Dragon’s Dogma 2 released on March 22 and I have been playing it intensely ever since it dropped. After spending a decent chunk of time with this game, I’ve found that Dragon’s Dogma 2 is probably one of my favorite fantasy RPGs I’ve ever played, without a doubt. From the character creation to the action and the voice acting, there’s just something powerful about the systems present in Dragon’s Dogma 2. However, no game exists without flaws, and I will touch up on those as well in our review on Dragon’s Dogma 2.
I guess I was shocked to see the reviews rolling in from major publications like IGN giving this game scores like 9 and 10/10. I typically don’t like giving games such high scores because I find that every game, no matter how good it may be, will ultimately have flaws. I think so far, I’ve rated only two games at a 10/10 and those were Dead Cells and Resident Evil 2 Remake. Still, I went into Dragon’s Dogma 2 with as much of an open mind as possible because I wanted to experience it for myself.
I’ll do my best to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, so no worries on that front for any of you who may still be thinking about playing this game.
The Story
The main plotline of Dragon’s Dogma 2 integrates with the subplots in a very well-written manner. As a writer of high fantasy myself, I always look for the power of the story in fantasy RPG video games and I think Dragon’s Dogma 2 delivered on many fronts.
Firstly, the main plotline itself is very interesting and enough to keep you as a player engaged. You are the Arisen, a warrior who was gravely injured during an attack by the Dragon. Your heart is stolen by the dragon, but you are Arisen. Basically, this means that you have been chosen to challenge and face off against the dragon, which is honestly a pretty interesting concept.
It puts the idea of the chosen one in a different light, as the chosen one is a common fantasy trope, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 specifies it down to relate to the dragon, which I think is pretty interesting. Ultimately, you need to slay the dragon and take your heart back, which sounds just as hard as it probably would be in real life.
Then there is the other side of the story, which is the political intertwinings of Vermund and Battahl. Vermund is the human kingdom, where your Arisen is from. The human kingdom is currently embroiled in an inner government conflict where the Queen Regent Disa has installed what appears to be a False Arisen in order to eventually get her son, Sven, to the throne.
Technically, you were supposed to be the next ruler of Vermund, as you are Arisen, but Disa is selfish and can’t handle that her son isn’t going to be king. However, her son isn’t really super keen on joining in on her schemes and plots.
Battahl is the Beastren nation and it is a very different world compared to that of Vermund. Battahl and Vermund are at odds due to a war and conflict between humans and Beastren. They’re pretty much blocked off from each other and interactions are kept at the bare minimum. However, seeing as you are the Arisen, you need to interact with the Beastren nation.
The story however, felt unfortunately pretty short. By the time you started it, it was just, over. This game’s strengths don’t really seem to lie in the story, but lie more in the world itself, the exploration, and the opportunities at gameplay. The story was relatively fun, but I do think that it certainly could have been a bit stronger.
I won’t say much more than this because I’ll be spoiling a lot of the story, but this is what I think is important to know anyways.
Gameplay
Dragon’s Dogma 2 has been one of the most fun games I’ve played in a while and definitely is one of my favorite fantasy action RPGs so far, just short of maybe Elden Ring for me, due to its gameplay alone. Forgetting everything else, including the world and the story, the gameplay is absolutely phenomenal and for a multitude of reasons.
Firstly, let’s talk vocations. So, for my playthrough I started out with the fighter. That was more of a stylistic choice because I wanted to make my character look like Goblin Slayer and the Fighter vocation fit what that would look like in my head. That aside, one of the best parts about Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the fact that you can unlock all the vocations, max all of them out, and become a master in all of them. Furthermore, you can switch your vocation at any time, allowing for you to get a full feel for everything you can do in the game over the course of your time in the world.
Let’s do a bit of a breakdown on the vocations that I was able to get the most time with, as I didn’t end up playing through every vocation just yet. There’s still plenty to do in the world, in fact there’s probably over 100 hours of content to uncover in total.
The Fighter
The Fighter, as I mentioned, is what I started with. This one is your trusty sword-and-shield combination. I personally had a blast with this vocation because it combines both heavy gameplay and fast gameplay and has flair to it as well. Some of the skills I used the most were the charge attack, the air attack which was great when dealing with big enemies or harpies and there was also a neat skill to evade fall damage when falling by equipping the shield and using it to break your fall.
The Fighter’s outfits typically consist of armor that look like what you’d expect knight’s armor to look like. Weapon-wise you can get swords such as the broadsword which was one of the first I bought at the capital in the game.
