Dragon’s Dogma 2 hands-on: How Capcom brings new life to the RPG sequel

05.03.2024 - 22:09 / blog.playstation.com / Hideaki Itsuno

It’s been 11 years since the release of Capcom’s fantasy action-role playing game Dragon’s Dogma, with fans readily anticipating the March 22 release of its long-awaited sequel, Dragon’s Dogma 2.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes everything that made the original a cult classic and builds upon that foundation. There are new vocations, more monsters to take on, more ways to defeat them, more places to venture to, and above all, more life in the world of the Arisen.

I got the chance to go hands-on with Dragon’s Dogma 2 and speak with its director, Hideaki Itsuno. Here’s some of the standout features from my experience with Dragon’s Dogma 2, along with some quotes provided by the director.

The first thing I noticed on my adventure in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is how real the world feels. Thanks to the PlayStation 5 SSD, there were no loading times when traveling from land to land, making the adventure feel that much more captivating. I went straight from the starting village to monster-filled outskirts without even noticing how far I traveled due to the world’s interconnected feel.

This interconnection applies to the monsters as well. After a losing battle with a dragon and attempting to escape, I was horrified to see the scaly fiend still chasing me as I made my way back to what I thought was the safety of the village.

Of course, Itsuno was delighted to hear about my reaction to this, as it was one of his main goals to make the game feel that much more lively on current-gen hardware.

“Back on the PlayStation 3 with the original we were limited and thus, creatures would eventually load out after you got far away enough. We wanted to use the innovations to make these creatures feel alive, so now when you try to run away you’ll look back and see it won’t be as easy as before.”

I didn’t run from every battle, however. Once I was accustomed to the enemies of this world I realized the additions to the battle system and new vocations take Dragon’s Dogma 2 to new heights.

One vocation that stands out is the Mystic Spearhand, which gives access to magick arts and physical attacks using a dual-ended spear. Using this class against the many fiends sprawling this world I was able to not only defend with physical resistant buffs, but also take on the hordes with simple spear swings, dash attacks, and telekinetic attacks that allowed me to pick up and throw monsters. To hit two birds with one stone, you can toss one monster at another.

This feels like a class made for all obstacles. I enjoyed the freedom granted by the dash attack to both get in quickly with a damaging stab and evade enemy attacks. And now that all vocations can preserve stamina while standing atop giant monsters, I felt ready to take on any challenge the game threw at