Misguided Dragon's Dogma 2 modders make the RPG worse by dumbing down the Dragonsplague, and yes I'll die on this hill

Dragon's Dogma 2 modders are taking one of the best parts of the game out of the RPG, with a mod that directly displays what stage of Dragonsplague any Pawns are infected with.

The 'Dragonsplague Counter' mod can be downloaded over on NexusMods (thanks, VG247), and it displays a big red number over the face of any Pawn afflicted with the disease. The numbers range from one to 10, increasing as the Dragonsplague takes hold in the Pawn.

"Adds a counter indicating the Dragonsplague level on any infected pawns in your party. If the pawn is possessed, it'll be hard to miss. The max value is 10 and the pawn's eyes begin to glow at 7," the description of the mod reads. "It only shows if the pawn is possessed and only works for pawns in your party."

Glowing red eyes are the telltale sign of a Pawn infected with Dragonsplague, and the mod's description reveals that this equates to a seven on a 10-point scale. The unmistakable glowing red eyes, combined with the huge red letter on a Pawn's face, should be a dead giveaway.

But why would you want to ruin one of the best parts of Dragon's Dogma 2? A core design tenet of Capcom's sequel is unsettling and unnerving the player, right from the game's title screen - the '2' in Dragon's Dogma 2 is nowhere to be found, and as soon as you start the game, you're staring through the eyes of someone else pretending to be the Arisen, when you're meant to be the protagonist of the adventure.

The Dragonsplague factors into this beautifully. It's a system meant to deliberately have you question and second-guess your own Pawns—the very people you thought were absolutely dependent and trustworthy no matter what. Then there's all the talk of different worlds from the Pawns, information your character isn't privy to and hidden just out of sight of the player themselves, further meant to give the player the sense there's more going on here than we're seeing.

It's a fantastic system, and it's a bit of a shame that modders are taking the fun out of it. Then again, perhaps some players can use this for accessibility reasons—some might not be able to clearly see the glowing red eyes, for example, so this might help some players understand and interact with the Dragonsplague.

If you're looking for a slightly lighter guiding hand when it comes to the disease, read up on our Dragon's Dogma 2 Dragonsplague guide for more.