Summary
Dragon’s Dogma 2,Capcom’s sequel toDragon’s Dogmais an expansive, seamless open-world RPG featuring dragons, swords, and magic. Full of many of the same features and systems as its predecessor,Dragon’s Dogma 2is filled with familiar gameplay, character archetypes, and lore from earlier entries in the franchise.
But as with every sequel,Dragon’s Dogma 2has managed to improve on many aspects of the original game, from its unique companion characters to world design and so much more. The following features, however, tend to stand out the most.
1Expanded World
Bigger Is Better In This Regard
The map forDragon’s Dogma 2is roughly four times the size of its predecessorDragon’s Dogma.This isan absolutely massive areaspanning the kingdom of Vermund and its neighboring state Battahl, a beastren nation. The size of the game world is a nice change fromDragon’s Dogma, offering players a much more immersive experience filled with smaller locations.
The expanded size of the map allows players to experience a wider array of explorable locations with plenty of secrets to uncover along the way.
2Better Graphics
Glasses On VS. Glasses Off
It’s something of a given that a game released years after its predecessor would have better graphics, butDragon’s Dogma 2delivers on this front. Although its color palette remains much the same with greens, grays, and browns, the world feels much richer and has a charming appearance.
The cutscenes really pop, adding to the drama and excitement of big story scenes, and even regular gameplay has a great overall look and feel.
3Deeper Exploration
Where To Go Next?
Exploration inDragon’s Dogma 2is a real pleasure. Although there are many places just visible on the map, some of the most interesting and unique spaces in the game have to befound through exploration.
Whether it’s a hidden cavern, a secret ladder, or a dark forest glade, there are all sorts of fun and interesting locations inDragon’s Dogma 2that require a lot of exploration to find. This rewards curious players and gives a great reason to cross the next hill.
4Pawn Hiring System
The Pawn Shop
The ability to hire Pawns created by other players is a great choice for gameplay, giving a fun look at how other players have chosen to create their Pawns and what sorts of skills and equipment they’ve given to them. This is a cool bit of interaction, something that givesDragon’s Dogma 2a unique feel.
And it’s always cool when your main Pawn comes back from a journey through the Rift with tales and gifts from other worlds.
5Better Pawns With More Character
Pawns With Attitude
A big upgrade, Pawns inDragon’s Dogma 2have much more character than they used to. These Pawns actually feel like people, filling their time with the Arisen with banter and observations about the world - and even stories they’ve brought back through the Rift from other worlds and other masters.
Not only that, but Pawns are also much more helpful, pointing out ways to get to locations or even the locations of chests and other missable items. They can even berepeatedly customizedso that the Arisen always has their perfect Pawn.
6Seamless World
No Loading Screens
Expansive open-world RPGs are ten a penny, but many of them are broken up into chunks by loading screens whenever an interior location is reached. ButDragon’s Dogma 2has an expansive, seamless open world free of loading screens.
Loading screens aren’t the worst thing in the world - except when they take forever - but the added immersion of moving seamlessly from one location to another is hard to ignore. This seamless exploration makes the world ofDragon’s Dogma 2feel so much more lived in and real compared to its predecessor.
7New Playable Race
Playable Beastren
Although beastren are not new to the franchise, being able to play as a beastren character is. These cat-like humanoids have an entire country of their own, Battahl, so they’re present in the game regardless - but it’s nice to have additional options during character creation. Sometimes, playing as a human can be boring, so getting the option to go for one’s very own Thundercat can be a welcome change.
Beastren are integrated well into the world ofDragon’s Dogma 2and it feels very natural playing as one. Players can even make a beastren Pawn, so even if they opt not to go for a beastren Arisen they can get the best of both worlds.
8Character Customization
A Simple But Powerful System
Dragon’s Dogma 2came with its very own standalone character creator as a demo for the game. This proved to be a fantastic decision for Capcom as the character creator was extremely well-received thanks to its wealth of options for creating fantastic and unique characters.
Powerful but simple to use, theDragon’s Dogma 2character creator allows for massive customization to characters, both Arisen and Pawns. The character creator is powerful enough that fans have been using it to create characters from other franchises, such asCassandra fromDragon Age: Inquisition.
9Better Combat
Stabbing With Style
Combat has been greatly improved from the original game. Whether it’s the smooth way Magick combat works, from its spells and basic attacks, or to the way Fighters can jump upon giant enemies and bring them down, combat inDragon’s Dogma 2has a fantastic flow that makes it fun to play.
Packed full of options thanks to its expansive Vocation system,Dragon’s Dogma 2combat is fun and challenging. Once players think they’ve mastered one Vocation in a playthrough, there’s always another one to keep them occupied.
10Improved AI
Learning Is Fun
Dragon’s Dogma 2features a much-improved character AI for Pawns, regular NPCs, and enemies like goblins. Pawns in particular benefit from the improved AI, learning from both their own Arisen and any Arisen who hires them out, gaining new abilities and responses to certain situations.
Not only is this a real boon for combat, but it has non-combat applications too. One player has even used this improved AI and ability to learn toplay catch with their Pawns using pigs.
