Dragon's Dogma 2 upgrades the original's sweeping sense of adventure

Capcom's Dragon's Dogma is one of the more underrated action role-playing games of the 2010s. Focusing on high-fantasy adventures in a sprawling world, the protagonist and their party of 'pawns' would explore dense world-filled monsters and take them down with daring team-focused attacks that echoed that of the intense encounters from the Monster Hunter series. The original game eventually found a passionate audience, and the upcoming sequel continues with the fast-paced combat and elaborate adventuring of the original, but is evidently going with the bigger and bolder approach.

Just before Capcom's Tokyo Game Show 2023 showcase, I got to play an hour of Dragon's Dogma 2, exploring one of the early zones of the Human Kingdom of Vermund and experimenting with the Archer, Fighter, and Thief vocations. The developer behind the sequel is keeping most of its more considerable innovations close to the vest, but so far, the game I played feels like a more refined take on the original game's core strengths of adventuring and brawling with fantasy monsters.

Though technically the third game in the series – following Dragon's Dogma Online, which never saw a Western release – Dragon's Dogma 2 is more of a direct follow-up to the original and its single-player focus on having a grand adventure with a party of AI companions. Playing as new Arisen in a new land, you and your party of "pawns", player-created adventurers who can travel to other realms to gain knowledge, will trek across a dangerous world filled with monsters and other explorers.

Assassin's credo 

On the surface, Dragon's Dogma 2 keeps with the general conceit of a fantasy adventure – pulling together a party of heroes, taking on quests that bring the crew to far-off areas of the land, and using teamwork and applied aggression to take down foes. Much like its direct predecessor, what the sequel does differently compared to other role-playing games is offer a high degree of freedom in engaging in exploration and combat, all with a party made up of custom characters from other players' worlds. 

Taking those steps outside of town and charting a course into the larger world, where dynamic encounters with flying griffons or packs of goblins can interrupt your trek, made for some of the original game's most memorable moments, and that is very much back for the sequel. With a hard emphasis on action in action RPG, you coordinate your party of pawns to fight with elaborate vocation-specific moves to knock down enemies, cling onto larger foes, and use environmental advantages to get the upper hand.

In the demo, I played as the three starting vocations – the series' take on character classes – in various quests focusing on taking out goblins, finding lost soldiers, and falling larger beasts in the wilds. As the Arisen, you can freely change your class and advance into more complex variations, which offers a lot of freedom in experimenting with different abilities. Playing as the Archer first, a range-only class who fought with a bow and arrow – a big difference from the previous game's take on the ranged vocations – I got to pull off some slick dodge and firing skills while directing my party to attack, evade, and focus on particular foes.

The next class I took on was the Thief, a nimble brawler that can jump in and out of combat with ease. The added agility and versatility of the Thief made for an experience that stepped closer to the realm of Capcom's Devil May Cry, which the director of DD2 previously worked on. By far, though, my favorite class to play in the demo was the Fighter, which is the standard sword and shield brawler vocation. This class offered a healthy mix of tank and an all-around damage dealer, allowing me to stay in combat and punch my way through enemies.

My favorite moment where the game's action, teamwork, and sense of scope came when my party wandered into a roaming Troll in the woods. This battle was an elaborate and tense encounter, but the tide turned when my team's archer managed to strike a blow that stunned it. I then leaped onto its back, climbed to its head, and swung several blows to its head, eventually knocking it down and allowing my party to lay into it when it was stunned. This encounter came when I was wandering around the woods, leading to one of my favorite action beats of the demo. It was so satisfying to take it down, and it reminded me of what Dragon's Dogma always excelled at when presenting challenging fights.

The party you have and who you choose to bring along can make or break your journey. The Pawn system is back in full force for the sequel. Though it is a single-player game, Dragon's Dogma and its sequel feature an elaborate online component where players can connect to a network to share their pawns online and pull other players' pawns into their own party. Pawns who travel to other worlds – including your own – can return to their player's party with knowledge of landmarks, enemy strategies, and even bonus items.

This aspect gives your party some added personality, as they'll add commentary and thorough suggestions to you during your adventure. There's also an added element of party management when exploring, and to make those expeditions more manageable, a new camp system has been added to the sequel. With the camp system, you can rest up at campfire spots throughout the world to heal the party and even cook food – which is rendered in a somewhat distractingly realistic cooking animation. These additions all add to the sequel's focus on maintaining your party, adding some camaraderie with the crew.

I admire the original Dragon's Dogma and its Dark Arisen expansion a lot, which showcased how much of the game's world expanded after investing time in its large world. For an early demo of the game, Dragon's Dogma 2 is shaping up to be a worthy and refined follow-up to the original. However, I am eager to see more of the innovations and features of the sequel, as this demo largely played it safe. Still, I'm all in on what's to come with Dragon's Dogma 2. Playing the original game and seeing what surprises I had during the many adventures was a part of the fun, and I have high hopes for the sequel being able to up the ante in more ambitious ways.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is currently in development, but does not have a release window as of this time.

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