Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an enchanting and perilous journey that requires patience

20.03.2024 - 15:01 / polygon.com

I was more than a dozen hours into Dragon’s Dogma 2 when I found my first ropeway — a transport system that would potentially save me time traversing the game’s vast open world by taking me to the skies. I turned a crank to get the ropeway’s wooden gondola moving, then passed said duty onto one of the Pawns in my party. Quite pleased with myself for discovering this new method of travel, I decided to soak in the views of the expansive desert below me until this journey’s end.

Then a giant, pissed-off griffin smashed into my gondola and completely wrecked it. My party and I plummeted to the valley below and were instantly killed. Man plans and Dragon’s Dogma 2 laughs.

The griffin incident is just one of many similar stories I’ve experienced in 30 hours with the cruel jokester god that is Dragon’s Dogma 2. I’ve been attacked by bandits in the midst of clearing a copse of goblins and thrown off cliffs by harpies. I’ve been stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen, and burned by every type of fantasy creature. It’s challenging, but Capcom’s fantasy role-playing game is so unwavering in its design ideals, and so layered in intricate, interlocking game systems — it’s both fascinating and grueling to play.

It presents a world that feels like it’s already existed for eons before I ever set foot into it. It feels unconcerned with coddling or even welcoming me into its perilous world and fraught medieval politics. From lore to gameplay mechanics and even how the non-player characters function, Dragon’s Dogma 2’s lived-in world believably feels like you’ve been transported here as an outsider and dared to survive its harsh conditions.

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, I’m an Arisen: a chosen one who’s had their heart plucked out by a dragon and who, according to lore, is therefore the rightful ruler of the kingdom Vermund. But there is a usurper to the throne, a false Arisen who has been given ruling power as part of a shadowy conspiracy. Thankfully, some citizens and power brokers in Vermund quietly recognize my power as the Arisen and aid me on my journey to uncover the truth and expose the imposter.

Joining me on my quest are computer-controlled characters known as Pawns, sort of second-class citizens who fight alongside me. I have up to three Pawns at my side at any given time: a permanent one of my own creation and two others I can hire as part of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s faux-multiplayer component. As I play through the game, I can encounter new Pawns while walking across the kingdoms of Vermund and Battahl, or I can go Pawn shopping at locations known as Riftstones, where other players’ uploaded Pawns seek temporary quests from Arisens across parallel worlds.

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The Pawn system adds to the organic, living-world feel of Dragon’