After playing 3 hours of Dragon’s Dogma 2, I’m convinced that it’s more than just a GOTY contender – it’s probably the greatest game ever made

I want to talk to you about courage. Not a berserker character, although Dragon’s Dogma 2 does have very large swords. Nor is there the courage to pounce on a beast five times your size and try to take it down – although Dragon’s Dogma 2 has that courage, too. In British terms, “guts” are definitely not “guts”, and “being hollowed out” means being tormented by disappointment. Definitely Dragon’s Dogma 2 No have that.

But, no – I guess what I’m talking about is a gut feeling. I’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s hard for me to admit that it’s been decades since. I think my radar is pretty good. I trust my heart.Sometimes I see something – even something that seems ordinary OK – I thought “this won’t work”. Other times I’ll play a short demo of something and know deep down that it’s going to be an absolute blast. Most of the time, I end up being right, if I do say so myself.

Now that everything is in place, let’s talk about Dragon’s Dogma 2. I’ve already previewed it, but in a last ditch effort before its release, I played another three hours of the game. It’s the latter. What a great experience.I can say this game is special.

And – the last time I felt this way was (whispering) when I played six hours of Elden Ring shortly before the game’s release. “Dragon’s Dogma 2” has this kind of atmosphere. I hate comparing it to Elden Ring, because comparing everything to FromSoftware’s success is hell. But here, I can’t deny it. This is real.

In fact, it feels like so thorough Eagle-eyed readers may notice that the opening structure of this preview—courage, glory, etc.—is borrowed heavily from the 2022 article. At the time, I said excitedly but tentatively that Elden Ring evoked feelings I hadn’t felt since previewing Breath of the Wild. Consider the lineage Dragon’s Dogma 2 is in right now: the last hurdle of review has yet to come, and it’s already among the giants.

Why? I mean, God – how do you explain that? I think that’s another thing about games like this: they’re always hard to explain. Ahead of the preview, I chatted with Capcom PR about their daunting task of demonstrating a game like this. The first “Dragon’s Dogma” was a hit game, slowly rising from 1 million copies when it was released to 8 million copies today. It’s strange, esoteric, highly systematic, and surprisingly central in its thinking and design. Honestly, it was ahead of its time.

In 2023, reality finally realized the dream of the Dogma development team led by Capcom visionary Hidetaki Itsuno 12 years ago. That’s what sets it apart from its good-vibe peers I mentioned earlier, in that it’s not a clever iteration of a subgenre that’s been steadily expanding for decades, nor is it a bottom-up reimagining of a beloved thing. Instead, it’s just…more.

The first “Dragon’s Dogma” felt like a game suitable for explosion. Not in spitting out an open world map with padding and icons – but in its concept and original design. You can tell a lot was cut during development. After launch, Itsuno spoke at GDC about how, at some stages, the game was designed to double its final delivered size. In a sense, it’s a miracle they didn’t release something compromising. The ideas are there, bubbling beneath the surface—that’s part of the charm of it all. But in Dragon’s Dogma 2, our intention is to bring all of these ideas to their fullest potential. After a few hours, I could see it.

Bring your chess pieces and AI allies to accompany you on your adventures. In addition to your protagonist, you can create a custom chess piece of your own and then recruit preset chess pieces from Capcom, or more likely other players’ chess pieces, which will be uploaded to an internet repository for all to see Check. Your pieces can also be “hired” by other players – giving this strictly single-player experience a sense of community.

The concept of pawning is easy to like on paper, and even easier in practice. Having other players’ creations form your RPG “team” seems cool at first, but then you realize they bring knowledge. If you encounter a new enemy you haven’t encountered before, but your pawn is that of a player who has slaughtered many enemies, the pawn may offer suggestions about combat strategies or weaknesses. While exploring the wilderness, they may notice that they know the location of a nearby treasure chest – do you want them to take you there? Again, it feels collaborative in a game played entirely alone.

Itsuno admits that in the first game, the pieces had only a vague surface. They are known for screaming the same slogans over and over again and falling into strange artificial intelligence programs. He was pleased with the results in 2012, but now believes the technology and capabilities are sufficient to provide a system where you can truly feel that these player-generated characters have the depth and personality of hand-curated party members in other role-playing games. It’s bold, but even after playing Dragon’s Dogma 2 for a few hours, I could see the difference.

The same goes for world design. Dragon’s Dogma was released just a few months after Skyrim, and its open world seemed quaint even at the time by comparison. Stepping out of a major town and into the sequel’s wilderness makes it clear that this is a different mood – from mountains linked together by wooden rope pulley lifts (you can have your pieces power up on your behalf, or do so yourself ) to reach the oceanfront beach and walk through the cavernous, dank space that feels… huge. Ambitious.

And of course, there’s all that vaguely procedural Dragon’s Dogma madness. At one point, I decided to test out the larger combat by taking on a giant rock golem-like enemy. As an archery-focused class, I could easily target monster weak points from a relatively safe distance and even use healing arrows to take friendly shots at my pieces to keep them distracted at close range. Although a little nervous, I had a great time.

Then, out of nowhere, a gryphon suddenly flew over – and suddenly, a three-way battle broke out. Suddenly, I felt like I couldn’t win. The beauty of this game’s combat design is that that’s not the case – if you’re skilled enough, there’s always a weakness to exploit, and it’s a thrill if you don’t even run away. Some enemies display a single-minded attitude usually reserved for killer villains. The scale of the open world means you have more options for approaching enemies or retreating, which is very helpful. You know, even a hasty retreat can get your blood boiling, and that’s a good thing.

Of course, with a game this big, this could all be a big deal. A giant asterisk. There’s still so much to see, so much that can go wrong – even if everything I’ve seen so far is going well. So far, so good – the final code will be the real test.

It’s also worth noting that I’m one of those people who was converted by the enjoyable slow burn of the first game, so I’m predisposed to prefer the second one. But I do think the market has caught up with the pace, tone, and style of Dragon’s Dogma.the world is get ready For another one of those games – it feels like this might be the right game at the right moment. Can it be an all-rounder? Can it be a masterpiece for everyone? Let’s hope Capcom doesn’t make mistakes on the final level.

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 will be released on March 22 and is scheduled to be released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.