Dragon's Dogma 2 review: "Embrace the chaos and there's nothing quite like it"

2024-03-22

GamesRadar+ VerdictLike the original game, Dragon’s Dogma 2 excels when you’re out in its open world with your pawn allies – finding hidden caves and treasure, fighting monsters, and generally losing track of time. Also like the original, it falls short in terms of quest design, convenience, and general polish. A somewhat conservative sequel, then, but one that retains the charm of its predecessor.Pros+The open world is a pleasure to explore+The pawn companion system remains smart+Ganging up on giant foes is highly satisfyingCons-Not enough of a step forward from the original-Some confusing and broken quests

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Like the original game, Dragon’s Dogma 2 excels when you’re out in its open world with your pawn allies – finding hidden caves and treasure, fighting monsters, and generally losing track of time. Also like the original, it falls short in terms of quest design, convenience, and general polish. A somewhat conservative sequel, then, but one that retains the charm of its predecessor.

Pros+The open world is a pleasure to explore+The pawn companion system remains smart+Ganging up on giant foes is highly satisfying

The open world is a pleasure to explore

The pawn companion system remains smart

Ganging up on giant foes is highly satisfying

Cons-Not enough of a step forward from the original-Some confusing and broken quests

Not enough of a step forward from the original

Some confusing and broken quests

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Fast FactsRelease date: March 22, 2024Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series XDeveloper: In-housePublisher: Capcom

Fast Facts

Release date: March 22, 2024Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series XDeveloper: In-housePublisher: Capcom

That danger, however, is one reason that the grand sense of adventure in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is near unparalleled. Another is that, for all the risk your journeys entail, the tone of Capcom’s sequel remains as camp and silly as the first game – a high fantasy that contrasts gloriously against the work ofFromSoftwareand its Soulslike acolytes. Arguably, it’s especially enjoyable from a British perspective, not least because a good chunk of its world feels like one of the rockier areas of our countryside. Like the Peak District, perhaps, but with goblins instead of tea shops. And with the addition of a cast spouting ye olde English – a lot of ‘well mets’ and ‘mayhaps’ – it feels less like Lord of the Rings than a live role-playing weekend with friends, each giving am-dram earnestness to their character as they roam the woods bashing each other with latex maces.

Pawn Cocktail

(Image credit: Capcom)

Dragon’s Dogma 2 screenshot showing two characters overlooking an expanse

Choosing auxiliary pawns from the rift thus equates to borrowing other people’s creations to fill out your party, and they may use yours, which adds a wonderful communal touch to proceedings. And because borrowed pawns don’t level up while working with you, it’s necessary to keep swapping them for others, perhaps trying out different class lineups – do you stick to the basic balance of fighter, thief, archer, sorcerer, or experiment? – all the while gaining a window into what fellow Arisen have conjured from Dragon’s Dogma 2’s detailed character creator and what kind of equipment they’ve discovered.

Yet they’re endearing in partbecauseof this looping verbal diarrhoea. What Capcom has done here is take the classic dumb RPG NPC and fold it into the lore of its game world. As such, pawns are a kind of distilled essence of RPG people, devoid of human concerns beyond completing quests, securing treasure and defeating monsters, to which they display boundless enthusiasm. In particular, they buzz with joy at the sight of treasure chests, hilariously so when said chest is actually just a strong box in someone’s house, which in their eyes is some great prize ripe for plunder. Oh, and ladders. They love ladders. But hey, RPG laddersareexciting – who knows what might be found at the top?

The bigger They Come

(Image credit: Capcom)

Dragon’s Dogma 2 screenshot showing combat against an ogre

Pawns are not merely comedy cheerleaders, however. For one, they do point out interesting stuff you may have missed, including bringing information from other worlds they’ve travelled with other Arisen. But most importantly, they’ll fight tooth and nail for your cause, gamely charging towards the largest of creatures unless you beckon them away. And most of the time you won’t, since combat is Dragon’s Dogma 2’s other strength, drawing on Capcom’s own Monster Hunter series as much as any other RPG.

In terms of your own participation in skirmishes, the game does a fine job of making each class (four to start with, nine in all) genuinely different to play. As an archer, for example, you must use height and range to your advantage, while a sorcerer needs precious seconds to invoke powerful elemental spells. All are worthy choices – you’ll likely try at least a few in the course of a play through – with bespoke special attacks and techniques to learn as you level up. Levitation lets a sorcerer reach higher ground or blast foes from beyond their reach, for example, while a thief can yank them around with a grappling hook.

Mix these skills together with those of your pawns and the result is often merry chaos, especially against giant marquee monsters such as cyclops, ogres and chimeras, which are even more magnificent to behold this time, and have a habit of dropping in unannounced. Sure, some dwell within foreboding caves where you’d expect to meet them, but now and again an enormous griffin might swoop out of the sky, or you might arrive back at the capital to find the city guard in a pitched battle with a cyclops that had presumably ambled through the main gate, and join the effort to bring it down.

In such encounters, you can’t merely hammer away at their ankles to drain their ample life bars either. Targeting weak spots is crucial to victory, and so is climbing their backs to stab their soft bits up close. Topple them over and you have the pleasure of piling on to give the beast a battering, although give them half a chance and they’re quite capable of knocking you over instead, so care has to be taken. Not that smaller foes should be taken lightly either. A goblin ambush can be as alarming as it is amusing, as one of the blighters leaps out from behind a rock and delivers a concussive shield bash. You need to have your guard up at all times in Dragon’s Dogma 2.

Dragon Aged

(Image credit: Capcom)

Dragon’s Dogma 2 screenshot showing a party in a large city

And like that spell, such issues are the tip of the iceberg in a game that has as many rough edges as it has deft details and intricate systems. What’s strange about this sequel is that in many ways it feels as though Capcom was happy to make the same game as it did over a decade ago, that is, a 2012 RPG rather than something more up-to-date. Indeed, while it is overall that bit more sophisticated than before, much of what you’ve read so far could easily have been written about the original game.

(Image credit: Capcom)

Dragon’s Dogma 2 screenshot showing combat with magic and archery

(Image credit: Capcom)

Dragon’s Dogma 2 screenshot showing magical combat

Maybe there’s something to be said for convenience after all, then. Certainly, you might wish for a little more when managing your inventory, or while fiddling through shopping and storage menus that aren’t quite slick enough. You also might wish for some shortcuts for accumulating cash, since the cost of living crisis really seems to have bitten hard in this realm. Sure, you’re relieved to spot a town on the horizon after a gruelling trek, but be assured that the residents have seen you coming too. 2000 gold for a night at the inn? It’s not exactly the Ritz, but you haven’t got much choice. New armour and weapons are wallet-busters as well, and the less said about the barber the better.

Still, Dragon’s Dogma 2 itself remains good value due to that unique vibe and its excellent expeditions. Like its craggy landscape, you take the lows with the highs, the rough with the smooth. Sure, it’s not quite the Holy Grail of RPGs, unless you’re talking about the Monty Python film. But embrace the chaos and there’s nothing quite like it.

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GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pawn Cocktail

The bigger They Come

Dragon Aged

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