The Thief
The next vocation I tried out was the Thief, which I thought would be interesting to test because one of the pawns I hired was a third and I found that she had some cool abilities I wanted to try. So, I switched vocations, bought as many of the skills I could and went into combat. The Thief vocation is definitely very different from the fighter. The fighter’s defensive abilities are very useful in battle. However the thief is quicker and more aggressive by a longshot. Its abilities definitely confuse the enemies and you can do some cool things like camouflage and set your blades on fire.
The marcher armor I used could be equipped to any vocation so I didn’t switch it because I felt like it looked cool so I had no need to switch it to be honest. I’m joking, but it does have some good stats for certain vocations. Either way, I tend to prefer knight outfits in fantasy games or assassin outfits because they’re both very cool and why not?
I did end up preferring the fighter to the thief but by a thin margin because I think both are very good vocations worth looking at. The thief does use twin daggers, so the blades are smaller but you can be more swift and aggressive in your attacks.
The Sorcerer
The next vocation I tested out was the sorcerer which I ended up both loving and kind of hating. You see, the sorcerer is a powerful vocation. In fact, it’s very powerful. It’s magic attacks take longer to incant compared to the mage, but it’s intensity in striking is insanely good.
The magick abilities are a must to unlock right away with this vocation because they make all the difference in combat. They are absolutely insane. From shooting out fire to sending lightning strikes, this vocation has some of the most exciting attacks. Although, you do need to attack from a distance because it takes a long time to incant. I recommend if you pick the sorcerer to build a team with a mage for healing and the rest need to be good at attacking head-on, so a warrior or a fighter and an archer of some type to take out goblins that take the high ground. Building a team that can support you from near and far is essential to be a sorcerer and survive.
Of the three vocations I tested in my first 13 hours of gameplay, the sorcerer was my absolute favorite because it’s extremely powerful, but its just a bit slower. However your pawns do protect you well, so it’s fine.
The Archer
After this, I played around with the archer vocation. I found that one to be really nice as well. Although it’s most effective at a distance like the sorcerer, the nice thing about the archer is the diversity of attack styles and ranges. Also, you have the option to kick enemies away to get yourself in a safer position, but some enemies are more resistant to that sort of attack. Just watch for I’d they’ve got shields or how armored they happen to be.
The Trickster
I also tried out the trickster vocation for a brief moment but I didn’t really see myself using it for an extended period of time. It’s not that it’s a terrible vocation but I felt like it didn’t offer the same level of gameplay abilities that the other vocations could. I feel like playing the Trickster is nice once you’re done with the story and just wanna play around the world and test random things out. I don’t foresee myself running an entire playthrough with it though to be honest.
The Mystic Spearhand
There was also the mystic spearhead which is one that I really wanted to unlock as early as possible. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize like twenty hours into the game that I could just go back to Melve and unlock it. Literally that easily. I’m still slightly annoyed by that, but oh well. Rocking mystic spearhead is awesome, let’s be fair. This thing is like combining the fighter and the sorcerer and it’s insane. Love this vocation.
For the most part, unlocking more advanced vocations kind of just happens because you may stumble upon something that leads to you unlocking that vocation, which is why exploration is a big deal in this game.
The gameplay overall is very straightforward. You take on a vocation, buy abilities and skills, head off into the world, fight enemies, level up and that’s about it. The loop of the gameplay though is never boring in my opinion. The only critique I have about the loop is the lack of enemy variety. It can get boring to keep fighting goblins all the time.
The Party and the Pawns System
Heading off into battle with a varied party is honestly amazing. For my party, my main pawn is an archer and I hired two other pawns: a mage and a thief. I hired the mage for healing purposes mostly and I hired the thief because she has quest knowledge and can lead the way. Additionally I wanted a good range of skills on my team and I’ve grown pretty attached to them if I’m being honest. However I did end up switching my hired pawns once I made it to a much higher level and advanced combination vocations.
I honestly love the pawn system. They’re actually useful in this game and can genuinely take care of a good amount of the fight you’re engaged in. Additionally, the pawns are cool companions. They do talk a lot sometimes but they can be useful in pointing out stuff I missed or leading the way. Also, the pawns celebrating with you after a victory is so fun. I think it’s a small detail that makes a big difference in the overall game’s feeling.
