How Dragon’s Dogma 2 Creators Crafted Its High-Fantasy World

23.01.2024 - 21:11 / ign.com

The world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 might seem strangely familiar, even if you never played the original. A lush, forested terrain speckled with hidden caves and cobblestone ruins; inhabited by beasts and creatures you could probably name on sight. That’s because director Hideaki Isuno intended to create a high-fantasy world that looks and feels like one that everyone would imagine a real-life fantasy world to look like.

This intention has carried over from the original Dragon’s Dogma, and is why they focused on creating a European and northern English feel, down to the vegetation and structures. The creature design has also remained grounded – as grounded as a fantasy creature can be.

“Our approach to design is to think about what a monster would look like if it existed in real life. It's hard to remember what these monsters are named when they show up, so we're careful to create characters that look just like their names,” Itsuno explained. “We wanted anyone in the world to be able to see its design and say, that's a Sphynx. We interviewed lots of people from around the world after creating the first game, and there were a lot of monsters that appear in Dragon's Dogma that people said looked exactly like their mental image of them, such as the Griffin. That's something we're proud of, and we're glad we put so much attention into it. It's great to hear people say, ‘Yes, this!’”

The Cyclops, Harpy, and Minotaur are just a few more of the creatures found in Dragon’s Dogma 2 anyone familiar with high-fantasy could probably name on sight. If you played the first, don’t expect to recognize any particular locations from Granys, though.

Itsuno said: “Dragon's Dogma is the story of many parallel worlds, and the world we see in Dragon's Dogma 2 is just one of these worlds. In each parallel world, Pawns interact with Arisen and other Pawns.hat's why the story of constant rebirth that's focused around dragons, as well as the various elements of the world shown in the previous game have all carried over to this one as well. That said, it does take place in a different parallel world, which is why I think there will be parts that are similar yet different. That's reflected in a lot of different places, and I hope players enjoy it.”

The art director Daigo Ikeno commented that creating a parallel world actually made Dragon Dogma’s 2 design a bit more difficult. “We decided to carry on elements from [the previous Dragon’s Dogma]. Not being able to make any massive changes actually made it a little difficult, because this meant having to closely examine each little part of the game,” Ikeno said.

Rather than look at fantasy films and other more modern works as reference material for the art design of Dragon’s Dogma and