Review of Dragon’s Dogma 2. One of the most anticipated RPGs, which was scolded by the entire Internet

The long-awaited RPG Dragon’s Dogma 2 has been released.

Her plans have been in the works for the past 11 years. This is a real long-term construction, we managed to get to the release, but even taking into account such deadlines, the release of the game was not without problems.

Foreign journalists gave the new product 8 and 9 points out of 10. But after the release, the project’s rating dropped sharply due to external microtransactions, which gamers did not appreciate at all.

Over the weekend, the game’s ratings on Steam plummeted to 36%, giving reviews. As of Monday, March 25, the situation had changed slightly, and the rating had risen to 51%.

We’ve already played about 15 hours in the project and are ready to share our impressions. Was Capcom really bold enough to introduce microtransactions for such a massive fantasy RPG, or was the community “stink” premature? Let’s figure it out.

Players didn’t like this game

Let’s start with the main thing and proceed carefully in the light of comments.

One of the main complaints was the availability of the game. microtransactionswho is important in the new product:

Here we will receive NPC resurrection stones, crystals for fast travel, dungeon keys and much more for a fee. Everyday things for safe role play Buy.

Yes, there is a minus to this. But personally, I can’t call it a minus for one simple reason. All these things are obtained in the game independently; they are abundantly scattered around the map and in great abundance. People who study the map are always well-mannered, and there is absolutely no problem with this. They don’t need to be farmed endlessly.

These “boosters” will be useful only to the laziest players who do not want to spend time on research. They would be able to “skip” the plot faster and that’s it. And this is their choice and right, I will not judge for this, although, of course, in the world of games there are a lot of elements that you really want to study on your own.

For those who don’t believe it, here’s proof from a foreign blogger who also fell for this trick:

As for fast travel, crystals will be available for travel, and not just for purchases. There is also a less secure option via cart.

The second reason for players’ dissatisfaction was the optimization of the game. And here everything is no longer so clear.

In Dragon’s Dogma 2 indeed there are performance issues. It heavily loads the processor, which is why even on top video cards the FPS can drop significantly.

Rear framerate can drop to 20 or lower FPS on modern graphics adapters. On consoles the situation is better, but not worse.

I’m playing through the game on PlayStation 5 and there’s a lot of performance degradation. Especially in densely populated cities.

By the way, even NPCs can be drawn literally before your eyes. You go out to the square in Vermund or Battala, there are no people, and a moment later they begin to appear. Some objects in the game do not have a physical characteristic, which is why you walk right through them.

And there are many more such flaws in the game. Not some level of beta testing, of course, but still.

Since the moment of their appearance, we have sorted out the creatures, and now we move directly to the game itself. What is she like?

Return to your favorite universe or first dive? Doesn’t matter

I was among those who didn’t play the first Dragon’s Dogma. But I’m a big fan of role-playing games, especially in a fantasy setting. And the release of the sequel did not bypass me.

What is most important is that knowledge of the original is not required to master this part. The new product is completely independent.

In the story, you are the Risen. Once upon a time, a dragon tore your heart out, but you survived, and now you go in search of dragons to exterminate them. But first you need to understand what is happening around you.

The problem is that the Risen should be at the head of the state. He is chosen, he has a great destiny, and therefore the throne of the savior is predestined for him. But there were too many Risen in the world, and some were even able to achieve success by finding a way to skillfully control the Pawns. These are the characters that are revealed on my side of the Rift. They can travel between worlds and obey only the Risen.

The player is given the role of the truly chosen one, and therefore he will have to go a long way on the way to the throne, which was captured by the deceivers. There’s just one more problem: you don’t remember all past events, although you remember some other characters. And they are the ones who help you understand the restored situation and restore your heritage.

We create our hero from scratch. Capcom did a great job with the editor, you can fine-tune the hero to suit you. Initially, four targets are available (the local analogue of classes): fighter, mage, archer and pestilence. Other laws will also open, like the fighter and the sorcerer.

The appearance of the hero causes damage literally to every centimeter. And, importantly, the appearance here, unlike other projects, directly determines your characteristics. For example, a fatter or shorter character gets tired faster, a tall one can take longer to leave and put a large inventory in it. So when setting up a hero, it’s worth thinking ahead about who you want to include.

This is actually really seriously important. In DD2 can’t start a new game, there is no such voltage option. How to choose a save. This is one story with one repository – the last one will be the one you will now download. The authors promised to add the ability to start a new game, but at the time of writing it was not available.

There are three options saved here: low, in rest areas and manually. And even in the main menu you can choose whether you want to boot into the recreation area or from the last save. In general, I approve of this decision, since an unpleasant situation may occur, for example, at the time of the last autosave – for example, you will be in the thick of things with low HP, and the game, out of fear, will decide to make a save. In general, you won’t be able to play with this place.

