Review | Dragon's Dogma 2

A short overview

Dragon's Dogma 2 is an open-world action role-playing game developed and published by Capcom. Serving as a sequel to Dragon's Dogma (2012), the game is set in a fantasy-themed world - similar the the first installment. Capcom announced Dragon's Dogma 2 in June 2022, followed by its reveal at the 2023 PlayStation Showcase in May 2023. It was officially released on March 22, 2024, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

The game is directed by Hideaki Itsuno, best known for his work on the Devil May Cry series. One of the development team’s primary goals was to enhance the gameplay mechanics of its predecessor while reintroducing features that were previously cut due to technological limitations. However, while the sequel offers notable improvements, it retains much of the original game’s structure, giving the experience a familiar feel rather than a complete overhaul.

For those fortunate enough to own a PS5 Pro, Dragon's Dogma 2 can be played in Balanced Mode with Ray Tracing and PSSR enabled. This setup delivers nearly the best graphical fidelity the game offers while boosting frame rates to a steady 50 FPS. Personally, I found this to be an ideal trade-off; it provided a smoother experience compared to the 30 FPS limit in other modes at launch. Although the visuals and performance in Balanced Mode are satisfying, there’s still room for improvement, especially in optimizing Pro console versions.

The more tall you are, the more you can carry. Or you can just give items to your pawns so they carry the heavy stuff while you cook the meat and camp without any issue.

Story and the characters

The player assumes the role of the "Arisen," a hero marked by a dragon who must ultimately defeat it. As the Arisen, players explore a vast world, undertake quests, and battle monsters, all while becoming pulled in a geopolitical conflict between two kingdoms. The Arisen relies on allies known as "Pawns," AI-controlled companions who join the player’s party. These Pawns assist in combat, offer information about enemies, and provide guidance on active quests. The player can create one personal Pawn and recruit two additional Pawns from other players. Each Pawn can specialize in a class, carry items, and contribute unique skills, such as specialized knowledge or abilities.

However, the AI controlling Pawns leaves much to be desired. They often act unpredictably—wandering off during exploration, falling from cliffs, or otherwise behaving foolishly. Their voice lines are repetitive, mostly limited to combat phrases, and they don’t feel like particularly smart or engaging companions. Unfortunately, the story itself doesn’t help; it feels shallow and forgettable, serving more as a placeholder than a compelling narrative. Don’t expect memorable characters or a standout plot here.

The game world draws inspiration from medieval Mediterranean Europe, particularly Sicily during the transition between the classical and Western medieval periods, for the human regions. The feline region is influenced by the Arab Mediterranean world. According to director Hideaki Itsuno, the development team took inspiration from Grand Theft Auto V when designing the game’s open world and emergent gameplay elements.

While I truly enjoy the world and exploration in this game, there are aspects that frustrate me—chiefly the lack of convenient fast travel and the general pacing of quest progression. Far too often, I would thoroughly explore a remote area, only to return to town and find new quests pointing me right back to where I had just been. Traveling back to these locations could take 10–20 minutes, especially without teleport stones. While teleport stones do exist, they are quite expensive in the early game and only allow travel to specific locations or stones you’ve placed manually, which are limited in number (they do replenish in shops from time to time, but even that feels frustrating - yeah, you can't just buy unlimited numbers).

The fact that teleport stones can be purchased directly from the in-game store feels troubling, and I strongly disagree with Capcom’s claim that only "boring games" include fast travel. I’ve spent upwards of 20 hours running around and repeatedly fighting the same enemies, and frankly, it became tedious. If there’s ever a sequel, fast travel—or at least a more accessible and less restrictive system—should be a priority.

Although the world feels a bit generic, it certanly isn't. It's one of the better designed open-worlds, but lack of fast-travel and AI issues are holding it back constantly.

Game design, exploration

Exploring the world is arguably the best aspect of the game. Every journey feels rewarding—you’re constantly discovering chests, caves, or other hidden areas that offer new weapons or valuable items. The world is vast, and the exploration feels fresh and unique. The design is excellent, providing players with the freedom to choose their own paths, evoking a true Dungeons & Dragons experience.

However, this enjoyment is often undercut by the sheer amount of backtracking. Visiting the same towns or caves multiple times becomes tedious. Need to complete a quest? Run back to town to talk to the quest giver. Every quest seems to involve several steps, meaning you’re running back and forth constantly. The alternative, using teleport stones, is hardly better—they’re expensive and limited in availability, especially in the early game.

This repetitive running around frustrated me to the point of quitting the game more than once. It’s not just the monotony; bugs can make the experience worse. For example, if a quest-critical NPC is killed, you’re forced to return to town, resurrect them at the morgue, and then run all the way back to your destination. I estimate I’ve spent about 20 hours just running from place to place. Sure, carts are an option to reach nearby towns or settlements, but they frequently get ambushed by enemies. If the cart is destroyed, you’re left to walk the rest of the way. It’s infuriating (and it happens a lot).

