Dragon's Dogma 2 fans face race to figure out Dragonsplague as in-game illness wipes out Pawns and NPCs, causing some quests to totally vanish

A character with glowing red eyes in Dragon's Dogma 2. — (Image credit: Capcom)

It's only been a few days since Dragon's Dogma 2 finally launched, and despite receiving some incredibly positive critic reviews and breaking records for Capcom on Steam, it's not all been smooth sailing. There's been backlash over the microtransactions on offer, and now, there's also mass panic over the existence of a deadly plague that can result in the death of all the NPCs in a town.

The in-game illness is called Dragonsplague, and it's something that we've known about since before launch – we just didn't know quite how deadly it was going to be. According to the game's official website, it's a "contagious disease-like condition that infects Pawns as they travel between worlds," and according to folklore, it "will result in devastating calamity" once symptoms "reach a terminal stage." Well, it's not taken long to figure out that these consequences are no myth, as resting at an inn when the symptoms progress far enough can result in the entire town getting killed overnight.

"One Pawn killed 99% of Vernworth," one affected player on Reddit writes. "The entire guard? Dead. The citizens? Dead. [...] Lost like seven side quests. Permanently. This Dragonsplague is hands down the worst mechanic I've ever had in a video game."

"Oh one of the Pawns had Dragonsplague and just killed everyone in Vernworth and it triggers on inn rest so it’s hard saved," another says on Twitter.

As mentioned by Capcom, Dragonsplague can spread between infected Pawns, meaning that it's possible to catch it by unknowingly hiring an affected Pawn. Understandably, as more people have started to encounter it, concern is setting in as they fear losing out on quests, while others are just confused as to why it was implemented in the first place.

"Imagine being a new player with 20 hours of progress. You hire a new Pawn not knowing what the hell Dragonsplague is. You immediately go to sleep so you can do your quests during the day. You wake up and EVERY NPC IS FUCKING DEAD. [...] This needs to be reworked or removed entirely. This is [a] pointless unrewarding feature that deserves to be modded out of every playthrough," a Reddit user comments.

"It’s the worst feature in the game," another adds.

Thankfully, players have worked out that you can stop the disaster from happening as long as you keep an eye out for the symptoms, which include Pawns disobeying you, having glowing red eyes, and holding their head as if they're in pain. At that point, it's a very good idea to dismiss or kill them, which is, admittedly, a bit harsh. If your main Pawn gets it, you can always re-summon them using a Riftstone.

While it does sound rather terrifying, there's some reassurance for anyone worried about being affected. Some players have reported that after enough time passes following the wipeout, towns will begin to gradually repopulate, so it doesn't sound like they'll be empty forever, but it's not clear at this point how this will impact quests. There's always the option of using Wakestones to revive NPCs instantly, too, although there are limited quantities of those available unless you choose to buy more. For now, it seems it's best to stay vigilant, and keep looking out for shifty behaviour in your Pawns before resting in towns.