Dragon’s Dogma 2 Has Only One Graphical Mode, Aims for Around 30 FPS

The Dragon's Dogma 2 community has been left shaken by the existence of Dragonsplague – a deadly illness introduced in the sequel that can result in entire towns being killed. Left unchecked, the contagious disease –  which can be spread game-to-game by hiring infected Pawns – has the potential to result in numerous NPCs, including important quest-givers, being wiped out overnight. 

If I were to write a list of all the things that made Skyrim special, it’d be as long as The Elder Scrolls themselves. Considering that’s a massive waste of parchment, I can boil Skyrim’s magic down to one word: dragons. Few games have recaptured the thrill of Tamriel’s wyrms crashing down from the sky to interrupt an otherwise run-of-the-mill fetch quest. But I’ve got good news: that very same sense of awe, terror, and excitement fuels Dragon’s Dogma 2, a game where a towering cyclops can unexpectedly emerge from the forest’s edge, or a terrifying drake swoop down from on high, all in unscripted, emergent moments.

Capcom has responded to Dragon’s Dogma 2 players who have criticised the game’s use of microtransactions as well as performance issues on PC.

In the run-up to the release of open world RPG Dragon’s Dogma 2, developer and publisher Capcom has revealed that it is aware of inconsistencies in the game’s frame rate performance on PC in particular. In a statement to IGN, Capcom has revealed that it is looking into ways in which it can improve the performance of the game.

Capcom's highly anticipated fantasy RPG, is finally due to be released on March 22, 2024, more than a decade after the release of the original game, but PC players may want to hold off on purchasing the game for now. Recent reports indicate that the game experiences severe frame rate performance problems on the platform.

Nearly 12 years after game director Hideaki Itsuno released Dragon’s Dogma on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is finally almost here. Since the original game debuted, Capcom has released Dragon’s Dogma spinoffs, semi-sequels, and ports to varying degrees of success, but the highly anticipated sequel looks poised to break out.

Capcom and director Hideaki Itsuno’s vision for the original Dragon’s Dogma was to develop a purely single player experience that, through the use of its AI-controlled companions known as Pawns, would emulate the feeling of an MMORPG with other players. The upcoming, long overdue Dragon’s Dogma 2 is set to expand on its predecessor in a number of ways – from a larger open world to how much content it’ll offer and much more – but that focus on delivering a purely single player experience isn’t changing.

If it weren’t obvious already, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a big game. Capcom has discussed how the world is four times larger than the original and the sheer amount of side content, which some may players may end up skipping. However, when speaking to Automaton-Media, director Hideaki Itsuno revealed that it may actually be much larger than initially announced.

From newcomers like the Mystic Spearhand and the Trickster to returning favourites like the Fighter and the Warrior, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is set to offer a number of different Vocations for players to play as, each offering a completely different play style. Unlike the first game, however, in the sequel, each Vocation is going to be much more limited in what it’ll be able to do, in that each of them will generally specialize in a single weapon type.

Much has been said about Dragon’s Dogma 2, especially with new previews and a free Character Creator going live last week. However, the scale of the experience is still relatively unknown, especially given that the world is four times larger than the original. Speaking to Automaton-Media, director Hideaki Itsuno discussed certain feats possible on current-gen hardware.

During the recent Capcom Highlights showcase, one particular quote from Dragon's Dogma 2 director Hideaki Itsuno caught everyone's attention. He stated: «Over 1,000 characters inhabit the world [of Dragon's Dogma 2], each with their own unique stories and motivations.» That's a lot of NPCs.

Ahead of the release of Dragon's Dogma 2 later this month, Capcom has made the character creator available to download.