Adding to the frustration is the lack of variety in combat and enemies. You’ll face goblins, wolves, dragons, griffins, ogres, and some unusual creatures during the day, with spirits roaming at night. Human enemies can attack you at any time. But even with this lineup, the encounters become repetitive. Over 60 hours (or 30 if you focus solely on the main story), you’ll mostly be fighting the same types of enemies. Combat itself is fairly basic, with the class system and its associated skills and equipment being the only source of satisfaction.

Lastly, the game’s lack of guidance is another major flaw. If you manage to finish the game without a guide, congratulations—you’re incredibly patient. Many quests are obscure, leaving you clueless about what to do next or even how to unlock main story quests. The game doesn’t clearly indicate which quests are critical or how to approach them. For instance, one quest required me to find a coastline and collect specific crystals to proceed with the story. How was I supposed to know that? The game offers no hints, and the logic behind some objectives feels absurdly opaque.

It's most convenient to use archers and mage class. Mage can lavitate and you can reach some higher areas that way easily, while the archer serves best when you need to kill harpies and flying enemies.

Combat

Ah, the combat. Let me start by saying that I absolutely love the class and Pawn systems. The class system allows you to choose roles such as warrior, thief, mage, and more, with some advanced classes that are definitely worth pursuing. Each class comes with a basic moveset and unique skills you can use to attack enemies. Some skills are better than others, but all contribute to the gameplay’s "depth". Passive skills are also tied to classes, and once learned, they can be equipped across different classes—granting bonuses like improved defense, increased attack power, and more.

I also enjoy the variety that comes with assembling a balanced party. Combining different classes—like having a mage, a thief, a sorcerer, and a warrior—creates a dynamic team that can tackle almost any challenge with ease. The boss fights are particularly exciting, reminiscent of Monster Hunter battles. However, I feel there’s a disappointing lack of these epic encounters. The game’s climax, especially the secret ending, features some of the best challenges and boss fights, but during the main gameplay, you’ll mostly be battling standard enemies and mini-bosses while exploring.

After about 20 hours, you’ve likely seen most of what the combat has to offer. However, if you think outside the box, you can find new and creative ways to enjoy it. For instance, you can push orcs to knock them off balance or send them tumbling off bridges for critical damage. You can climb large enemies using your stamina, repeatedly stabbing them as a thief to stagger them while your party attacks from below. You can even use certain skills to catapult allies onto enemies for unique attacks. The combat offers a surprising amount of variety and creativity, which is fantastic. Unfortunately, this comes with its share of problems—like buggy hitboxes, awkward movement glitches, camera issues, and other annoyances that can disrupt the experience.

One particularly frustrating issue is the stagger mechanic when enemies hit you. If you’re running through a dungeon or the world and goblins attack you, each hit will stagger your character, leaving you vulnerable to consecutive attacks. This can quickly result in your death, with no way to break free. It’s infuriating, and the only class that effectively counters this is the warrior with its shield parry ability. I can’t count how many times I was ready to quit the game because of this mechanic—it’s that frustrating.

Too bad there isn't more content like Spinx challenges. I consider that side quest as a most unique one, while also experience a frustration in a form of fast-travel during the progress. Killing dragons in the world feels good, but they keep on running away.

Side Content

The side content is enjoyable overall. The quests are generally well-designed, but the lore and story behind them often fail to deliver satisfying depth. The NPCs and characters are poorly written, which makes it tempting to skip dialogue and focus solely on completing the tasks. Unfortunately, the pacing issues and constant back-and-forth running for quest steps can dampen the experience. While the rewards are usually worthwhile, the frustration sometimes overshadows the effort.

Unlocking additional skills for classes, acquiring new equipment, and other progression elements provide strong incentives to complete as much content as possible. That’s a definite plus. However, the game’s ever-present frustrations create a mix of love and hate for each segment of gameplay.

One of my personal favorites are the Sphinx challenges (though the endless running is a drawback), along with the Medusa encounter. Did you know you can cut off Medusa’s head? If you do it quickly, you’ll preserve her head as a usable item to petrify enemies. Such a clever and unique mechanic!

The rest of the side content revolves around exploring the world, collecting Seeker Tokens (there are 220 in total, though the rewards are underwhelming), combining herbs into potions, enhancing weapons, and more. It’s standard RPG fare—done both well and poorly. For instance, the quest involving the phantom cart was glitched for me, which soured the experience.

At least I've got some action. The problem is that I have no idea how the lower parts of my character even works after such tedious walking around all the time. I just love dragons. Who doesn't, right?

Conclusion

If you enjoy games rooted in classic RPG elements like class systems and Dungeons & Dragons-style exploration, this might be worth a try. While it doesn’t offer AAA-level quality, it does present a well-crafted open world with some glaring design flaws that unfortunately hold it back.

If the game had free fast travel, I’d rate it above 80. Without it, the frustration often outweighed the enjoyment for me. Combine that with decent but simplistic combat and a disappointingly limited variety of enemies, and you’re left with a very niche experience. The game demands patience and understanding, which may reward you with moments of satisfaction—if you’re willing to overlook its flaws. However, your enjoyment will depend on how forgiving you are of its shortcomings, such as awkward stealth missions and unintuitive tasks.

It’s a decent game, but undeniably a frustrating one.