Partly, everything here is done according to the canons: there is leveling, an extensive inventory with the combination of elements with each other, various gear, weapons with their own functioning, and so on. True, skills can only be upgraded in guild habitat areas, and not in the character menu. It took me a long time to get to this point, after almost 5 hours, so it’s worth knowing if anyone doesn’t know.

Pawns and everything you need to know about them

The lion’s share of the gameplay is created on Pawns, your assistants. This is a separate powerful mechanic that is extremely useful in the world of games.

Let’s start with something simple. These are your characters, who follow you almost everywhere. They are extremely useful not only in battles, but also in exploring locations. “Nepisi” can independently collect loot, explore territories and win on your team. They have their own AI, which is closely related to your actions in the game world.

A total of four commands can be given to Pawns:

• activate
• wait
• for help
• to me

each of them is responsible for their actions. For example, “Come to me!” Quickly attracts your allies and prevents them from attacking other enemies – a useful option if you want to avoid another battle.

The “Action” button can both prompt the Pawn to attack enemies and suggest a route for you. The fact is that the game does not have the usual navigator that draws you a path on the map. Instead, you only have a mini-radar and a partner who has already mapped out the route to the desired points in his head and is ready to take you through the shortest route.

By the way, the Pawn, which finds itself in an area that is new to itself, will not find its way there. She should have been there already to know the way. Very cool immersion at work.

And even that’s not all. Your comrades have their own skills, they can change equipment, they react to what is happening around them and constantly provide comments. Often, however, they can be repeated, but this is normal.

By the way, this is not even all. Pawns remember what and how you did in the game. For example, how often did you visit brothels or how much time did you spend with them? They can then tell their new owner about you.

The fact is that Pawns travel between different worlds. And in each of them there is the Risen Garden. They rush to his aid and simply set off around the world in search of a new owner. You can meet them at any time, they will gladly offer their help.

The player has only one basic Pawn, which he also creates from scratch himself. You can give her tasks to other players so that they present you with the opportunity to use them in your absence.

A squad can consist of three Pawns. Two more may die during testing, and this is a common occurrence. They can no longer be resurrected, only your main assistant through the Rift. Each character can pick up each other if they suddenly fall, and then bring it to you so that the player does not have to run into the thick of things. Convenient, useful, class.

The combat system is very varied, but a little clumsy

Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t have a combo system and doesn’t have advanced combat animations. In general, the combat animations in some cases, especially when playing as a mage, look ridiculous – they are really clumsy and seem to have not changed since The Witcher 3. The 11-year development is probably justified.

However, the combat here is quite varied. You can constantly change active skills and use them on different types of enemies. But you need to prepare for such a campaign in advance, since only guilds change skills.

There are also additional skills that can be unlocked after completing quests from guild leaders. Not all are available from the very beginning, and the skills are more powerful than others and require more strength.

The diversity of local fauna is great. Here you can meet large numbers of creatures: from small goblins and slugs to huge cyclops, griffins and so on. Fighting is not as easy as it seems. A little hardening is required. And work very actively with available skills. Elemental effects included.

The world is huge and it has its own things to do

Finally, the world is open. Calling the map big is an understatement. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the nearest point on the map marker, and this is only the closest. There is also a territory many kilometers further, plus a second kingdom.

And here literally at every step there are question marks (more precisely, exclamation marks). Many events occur for the first time at a specific time of day. For example, during the day you can meet a pickpocket or criminals to sort out a dispute between merchants, and yourself break into someone’s house to help the thieves guild steal a jewel.

There are a lot of random events, and they are scattered throughout the map. Remember how much activity there was in The Witcher 3? Here there are twice as many of them, and they look more organic.

At every step, around every corner, you will be offered tasks of different complexity and interestingness. True, the stealth missions are executed stupidly, since there are no stealth mechanics in the game. Just walk around and don’t get too close to the eyes, otherwise you might end up putting them in jail or killing them. You can’t sit down and sneak around, alas. But you can change your clothes so that no one suspects you. A certain Hitman in the world of DD2.

Definitely worth playing

Hello Skyrim

I can still spend a long time developing about Dragon’s Dogma 2. There are so many little things here that I could write a separate button for them.

Within the framework of the review, such a possibility does not seem possible; the material is already extensive.

I will say one thing for sure: if you are a fan of fantasy RPGs, then this is one of the best representatives of the genre. And you can get stuck in it. The world is alive, and this is what we think. The story is banal, but a little interesting. Optimization will be corrected, but microtransactions will not interfere. So I see no reason not to take the new product now. Or wait for discounts.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is available on Windows PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X. Costs about $70. On a Mac, you can try running the game through an emulator, but I don’t recommend doing this at this stage.