Dragon's Dogma 2 has a unique boss that will test your mind rather than your combat prowess, but finding it could be an even bigger challenge.
Dragon's Dogma 2 builds on first's roster of fearsome fantasy creatures with a plethora of new opponents, including the Sphinx, a giant creature with an eerie grin and wide eyes that feel like they'll turn you to stone if you gaze into them too long.
Director Hideaki Itsuno and lead game designer Kento Kinoshita recently sat down with IGN to shed more light on this intriguing enemy. It turns out encounters with the Sphinx revolve around riddles rather than raised swords. The creature guards a series of chests, and correctly answering its conundrums gives you access to the contents inside.
It's not as easy as just selecting the right answer, though, as they'll have to be solved "through action". You'll have to make doubly sure you've got it right, too, as failing to solve a riddle correctly means its reward is out of your reach for good.
Solving the riddles is one thing, but it seems that even finding the Sphinx is a massive challenge in itself, so much so that there's a good chance you'll reach the credits without seeing it at all. "The journey to finding it might actually be the biggest mystery of all," Itsuno says. "I imagine there will be a lot of players who beat the game without even encountering the Sphinx."
If riddles aren't your jam and you'd much rather battle the Sphinx instead, according to Itsuno, "it is possible to fight it". That being said, it's not going to be as straightforward as you might think. "Defeating the Sphinx is a riddle in itself, he explains. "We wanted to make the very question of whether it could be defeated or even fought into a mystery."
The pair emphasise that, as well as the Sphinx, there will be plenty of other surprises waiting for those who venture off the beaten path. So, if you plan on delving into Dragon's Dogma 2 when it launches on March 22, remember to keep your eyes peeled and leave no stone unturned; you never know what you might find.
Check out our Dragon's Dogma 2 preview for more on the long-awaited sequel.
