Dragon’s Dogma 2 hits digital shelves on March 22 this year, and while March is quickly approaching, enough time has passed since the original Dragon’s Dogma that players might not even recognize the name. In fact, the first game came out more than a decade ago.
If you’re following the upcoming release even tangentially, chances are you’ve probably seen praise for the first game recirculating by now. Perhaps it was because it released less than a year after the titan Skyrim, but the RPG never seemed to reach the popularity level its players think it deserved.
The hype the sequel has generated seems that it will change that (assuming the quality lives up to the first game), and that naturally begs the question of whether you need to play the first game in preparation for Dragon’s Dogma 2. The answer isn’t quite a simple yes or no, and this article will cover why.
Is Dragon’s Dogma 2 a direct sequel to the first game?
Capcom hasn’t officially confirmed whether the second Dragon’s Dogma ties into the first in a way that will confuse players new to the franchise. With that said, I highly doubt it’s even possible in the first place that it does. There is certainly a possibility (and likelihood) of some Easter eggs, references, and nods that Dragon’s Dogma connoisseurs will enjoy. But the game won’t be a continuation of the first one, nor will it rely on any knowledge of past story beats. I’m not going to cover why I’m so sure of that fact in this article, as that would mean listing some pretty massive spoilers for the first game, but you shouldn’t have any difficulty learning why that’s the case if you don’t mind spoilers.
In terms of gameplay, mechanics, lore, and general world-building, Dragon’s Dogma 2 does look like it will be closely following the schematics of the first game, but that only determines whether you will recognize key terms like Pawn and Arisen, not whether you’ll know what’s going on.
A good way to think of how the second game will relate to the first might be by comparing two writer’s iterations of the same comic book character. It’s very much the same world, and there may even be references, but the second writer won’t create something that has a dependency on the first. The story of Dragon’s Dogma 2 might have minor tie-ins to the first game, but it is highly unlikely to depend on it.
Should you play the first Dragon’s Dogma game?
You may not need to play Dragon’s Dogma to understand the first game, but the question of whether you should is totally different and has a separate (subjective) answer. If you ask me, you absolutely should play the first game in preparation for the second. Sure, you might not need to play it to follow along with the story of Dragon’s Dogma 2, but when has that ever been the primary reason that someone plays a game?
Despite its age, Dragon’s Dogma holds up incredibly well across the board: the story, visuals, and mechanics were all greatly ahead of its time. I remember first playing the game in 2012 and almost thinking it was too good to be true. It felt like what I hoped games would be like someday. Granted, that was 12 years ago, so you likely won’t be blown away by Dragon’s Dogma in 2024, but the areas in which the game will show its age are minimal.
Where can you play Dragon’s Dogma?
If reading this article filled you with childlike wonder and you’ve since decided to play Dragon’s Dogma, you might have a tiny bit of trouble finding the game. This is because, in 2013, Capcom released a DLC update/sequel to the game called Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen. Don’t let the separate title confuse you; Dark Arisen is just the first Dragon’s Dogma game with a huge DLC update. If the same thing had happened today, it would have been called an update (think Cyberpunk 2.0). Because that wasn’t really a thing in 2013, the devs released it as a “new game,” but you were able to transfer your save data from Dragon’s Dogma into Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen.
The pre-Dark Arisen version of the game is no longer in circulation, but Dark Arisen is available on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch.