Pawns serve a big purpose in the game because not only do they back you up in combat, but they can point out things in the world, carry extra stuff for you, give you stamina when you need it, come to your aid, and follow your command. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite aspects of the game and I think that it elevates the gameplay experience in Dragon’s Dogma 2 to a whole other level.
The variety of weapons is pretty nice as well. Some weapons are better in certain areas than others. Plus, you can enchant your weapons with items you find in the world like ore or other collectibles. In your inventory menu it’ll tell you which things can enchant weapons.
There are so many things just lying around that you can find. Plus, you can get books that contain a spell to help your non-magick character get out of a difficult rut. There’s also potions to clear up afflictions and heal and raise stamina. You can combine materials in the world to make potions as well.
There’s honestly so much to do and I’m 100% sure that I have not experienced everything that this game has to offer yet. But from what I’ve gotten to play so far, it’s honestly, gameplay-wise, fantastic. It really is a lot of fun and you can very easily sink hours upon hours at a time without realizing it.
The World
Vermund is a very expansive, vegetative land that has many beautiful landscapes. The capital city consists of the Vernworth palace and its surrounding areas. I really like the capital. It’s easy to navigate and has pretty much everything you need. It’s basically the central hub. You can go to Shakir’s inn to store your extra stuff and rest up after a long journey. You can get armor and weapons. You can buy materials and more. There’s honestly a lot to see in the capital and its design bears a lot of similarities to that beautiful stucco look that is common in the Mediterranean, especially countries like Italy.
Battahl is a very interesting type of world that clearly takes inspiration from what I took to be Africa, Middle East and hints of South Asia. With its rocky desert climate and its arid temperature, it has a very different feel and vibe compared to Vermund. In fact, the types of monsters are similar but some of them have a very different look in this climate. Getting into Battahl is harder because you need a permit to cross the border and the permit requires you to look Beastren if you’re not Beastren already, but that’s not difficult because you can just buy the Beastren mask at Ibrahim’s Scrap Shop. There’s a hint to help you.
As you travel throughout the realms in Dragon’s Dogma 2, there’s practically no shortage of action. At almost every turn, there’s something to see, gather, or attack and fight back against. From roving gangs of bandits to goblin hordes, you pretty much will be fighting for your life a lot. That’s why it’s very important to raise your stats early and as fast as possible because the deeper you get into the world, the harder it’ll become to keep fighting properly with low stats and low levels.
One of the main issues I have with the world personally is the enemy variety can get a bit stale. Other than the occasional cyclops, ogre, drake or something similar, it can get really annoying dealing with the same goblin type for the hundreth time. It’s one of the things that detracts from the experience, though at the same time, I feel like if there weren’t so many enemies to contend with, the game would just reduce to a walking simulator at some point, which is a problem most open world games tend to have.
As you travel throughout, you can interact with Pawns and NPCs, which is interesting because you can hire Pawns on the road, take on new quests from NPCs and just have random conversations with people. As you go throughout, you can also take on culling requests from civilians being overrun by monsters and beasts, which can net you a reward of things like money or other items.
Scattered in the world are collectibles that are pretty important like these golden beetles or these seeker’s tokens. Trading seeker’s tokens at vocation centers lets you get some rewards like ferrystones or armor pieces. The golden beetles let you carry more weight so you can keep more stuff on you. If you end up carrying too much stuff, go store some items in an inn so you can retrieve them later.
Although there isn’t really a fast travel mechanic there are things like ferrystones and ox carts. The ferrystones let you travel to portcrystals. Ox carts are located in certain areas of the world, as indicated on the map. You tend to find them in densely populated areas. You can pay a small fee to take them to destinations across the map, but the destinations are limited. Oftentimes, you’ll still need to go by foot so prepare yourself for most of the game being you traversing yourself on land.
As you pass throughout the map, there are a ton of things to discovers from caverns to villages to ruins and more. Each area will have something to see and explore, and things like caverns will sometimes give some shortcuts through the main roads–though, be wary because these caverns are typically crawling with enemies of some sort.
Aesthetically-speaking, the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is pretty on-par with worlds we observe in most fantasy-related stuff, whether that be movies, books, or games. It does bear a resemblance to things like Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings. Overall though, if you’re a fan of fantasy and fantasy-related things like I am, then you’re definitely in for a treat with the map of Dragon’s Dogma 2 because it’s just gorgeous and very well-designed.
