I wasn’t sure what to expect from Dragon’s Dogma 2. I have Dark Arisen in my Steam library and a paltry 70 minutes of gametime that is likely going to increase in the coming weeks. But while I may be inexperienced compared to those already aware of Dogma’s greatness, I can safely say that my preview session broke my hype meter. I cannot wait to play more. After being dropped into a random save that started me in the middle of a town with the Mystic Spearhead Vocation, I wasn’t really sure of where to go. But that was the beauty of this demo. Dragon’s Dogma 2 organically gave me plenty of options for what to do next, and there’s no wrong answer. I was almost immediately greeted by a traveler asking me to find their Jadeite Orb, because if it wasn’t found, his master could have him killed. Morris, a shopkeeper, told me that his grandson Rodge had gone missing and a villager informed him he was dragged off by wolves. When I started talking to people in town, I met Folkes, who told me about a town north of Venworth that was overrun with fell beasts. All of these options were there to pursue in addition to the main storyline.
And while I was probably supposed to do the main quest, I decided to go it alone, jumping on an ox cart to the next town to see what else I could discover.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 really clicked with me because you need to constantly be on your toes. There are moments of downtime when you can just enjoy the vista or pose with a random Ogre you’ve defeated. But more often than not I was organically finding combat encounters and secrets that I wanted to investigate more. And that amazing loop was consistent as I made my journey back.
Over the course of 80 minutes I fought a Griffin that flew me into the air and dropped me to my death. I discovered the untimely fate of Rodge was affected by the fact that I decided to run off exploring the wilderness – a completely different outcome than what Mitchell encountered in his IGN First playthrough a couple months ago. I took on an Ogre that was protecting a treasure chest my Pawn had led me to. I turned down new Pawns that I met who wanted to become a part of my crew. I was ambushed by a group of bandits making camp. And all of this happened organically while I explored just a small sliver of a massive map.
Even though I was probably supposed to do the main quest, Dragon’s Dogma 2 had just provided me with a wealth of entertainment that I didn’t want to walk away from while wandering around accomplishing… nothing even related to a quest. Sorry Rodge.
The Mystic Spearhand Vocation was interesting, but as it was my first time playing Dragon’s Dogma 2 I wasn’t able to showcase all of the abilities. Still, the focus of the provided build was clearly all about the spear and your character’s ability to teleport to foes and deliver devastating blows. The recent Vocation trailer also teased a wealth of exciting options, like the ability to teleport directly on top of enemies before plunging your spear into their back, and an ability that teleports between status-afflicted foes to deliver a crushing blow. Getting to see what was possible just makes me want to go back and play even more.
And if this isn’t to your liking, Dragon’s Dogma 2 has other Vocations available. They include the Fighter, Archer, Mage, Thief, Warrior, Sorcerer, Mystic Spearhand, Magik Archer, Warfarer and Trickster that we previewed as part of our IGN First coverage. You are free to switch between each of these on the fly by simply talking to a vendor, and taking a peek at the options available makes it clear that each has a lot more depth than expected. The second Vocation I had the chance to try was the Magik Archer. Diving into the combat options, the sheer amount of choices at your disposal is incredibly exciting. My Archer had nine Weapon Skills to choose from with Flamefang Arrow, Ricochet Hunter, Frosthunter Bolt and Recovery arrow selected. Flamefang Arrow, at least in the build I played, seems incredibly overpowered. If each Vocation has this amount of customization it'll be a lot of fun to discover the strengths of each.
When the time came to jump over and play this second Vocation, I began by being ambushed at a tavern in town, only to make quick work of my opponent by stunlocking them with Ricochet Hunter and Frosthunter Bolt. It was an incredibly powerful combination – so powerful that the Griffen we encountered later never stood a chance. Flamefang Arrow and my powerful Pawns simply devastated everything with ease.
While the gameplay was amazing and I can’t wait to get back to play more, there was one concern I’ve seen the community curious about: the uncapped framerate on console. When looking at this it should be noted that I’m playing a version which Capcom clearly states is “still in development, and is not equivalent to the final product.” But in this build on PlayStation 5, Dragon’s Dogma 2 was averaging around 31 frames per second with dips during heavy moments of action while playing with the PS5 set to output at 4K. I did not get to test at lower base revolutions or VRR during my time to see if that had a positive impact on performance however, if I had one hope, it would be that Capcom added more options in the framerate department including, at minimum a capped 30 frames per second mode.
That said, the gameplay was so fun that it was hard to walk away focused on anything other than my genuine excitement to play more.
My demo ended in the dead of night trying to help a character navigate the spirits, Zombies, and monsters waiting for me in the darkness. But after playing almost two and a half hours, there’s no denying that Dragon’s Dogma 2 had me hooked. I cannot wait to play more on March 22nd.
