Review: Dragon's Dogma II amazes

Four out of Five Stars

By Michael Leek
Sports Editor

I have had the chance to play around 20 hours of the new and highly anticipated Dragons Dogma 2. It has had a controversial launch on both consoles and PC. Despite that, the game has a lot to offer.

Dragons Dogma 2 was released March 22, 2024, and developed by Capcom.

Firstly, to address some of the controversy surrounding the game. The performance was the biggest worry video game fans had leading up to its release. Capcom announced that the game would be running 30 FPS uncapped on the console versions.

That concerned me because we are supposed to be on the next generation of consoles, but can’t get new games running at 60 FPS. Nevertheless, I bought the game and the 30 FPS and overall performance of the game is an issue, but it has not completely ruined my experience of the game.

I am only going to speak on the PlayStation 5’s performance of the game because that is what I have experienced it on.

Dragons Dogma 2 is a sequel of the first game but does not present the story as a sequel, but more of a retelling. Although the story is not amazing, it has kept me engaged with the game, keeping it simple and easy to follow.

I am a big fan of story-driven games, but there is so much to do in this game and many other areas where it shines.

Just as the first game, it follows the player’s created character on a journey to retrieve its stolen heart from the dragon.

The immersive open world is one of the areas where this game shines. There are three different races all at odds with each other within the game. Humans, beastren and elves.

With such a big open world one would expect there to be fast travel, but there is a huge lack of it in this game. Players can travel in an oxcart to different cities, but there is a huge chance of being attacked during their ride if they doze off.

There are also things called port crystals that can teleport players to certain places. Other than that, fast travel is nonexistent. Considering such a big world, sometimes traveling can feel like a walking simulator, but because there are always enemies attacking while traveling it does not get boring.

Because I am only 20 hours into the game there is still so much more for me to experience, and I feel as if I have not even cracked the surface yet.

The character creator is amazing and the way characters are created affects different aspects of the game. For example, the taller and heavier the character, the more items they can carry.

Onto the combat. It has been some of the best combat of any game I have ever played. It is so diverse and there are so many different ways to fight. The combat system is not complex, but there is a lot to explore in it.

You have AI companions called “pawns” who follow players’ orders and aid them in every battle. Pawns are very important and can help guide characters to where they need to be in the story as well. If a player hires a pawn who is an elf or speaks the elven language, they can help the character communicate with the different NPC elves in the game.

The different ways of fighting coincide with the vocation one chooses to have and or one chooses for your pawns. There are different vocations, such as fighter who uses a shield and sword, mage and sorcerer who battle with magic, archer who uses a bow and many more. As players progress in the game they can unlock new vocations, skills for specific vocations and weapons.

The developers have already started putting out updates to help the game run better, like allowing players to have more than one save file for the game.

One of the big controversial things was the microtransactions in the game. With it being a single-player game, many fans were upset at the microtransactions. For me on the other hand, they were not a problem at all. Players are not forced to buy microtransactions for better gear or anything like that, and they do not affect the actual game.

Other than the controversy, poor performance of the game at launch and lack of fast travel, this game has been nothing short of amazing. I give this game four stars as the performance of the game has already been updated once, and it is running much better than at launch.

I am excited to continue playing this game, unlocking secrets in the huge open world and finding new ways to combat foes.