Dragon's Dogma 2's lack of multiplayer is "one of the basic original ideas of the first game" that its director doesn't want to stray from

If you were hoping to dive into Dragon's Dogma 2's huge open world alongside your friends at some point in the future, you might want to temper those expectations. According to director Hideaki Itsuno, the devs haven't been considering "any form of multiplayer" at all.

This shouldn't really be too surprising, even if it might be a bit disappointing for some. After all, the first Dragon's Dogma game (and its enhanced version, Dark Arisen) didn't have multiplayer, and Dragon's Dogma 2 has previously been described by Capcom as a single-player experience, too. Based on Itsuno's comments in an interview with Automaton, it doesn't sound like that's going to change post-launch, either.

"We have not been considering any form of multiplayer for Dragon's Dogma 2," Itsuno says. "I think online games have their good sides; just as offline games have their own. But the concept of the original game was to incorporate fun gameplay elements not found in conventional offline games while removing all the 'hassles' of online games. This is one of the basic original ideas of the first game that I don't plan on straying from."

Although there won't be any multiplayer options in the game, however, we'll still be able to share our Pawns as we could before, allowing friends and players from around the world to travel with our creations. In the Automaton interview, producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi notes that this means that streamers will be able to use their viewers' Pawns in their game. Itsuno adds: "It would be fun to see my Pawns being used by a famous streamer. The Pawn system itself has been around for some time, but I think it can be used in more modern ways now too."

Although Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't out yet, it seems very likely that sharing Pawns will be a popular feature. Capcom has already released Dragon's Dogma 2's character creator for free, allowing us to create a handful of Arisen and Pawns in advance to transfer to the full game. Using these tools, players have managed to create some seriously impressive characters, including incredible recreations of Baldur's Gate 3's Shadowheart and The Witcher's Geralt.

Looking for a new adventure to pass the time before Dragon's Dogma 2's release on March 22? Be sure to take a look at our list of the best open-world games.