GotY 2024?
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is undoubtedly among the candidates for the Game of the Year award, yet it’s not exactly a flawless game. That probably sounded weird. But trust me; you have to experience the game yourself for it to make sense. While the sum of the parts is worthy of being considered a GotY candidate, some of those parts are not as worthy. Overall, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an engaging action role-playing video game that builds on the strengths of the original.
You wake up in a world brimming with wonder, which is filled with creatures of various sizes that are all fun to fight. However, the enemies are not as diverse as the initial grandeur of the game have you believe. What’s more disappointing is that a significant portion of the game’s enemies are directly imported from its predecessor. Yes, the two games share a world, but the downside is that Dragon’s Dogma 2 fails to hook you right in. In fact, the game starts so slow that it might take you a few hours to get to the good parts.
But when you do get to the good parts, it refuses to let you go. There are many reasons to explore and a lot to discover. From witnessing two bosses fighting each other to finding secret passages that lead to magnificent rewards to fighting the optional boss that pushes you to your limits, everywhere you look, there is some hidden wonder waiting to be found.
Combat is where Dragon’s Dogma 2 shines the brightest. It’s an easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master combat system that gets better – and also more challenging – as you progress through the game. The early stages of the game are relatively easy. But that doesn’t last for long. However, as the combat gets more challenging, you’ll also become better equipped, so the game rarely, if ever, feels unfair, and the combat remains fresh and fun all the way to the end. My only complaint is that you cannot lock on an enemy, making the camera move a little too quickly at times, though it’s not something you cannot get used to.
Pawns are another strength of Dragon’s Dogma 2. They are companion NPCs that accompany and fight alongside you. But they’re not your everyday dumb video game companion NPCs. They actually pull their own weight. Pawns are surprisingly intelligent. They level up with your character and adapt their fighting to your playstyle. What’s more, they’re very good at navigation, so you don’t have to worry about getting lost.
This intelligence is not limited to the pawns. The world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is full of various NPCs, who go about their lives and react to you and the world around them. For instance, you might be having your hands full with a boss when a group of wandering NPCs get inspired by your valor and decide to join the fight. Such events are one of the main reasons why the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 feels alive and lived-in.
This might sound like a minor complaint, but sometimes the same things that make the world feel alive will become a nuisance, like when you need to find a certain NPC, but they’re out somewhere doing God-knows-what. Considering that the game’s fast travel system requires you to use certain items, this might become annoying, especially during the earlier stages of the game. In addition, the complexity of NPCs’ behaviors comes at a performance cost. There’s no shortage of frame drops throughout the game, especially in crowded places, which has led to some weird phenomenon, such as mass murder of unimportant NPCs by players.
Now, let’s do a full circle and go back to the first sentence of this review. Dragon’s Dogma 2 can win the Game of the Year award, but it won’t be winning the Most Flawless Game of the Year. It’s a great role-playing game with a huge living world that’s fun to explore. But it’s also a flawed game. Having said that, losing hours in the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an experience that I recommend to everyone.