (rogue), and mage. These can later specialise into warrior, ranger, and sorcerer, or the hybrid classes of mystic knight, assassin, and magik archer. The best part is, once you earn a skill, you can use it in another class, meaning you can really customise your character to suit your needs.
There’s depth to the Dragon’s Dogma character customization too. Your height and build determine how much you can carry, and you can create a buddy who will join you on your adventures. They’re a race called pawns, and they’re basically slaves, which morally feels a bit dicey. But don’t worry, apparently, they love to follow adventurers. You can download other player’s pawns to get your total party size to four, and they can download yours. When they do, they gain valuable knowledge of quests and enemies, and can even send them back with gifts. Again, it’s a surprisingly deep system that encourages you to make the best pawn possible so they can help you out of a tight spot with knowledge from the future.
Don’t go out after dark
The lack of fast travel is very much by design, not an oversight. The world is big, and traversing it takes time, time you don’t have. Once the sun sets, enemies get deadlier and new, more horrifying ones appear. It’s one of the few games where nighttime is truly dark, like trying to swim through squid ink. You can keep the fear at bay with spells and fire, but you’ll want to get to shelter as soon as possible once twilight hits.
You’ll want to tackle the more cinematic bosses during the day, just for the pure spectacle of it all. Like in Shadow of the Colossus, you can climb bigger foes to strike weak points. Clamber up a cyclops to hit its eye directly, take flight with a griffin to slash at its wings, and hold onto a chimera’s snake tail for dear life as you try to hack it off. The fighting is glorious.
Uh, what’s going on?
If you don’t want to dig out your PS3, fear not. A remastered version landed on PS4 and Xbox One, Dark Arisen, so it can be played on PS5 and Series X consoles now. I will warn you though, it’s tough. It’s a Japanese game developed in the style of a Western RPG, but the storyline is still somewhat convoluted. Plenty of quests are secretly timed or become unavailable once you progress the main mission. There’s also a strangely complex romance system. My advice to you, dear reader, would be to just blindly play the game doing whatever you feel is right, and then go for a second, guided playthrough once you realize you screwed everything up.
The premise is simple—a dragon stole your heart and burned your village to the ground, now you want it back—so the game is easy to dive into, but it can feel overwhelming. Just plug away and I guarantee you’ll love it just as much as I do and be as hyped for the sequel as I am.
