preview Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the action RPG you shouldn’t miss this year: I played it, here’s what awaits you!
More than a decade after the release of the first installment, Capcom is giving Dragon’s Dogma a second chance by offering a sequel with a much larger budget. A few weeks before release, I was able to play it for a few hours to discover the Insurgent’s new adventures, which promise to be more epic than ever.
If, like many players, you missed the first Dragon’s Dogma in 2012, here’s a quick reminder of the facts. Originally released on PS3 and Xbox 360, The original game is an action role-playing game set in a medieval fantasy world in which the player plays the Insurgent, a simple villager whose heart was one day stolen by the dragon. In your quest for revenge to recover your debts, you will be accompanied by Pawns, strange beings with human appearance who blindly follow the insurgent’s orders. Above all, there are things hidden behind this concept Companions ingeniously managed by artificial intelligence and which clearly represent one of the original game’s first strengths.
There is also a very successful combat system, a fairly organic exploration without a thousand markers and a living and breathing world. We understand that many players were excited about Capcom’s proposal, despite its broken side Sometimes a new license requires a small budget. But with this second part the cards are being reshuffled, because the Japanese publisher has pulled out all the stops with this sequel and seems determined to correct the mistakes of its predecessor.
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An original way to approach progress
In Dragon’s Dogma II we find the insurgent once again accompanied by his vassals in a new adventure. When Capcom explains that it is not necessary to have done the first to play the second, The preview I played didn’t focus on the story, so I couldn’t tell you more. However, this is a point to keep a close eye on ahead of the game’s release, as the first one didn’t shine in this regard and we hope the second one can rectify the situation. On the other hand, Where Dragon’s Dogma 2 performs just as well as its predecessor is in its organic progression which is very good for the open world genre.
The Dragon’s Dogma series is obviously inspired by old-style role-playing games and it’s not my gaming session that makes me lie. To help you understand what I mean by this, let’s take the example from the beginning of my session. When I arrive in a village with my farmers, a trader tells me that his grandson has disappeared and he is trying to find him. One of his customers tells me that he probably got lost in a cave collecting a rare ore. And from then on… nothing. There are no quest markers that I have to follow stupidly. It’s up to me to gather information from the four corners of the village to find out more. And even after questioning a witness who appears to have seen him, he gives rather vague information about his whereabouts.
Immersion as a key word
Through this design choice We feel much more immersed in the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2, which feels more alive and organic than other open worlds full of markers to follow stupidly. Overall, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is intended to be a very immersive experience on all levels. You have to communicate with all NPCs to get information, get a stamina meter to run, the obligation to shine light at night to see something, dangerous night exploration… Everything is done to make the player feel like they are part of a believable world. This goes so far that the game has (almost) no fast travel system.
In order to teleport from one end of the map to the other, you must first have placed a stele there yourself and have a teleportation stone, which costs a fortune. On the spot, It is possible to find oxcarts, a big new addition in this second episode, which you can transport from one location to another. Again, the experience is intended to be immersive, because if you want to take a nap to make the journey go by faster, there is a chance that you will be woken up by a monster attack. And that’s the charm of Dragon’s Dogma 2. However, the fact remains that sometimes It’s quite tiring to do the same trip several times in a row
Capcom is committed to Dragon’s Dogma 2 shines with its gameplay, which makes the conflicts exciting. During this preview I was able to try out the Knight-Mage and his spear for the first time, which stands out for its great versatility to cope with all situations. She can jump, cast spells, and lunge at these enemies. She’s a class that wreaks havoc and thrives on successful animations. At the same time, I was able to try out the Archer-Mage, an overpowered class from the first work that has received a small nerf here to encourage players to use other classes. Now he can no longer attack in melee, but his multi-target arrows are still just as devastating. Anyway, Dragon’s Dogma 2 reminds us that gameplay and combat remain among the series’ strengths and that it demonstrates Capcom’s expertise in action games.
Ultimately, what sets Dragon’s Dogma 2 apart from its predecessor the most is the graphics. From now on, The title uses the RE Engine, an engine found in all of Capcom’s latest productions : Resident Evil 4 (2023), Street Fighter 6, Monster Hunter Rise, Devil May Cry 5… In DD2, this one still works wonders, with an obviously much sharper presentation than the first, which is more than ten years old, with two console generations apart. Apart from performing very well from a graphical point of view, The title even has the luxury of offering a frame rate of over 30 frames per second, say 40 at a glance, without sacrificing visual quality. Unfortunately, I have to admit that during my gaming session I’ve experienced some serious slowdowns, which distorts the whole thing a bit. However, it is important to note that this is a version under development and the title has not yet reached gold status. We can bet that these concerns will not be addressed in the final version.
No impressions
Forgive me for this cliched expression, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 promises to be a first-class adventure. In its approach to the open world, Capcom’s title stands out for an original proposal that focuses everything on immersion and organic progression. However, the game does not forget the basics of the action RPG with its still effective gameplay and pleasant graphics thanks to the RE Engine. From now on we hope that the technical problems that appeared during our preview will no longer appear in the final version and that the story will be much better than that of the first game, making Dragon’s Dogma 2 a classic of the genre. Respond on March 22nd on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series.
Editorial opinion
Exciting
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