Dragons Dogma 2 Review

You know when a game comes along it is just going to be an absolute banger. Dragons Dogma 2 has been a much anticipated game for many since it was announced. For those who didn’t play the original, it first launched ay aback in 2012 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and then later given an enhanced version and also ported across to Windows PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch between 2017 and 2019. It is a game that didn’t age too badly and I jumped on it a few years ago and throroughly enjoyed my time with it.

Now I ignored a lot of the negativity surrounding the game only achieving 30fps on consoles. It is disappointing but games can also be glorious in their own right in this state. Having recently played Gotham Knights it doesn’t really bother me personally but I can see peoples frustrations. This isn’t to say Capcom won’t update things in the future at some stage, more often than not, games see a souped up upgrade later down the line.

A Story Which Takes Time To Bed In

If I had to I’d put Dragons Dogma 2 somewhere between Monster Hunter and Skyrim in terms of how it plays and feels. The beginning cutscene may make little sense at the beginning, but things click into place as you progress. After seeing a bit of partying going on and everything blacking out, the game cuts to your Arisen working down in the mines. A giant boss then attacks the area and a voice tells you to escape, you fly away on a giant griffin and start your journey in Vermund. I won’t divulge much more in the story as I don’t want to spoil that road for you, but it’ll all slowly unravel and make sense.

Character Creation Is Sublime

It’s taken me a little while to get this review out of the gates, because like any open-world RPG rich with stuff to do, there are hundreds of hours of gameplay if you want them. Players can currently still access the character creation suite before they take the plunge and purchase the game. As creating characters go, I don’t think you’ll find another in any game where you can get in so much detail. This is at the pinnacle of crafting your own player to perfection and players across the world have been replicating real life mash ups of individuals like Lara Croft, Kratos and even more. The possibilities are endless and I don’t think you’ll ever see two pawns identical to each other.

Hours Feel Like Minutes

Once you get a few hours into the game, I wouldn’t watch your clock as hours literally felt like minutes. Traversing the open world is just constantly intriguing, more often than not you’ll find yourself veering off to have an explore. Before you know it you’re getting stuck into scraps with bosses that emerge suddenly or taking on extra quests from various NPC’s in the world.

Whilst you can just mainline everything and just focus attention on getting quests done, uncovering and sightseeing is what I loved about this beautiful game. Before you know it, the birds outside IRL are tweeting at 6am and you’ve been having a monster twelve hour session if you’re anything like me.

Lots Of Vocations To Play Around With

Vocations have been tweaked and now there are around ten that can be swapped in and out at your own free will. This is fantastic as there are so many RPG titles out there that won’t allow you to do this once you have committed. If you’re wondering what a vocation is, it is essentially your class and your combat and playstyle will differ dependant on what you choose. I’d recommend highly picking one of the startng vocations such as fighter, archer, mage or thief and then progressing to others later on.

Pawns That Will Die For You

This leads me onto the combat which is excellent if you start to dabble with different vocations and experience all the abilities have to offer. Fighting alongside pawns is naturally exciting as you feel like they are allies who would die for you and you actually become pretty attached to them. Cocky Mcdick my lion headed friend had my back in the heat of battle several times and though he often forgot to heal me up, he had personality and I was always watching over my shoulder to protect him in the same way he did me.

Combat is fluid and fun and you’ll gradually learn when and when not to get involved in something. Going near water is a big no-no, unfortunately you can’t swim here in Dragons Dogma 2 and heading out after dark comes with many risks. You will succumb to death many times out there and whilst there are no manual save options, it teaches you that actions can come at a cost because you can’t just boot up a save slot.

Visuals & Audio

Lets talk about the actual frame rates then, as stated and reported by many you’re looking at 30fps on Xbox Series X. There are some noticable dips in high intensity scenarios but it isn’t game breaking by any means. Brushing the negative to one side, the positive light shines in the visuals overall. The open world is stunning in landscape and scenery with lots of interesting areas to explore and navigate. Bring with this the character design on NPC’s and bosses and they have done an incredible job.

Boss fights genuinely feel like they are gigantic in comparison and being able to clamber up them and attack them from any angle is impressive. Nothing more satisfying than mounting the boss and climbing up and repeatedly attacking them in the back of the head. I realise that makes me sound absolutely sadistic, but honestly I’m not. Soundtrack is fantastic and sets the tone and atmosphere amongst the game brilliantly, pair this with cutcenes and voiced dialogue and the overall presentation is a winner.

Final Thoughts

Fans of Dragons Dogma will be ecstatic at this second coming, it mirrors exactly what you’d expect after the first title. Obviously it does everything with a bit more polish, shine and a larger world, but essentially it is more of the same. I can’t pretend that I didn’t get frustrated at times and that was because the game didn’t hold my hand and tell me where to go to sort some quests out. Hardcore RPG players will probably adore this from an exploration point, but I’m used to the Ubisoft approach where it tells me where to go constantly.

The game is fantastic though and despite an abundance of bugs that will no doubt be patched out over time. It is an absolute weird and wonderful adventure which will hold up for years to come. You’ll be pleased to know you don’t have to run through the first one to have a great time here. It is absolutely worth the money for the return you get on this one and you won’t regret the purchase.