I had already played over a dozen hours of Dragon’s Dogma 2 when I found my first cable car, a transportation system that could take me into the sky and potentially save me time navigating the game’s vast open world. I turned the crank to move the cable car’s wooden gondola and handed the job over to one of the farmers in my group. Feeling very satisfied with myself for discovering a new way to travel, I decided to enjoy the vast desert views below until the end of the journey.

Then, an angry giant griffin crashed into my gondola, completely destroying it. My group and I fell into a valley and died instantly. Men plan, Dragon’s Dogma 2 laughs.

The Griffin incident was just one of many similar stories I experienced in 30 hours with Dragon’s Dogma 2, the god of cruel jokes. I was attacked by bandits while clearing a goblin grove, and pushed off a cliff by a harpy. I’ve been stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen and burned by every fantasy creature out there. It’s a challenge, but Capcom’s fantasy RPG is unwavering in its design ideals, layered with complex, interlocking game systems that make it as challenging to play as it is fascinating.

It’s a world that feels as though it existed long before I set foot there. It seems uninterested in coddling me or welcoming me into its dangerous world and tense medieval politics. From the lore to the gameplay mechanics to the non-player character features, Dragon’s Dogma 2’s living world feels as real as if I was brought here as an outsider and dared to survive the harsh conditions.

In Dragon’s Dogma 2, I am an Arisen, a Chosen One whose heart was ripped out by a dragon and thus the rightful ruler of the kingdom of Velmundr, according to tradition. But there was a usurper, a false Arisen, empowered to rule as part of a dark conspiracy. Fortunately, some citizens and rulers of Fermund have quietly recognized my powers as an Arisens and have aided me in my journey to uncover the truth and expose the impostor.

Accompanying me on my quest are computer-controlled characters, so-called pawns, a sort of second-class citizen who fight at my side. I always have up to three pawns on hand: one permanent pawn I create myself, and two others I can hire as part of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s pseudo-multiplayer component. As I play the game, I may encounter new pawns while wandering the kingdoms of Fermund and Bataar, or I may purchase pawns at locations known as Riftstones, where pawns uploaded by other players seek temporary quests from Arisens from parallel worlds.

The Pawn device provides to the organic, living-international experience of Dragon`s Dogma 2, wherein the recreation`s non-playable denizens usually cross approximately their little lives. As day adjustments into night, stores near and extra effective monsters roam the landscape. Fruit and meat ripen and decay in my stock as days pass. Along my journey, Pawns talk with me and every different, sharing info they`ve found out from different worlds and different Arisen masters. They`ll inform me the region of treasure chests they`ve encountered of their worlds and manual me to them. When I make a discovery, certainly considered one among my Pawns guarantees to proportion that information with different gamers. Pawns will also gossip approximately their former masters; one amusingly contemplated out loud why her Arisen handiest employed ladies to sign up for his group. Pawns come and cross, and they`re effortlessly swapped out to construct a celebration that fits my contemporary needs, however all of them upload to the sensation that this international is extra than my store file.

I`ve grown pretty connected to a number of my Pawns, too. A mage I met early on have become my cross-to healer, however she lagged in the back of me and my primary Pawn, a cat-guy archer I created and named after my dog. Eventually, I needed to component methods with my mage in want of a more potent sorcerer, however I later reunited with her, handiest to discover she`d grow to be highly effective and had switched vocations.

Dragon`s Dogma 2 boasts 10 vocations — individual classes, basically — that provide quite a few playstyles, beginning with archer, fighter, mage, and thief. As I development and improve my vocation, I free up new capabilities and new vocation variations, along with the capacity to apply new forms of guns, each conventional guns and magic in tandem, and extra uncommon options, just like the trickster. The latter vocation — brand-new in Dragon`s Dogma 2 — doesn`t interact in fight one-on-one, however as a substitute wields a censer to conjure illusions, inflicting enemies to combat every different, and helps Pawns to lead them to extra powerful in battle.

The trickster is simply one factor of recreation director Hideaki Itsuno`s imaginative and prescient to create a “single-participant on-line celebration movement recreation” wherein gamers can “enjoy the entertainment of having to play as a group” while not having to sign up for up with or depend upon different people. In simulating the sensation of a recreation like Final Fantasy 14 or World of Warcraft from a single-participant perspective, the trickster fulfills the position of a healer or guide individual.

However, I have always preferred a more hands-on approach in action RPGs like Dragon’s Dogma 2, the Monster Hunter series, and FromSoftware games like Elden Ring. For this reason, I have mostly stuck to sword and shield gameplay, opting to be in the thick of combat and have my pawns help me out. Relying on them is crucial to success in this game, as combat controls can be muddy at times. Dragon’s Dogma 2 does not have a hard targeting system. I found myself missing many attacks while my pawn allies filled the gaps.

Despite this looseness, combat is exciting, thanks to the many swordplay tools at my disposal. As a combatant, I can equip skills that allow me to soar into the sky and take down flying succubi or take down bandits with my shield, finishing them off with a powerful blow. Different enemy types require different tactics, especially the game’s gigantic enemies such as cyclops, golems, dragons, and dragons. Like in Shadow of the Colossus, you can climb these gigantic beasts and attack their weak points, or knock them off balance and down. These fights are full of drama and intense action, and often occur naturally. During my travels, I was often attacked by large monsters such as ogres just wandering the countryside. Sometimes I have to run away – otherwise the monster I’m fighting will flee as it’s not worth my effort.

Traveling the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is dangerous and often tedious. It’s virtually impossible to fast travel across the game’s vast continent. Some cities I’ve visited have Port Crystals, landmarks that you can teleport to using very expensive and rare consumable stones. Otherwise, I often set up camp in the wilderness to fully heal my group. I travel by foot or in an oxcart, which moves at the speed of a glacial oxcart and only departs to certain locations. (There are also cable cars that offer shortcuts, but you already know how those rides go.)

And Dragon’s Dogma 2’s story, which combines a central storyline with side quests of widely varying importance, requires a huge amount of travel. Players who, like me, don’t like long journeys through monster-infested lands will find relying on this method of travel tedious. Others will settle for a stroll through the forest, seeing what’s over the hill, or simply enjoying standing in the rain. But be warned: this is a game that respects your decisions, but doesn’t really care about time.

But sometimes the stories that emerge along the way make those journeys worthwhile. In Dragon’s Dogma 2, when I somehow lose track of the false Arisen, the dragon I must face, and my efforts to reclaim my rightful throne, I still remember the battles, the unexpected encounters, and even the little stories of the townspeople I interacted with from my travels. I still intend to play through the game’s story and get there eventually – as fast as my legs can carry me.