The Quality
So, I’ve decided to add a bit of a different section to my reviews from now on, which is related to the quality of the game from a few standpoints, that being performance, visuals, and sound design. I’ve previously talked simply about visuals and sound in a section, but I figured to lump that into one section just talking about the quality of the game from a performance and look standpoint rather than just graphical stuff.
I played this game through Steam on my gaming laptop. It’s an Asus ROG Strix G16. In this laptop I’ve got an Intel Core i9 13980 HX, 32 GB of RAM, and an RTX 4060. Bear in mind that the RTX GPUs in laptops are a bit different than in desktop PCs. For this game, I turned off motion blur, set the graphics to high, used NVIDIA DLSS set to balanced, turned on Ray Tracing, and capped the frame rate to 120 max. I did this before I even started playing anything to see what it would look like and it seemed fine when I played through it.
Frames wise, I never really noticed anything significant dropping from a visual standpoint. In the city located in Vermund, yeah, there were a couple of noticeable stutters but it wasn’t really anything dramatic. It just wasn’t enough to detract from the overall game in my opinion.
In the open world, there were basically no dips in the frame rate that were noticeable from a visual standpoint. The open world ran fine and fighting monsters in combat was never negatively affected by any performance issues.
I saw some players report crashes but I did not run into any crashes on my own. I would play the game for hours at a time without issue. That’s why I listed my specs earlier so you can compare with your own PC if you’re still afraid of performance stuff.
There definitely is an issue with performance though and I do think that it’s a bit ridiculous that it was released on PC in that state. I don’t think that’s enough to really make me hate this game or refuse to play it because at the end of the day, I do think that the gameplay trumps some of these issues.
Sound design in this game is good, in my opinion. I never really had any confusion as to what was going on around me. The music is not overbearing and fits right in with the scenarios at hand. The sound also complements the world very well, because it is a gorgeous-looking game, so I do think that it has a lot going for it.
DLSS, I noticed, did make some of the vegetation look a little blurry, but it wasn’t super egregious. At some point, I just didn’t really notice that kind of thing anymore.
The voice acting is also great, I do think that it’s fun and plays a big role in the overall quality of the game. The way the characters, Pawns, and NPCs spoke was pretty believable, so I thought that that was good. The lip syncing was a bit janky outside of cutscenes though.
Controversies
I’ll be honest, upon release of video games, I don’t usually check Reddit. I’m not a major fan of Reddit and I find more often than not that it can be a very hive-mind like platform. However, when you’re bored, you’ll open the email app you know what I mean? Anyways, I happened to find that there was a lot of buzz online about negative reviews regarding the game but from something I didn’t really expect. Microtransactions.
I’ve talked about how microtransactions work and how they are purposely designed to be pretty much exploitative, especially in free to play games. However in that same video, I said that I have bought them in the past and at the end of the day, their existence or lack thereof doesn’t affect me or my life.
The way I think about microtransactions is that candy counter at the cash in CVS pharmacy. Buy it or don’t. Ultimately especially with games I paid for, I don’t buy them much because I don’t care to.
The microtransactions in Dragon’s Dogma 2 are nothing. There’s nothing substantial or insane. Nothing in that list can’t be found immediately in the game. Nothing in that list is actually game-changing. I didn’t even know about it until I went to Reddit because quite frankly, it doesn’t change my gaming experience.
Can you critique their existence? Sure. Go to town. Does it make me not want to play the game? No.
The other controversy was PC performance, which I did talk about in the previous section so like I said before, it wasn’t enough to detract from the overall experience I had in the game, but it was unfortunately enough for me to drop a bit of my score down. Despite the fact that I loved the game and everything it had to offer, there were some things like the PC performance that ultimately did hinder my ability to give it a higher review score.
Final Verdict
Overall, Dragon’s Dogma 2 proved to be a game that I’m sure I won’t get enough of playing for a while. The RPG is robust, action-packed, and full of interesting things to do. The vocation system has been absolutely fantastic and the Pawns are a great mechanic in the game. Exploration is indeed not boring and at every turn there’s something new to see, collect, or fight.
Quests are varied and nice to play through, with random quests being picked up along the way as you go throughout the world. The stark difference between Vermund and Battahl is very cool and I think the architectural and cultural influences on each proved to be very interesting to look at.
However, due to some things like enemy variety, PC performance, and some things like lip syncing weirdness and the shortness of the story definitely did not let me give this game a 9 or 10 out of 10. Ultimately, I had to give this game an 8/10, which I pretty much do give for games I enjoy but couldn’t overlook certain things enough to give it a 9 or 10/10.
Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
