Dragon’s Dogma 2 is yet another huge open-world RPG greeting us at the beginning of 2024. But just how long is it? Here we’ll let you know exactly how many hours it took different members of the IGN team to finish the story – as well as others who are only part of the way through their journey – and what they prioritised doing with their time.
Simon Cardy - Senior Editorial Producer
It took me just under 24 hours to reach the final credits of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s story, including the game’s optional true ending. By the time I reached the end of my journey with my loyal pawn Ham at my side, I was a level 41 Mystic Spearhand with all my vocational skills unlocked. I started my adventure by taking my time, spending quite a few hours mopping up side quests in the first area’s capital city and surrounding areas. I had fun getting to know different people around the town and learning more about the history of the region, as well as the delicate political games being played within its walls.
By the time I was tasked with journeying to another faraway region, however, I felt it was time for me to knuckle down and focus on the core story as that’s what I found most appealing. This led me to pretty much mainline Dragon’s Dogma 2 from around a third of the way into the central questline onward, for the most part ignoring any side activities I was tasked with. That being said, I enjoyed the combat so much that I could never turn down a challenge when faced with this world’s most fearsome monsters, as I took down several griffins, golems, chimeras, and even Medusa in a thrilling battle.
Despite speedily reaching the end of the story and really enjoying my time with Dragon’s Dogma 2, I couldn’t help but feel that I did miss out on a lot of intriguing storylines centered around the frictional factions of Vermund and Battahl that reveal themselves during optional missions. For that reason, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend playing through Dragon’s Dogma 2 at quite the pace I did, instead taking your time to immerse yourself in its world and becoming famliar its characters before having to say goodbye to them all too soon.
Jarrett Green - IGN’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 Reviewer
It took me 33 hours to finish my first go at Dragon’s Dogma 2, but that was no where near an attempt at completion. I stayed largely on the critical path to move the story along at a reasonable pace, and while I tried all vocations, I only mastered the Mystic Spearhand and got close to mastering the fighter.
While I don’t do much active mystery hunting, if I found a loose thread while walking to an objective or while running errands in towns, I pulled on it to see what unraveled. That usually meant organically finding even more stuff to do, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 is so huge that there were more than one big black blotch on my map that none of these tasks, main line or side story, ever asked me to investigate.
And a word to the uninitiated: the endgame of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is not like other open world games, where you can finish the story but also have the freedom to go back and address unfinished or undiscovered business. There is a point of no return, and it doesn’t make itself subtle. I’m a few hours into my second run now, ready to shake all of the secrets out of the big, buggy, beautiful tree.
Jesse Gomez - UK Video Producer
After slaying over one thousand enemies, dying 22 times, and reaching Level 38 as a fully upgraded Fighter, Warrior, AND Mystic Spearhand, my adventures across Vermund and Battahl resulted in a total playtime of 22 hours, 5 minutes, and 44 seconds. Now, I’m not ashamed to admit that I spent more time than I probably should have in the character creator, and the FashionDogma subreddit, whisking up the ultimate Berserk and Game of Thrones-inspired tag team of Guts and Bronn. But, my efforts resulted in a fairly stress-free playthrough, and two characters I very much care for.
Both my pawn and I blasted through a somewhat mainline path while dipping into the occasional cave or ancient tomb to do some scavenging or hopefully hunt down a legendary weapon or piece of armour. By the time I was approaching the endgame, however, there was still a massive amount left to explore, with the majority of my map still clouded in a fog of war. I prioritised slaying as many drakes and dragons as I possibly could, which did mean I had plenty of side missions left on the table which I plan to get around to on my next visit.
And that next visit will be starting again very soon now that New Game Plus is available to me. I’ll be diving into my second playthrough of Dragon’s Dogma 2 as soon as possible, and this time, I’ll be taking a bit more of a relaxed approach.
Ronny Barrier - Producer, Guides
I’m not yet done with Dragon’s Dogma 2 at around 26 hours in, as the time I’ve spent playing has been for guide purposes– so a lot of splashing around in the shallow end. I’ve leveled all the starting vocations to level 4 or 5, done the first round of quests in the capital city, explored quite a bit of the map, and fought my share of Cyclopses. Cyclops? Cyclopies? Whatever the plural of the big one eyed dude is.
I’m still thoroughly enjoying my time, despite not really being able to play how I want to. Each vocation plays differently enough that switching from fighter to thief to mage and then back again keeps refreshing the experience, even if I am a little bit tired of killing goblins already, and getting snark from fantasy-Brit Ichiban. Hopefully once my work tasks have cleared and the runway has opened, I’ll be able to enjoy the adventure to its fullest before the next big open world game comes out!
Mitchell Saltzman - Senior Producer, Guides
I was fairly exhaustive in trying to find every sidequest, hidden treasure chest, and NPC in the first kingdom of Vermund in Dragon’s Dogma 2, and as a result I am level 42 at about halfway through the main quest, and about 50 hours in. And even with all of that time spent, I’m still finding secret caves that act as shortcuts, linking major locations together; valuable treasure chests with Ferrystones and Portcrystals; new sidequests; hidden boss fights with powerful gear as crafting materials as rewards; and even more secrets that I wouldn’t dare to disclose here.
I still have a whole other kingdom to properly explore, more vocations to unlock, maister skills to discover, and there are still some long term sidequests that I’ve set to see paid off. Needless to say, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is massive, and well rewards the time that you put into it. As far as vocations go, I’ve maxed out Sorcerer, which has largely been my main, but I’ve also put some significant time into Archer, Mage, Mystic Spearhand, and Thief, which I’ve level each up to about levels 4 or 5.
I have felt a bit overpowered, especially when I’m using my maxed out sorcerer, but it hasn’t taken away from the enjoyment that I feel when taking out a giant ogre that used to give me hell in just a few seconds flat. This is the kind of game that offers you an experience unlike any other, and I’ve been happy to take my sweet time with it.
