Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is coming to Nintendo Switch this April

News
By published

The little RPG that could gets another port

After its initial release in 2012, a PC port in 2016, and PS4 and Xbox One ports in 2017, Dragon's Dogma is now headed to Nintendo Switch. As Capcom announced today, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, the complete edition of the game which comes with a big endgame dungeon, will come to Switch on April 23, 2019. 

For the uninitiated: Dragon's Dogma is a third-person action-RPG starring the Arisen, the chosen one of this particular fantasy story, AKA you. Its story is as generic as it is incoherent - from what I remember, a dragon literally steals your heart, the world ends about five times, and you accidentally get a random love interest at the end - but don't let that put you off. Dragon's Dogma's lively world, exciting combat, and surprisingly deep RPG elements are more than enough to carry the experience. 

More than anything, I still remember how fun Dragon's Dogma's boss fights are. Bosses have individual hit zones a la Monster Hunter, and you can climb all over them Shadow of the Colossus-style to stab at certain weak points. Then there's the Pawn system, wherein you customize, rent out, and recruit party members as you progress. I frequently swapped classes last time I played through, and I always enjoyed tailoring my sidekicks to suit my current play style. I even had a go at a support magic build where I buffed my pawns and relied on them to do the killing (don't do this).

Anyway, Dragon's Dogma is quirky fun and Dark Arisen makes it even better, so it's nice to see it join the Switch's growing library of ports. Now, if we could just convince Capcom to localize Dragon's Dogma Online… 

Read up on Dragon's Dogma's Dark Arisen DLC in this overview from our archives. 

Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.