There are many fantastical creatures to battle in Dragon’s Dogma 2, however nowhere within the base recreation will you discover a dragon that vomits zombies. One can find such a beast in its upcoming Dark Arisen enlargement, although, and this winged atrocity marked the ultimate problem of a 90-minute hands-on demo I performed simply forward of gamescom 2026.
The undead barfer simply ranks amongst Dragon’s Dogma 2’s most hideous foes – a scaly titan with an ugly face, torn wings, and decaying flesh. At a number of factors all through the battle, it rears again its head to belch a plume of sinister smoke from its rotting maw, out of which skitters a gang of pallid corpses. It’s a inventive and horrific technique to introduce further mobs to a boss battle, and for a second I’m distracted from my venture of hacking the dragon’s legs off to carry out a collection of spinning sword assaults, chopping down the newly-birthed fodder three at a time.
Such a beast awaits you in Norgan, the brand new “Forsaken Dominion” that Dark Arisen provides to the north of the bottom recreation’s map. Whereas designed for superior gamers, it’s not an “finish recreation” zone; as an alternative, it’s beneficial for characters round degree 40, and might be accessed from comparatively early within the marketing campaign. The area’s icy situations and bitter snowstorms create a number of new and distinctive challenges, and outfitting your self to outlive such sub-zero temperatures is first on the agenda. The demo opens with a blacksmith providing to craft me some armour with higher thermal properties, and a quick fetch quest later I’m outfitted in furs match for a Stark. Whereas the demo didn’t enable me the possibility to completely discover why hotter armour is so necessary – does the chilly inflict injury over time, like within the fashionable Zelda video games? Or does thermal clothes present higher protection towards icy assaults? – my quick trek into the frigid north nonetheless highlighted a variety of methods the area’s local weather poses risks distinct from these we’ve confronted in additional southern lands.
Whereas battling towards the yeti-like Norgan big, I used to be frozen stable by the beast’s arctic breath. Later, halfway by means of the battle, an surprising avalanche knocked me off my toes, disrupting my chain of assaults. As ever, your AI companion Pawns chatter away, and their dialogue hints to such avalanches being triggered by each giant beasts and your personal weapon strikes. Different techniques steered by my get together embody rolling a boulder in direction of an enemy, which might develop bigger because it gathered up the snow in its path, and shattering hanging icicles so they’d rain down like glass on our foes.
“I positively did not need the chilly, snowy area to purely be a visible impact,” Dark Arisen’s director, Kenta Kinoshita, tells me. “If a snowstorm has blown in and is obscuring your visibility and the wind is working towards you, then you are going to need to give you a technique to get round it. However the wind may also be used to your benefit; in the event you’re making an attempt to leap over a hole in a crevice and also you’re in a position to orient your self in direction of the course the wind’s blowing, it could actually blow you additional. The wind might even be a assist in getting you on prime of big enemies in the event you orient your self proper.”
The bottom recreation inspired you to make use of the world round you as a instrument and a weapon, a philosophy Dark Arisen is increasing upon additional. Kinoshita describes how enemies will cross frozen lakes in pursuit of you, and so you may break the ice to plunge them into the water under (it’s right here the place it is price remembering that Dragon’s Dogma 2’s water is stricken by The Brine, the crimson tentacled mass which swallows up any residing factor.)
“There may very well be an enemy that steals your relics and runs away,” Kinoshita provides. “How do you discover the place it is gone? Effectively, observe the footprints within the snow and perhaps you will hint it again to its nest and discover the relics that it is stolen from you and extra moreover. At each totally different degree of encounter design, I wished the chilly theme to [provide] a degree of friction that is actually fascinating for the participant to find after which strategize on overcome.”
Unknown Treasures
By relics, Kinoshita doesn’t simply imply any outdated piece of apparatus you’ve discovered. Relics are a part of Dark Arisen’s new loot system that sees you gather thriller spoils from throughout Norgan and produce them again to camp to be “appraised” by Jiera, the native clever girl. When acquired, relics are listed in your stock with imprecise descriptions – this one is a helm, that is a gentle weapon – and are totally ineffective to you. Throw Jiera a few rift crystals, although, and she or he’ll reveal their true nature, turning them into gear you may carry into battle. In comparison with the gear found within the base recreation, relics usually tend to have fascinating properties that you would construct a technique round, corresponding to substantial stat modifiers or talents.
One of many demo’s early quests paired me up with Freki, a large direwolf with a style for hare and a nostril for relics. Following your first scripted journey, you may feed Freki meat everytime you need to set off his hunt for buried relics – merely observe him to accumulate new treasures.
This new system intrigues me as a result of it encourages a very explicit gameplay loop, one harking back to the loot grinds in video games like Future. Many Diablo-esque ARPGs and looter shooters use randomised rewards that should be “decoded” as a means of building a compelling cycle of discover, gather, decipher, equip, repeat. The bait, in fact, is the potential for discovering that one piece of drugs that may elevate your character construct and unlock the power to finish the cycle in much more harmful components of the world, which in flip rewards even larger weapons and armour.
Kinoshita agrees that this extra natural model of play is a focus for Dark Arisen, past the standard framework of a fantasy RPG. “There are, in fact, quests. You will unlock them and observe alongside the storyline,” he explains, “however as they relate to the relic system, they’re extra of a means to offer the participant a purpose to exit and discover totally different areas.”
If the relic system sounds acquainted however you’re not properly acquainted with Future’s Grasp Rahool, then it might be since you’re a long-term Dragon’s Dogma fan who remembers the unique’s expanded re-release, additionally known as Dark Arisen. Scattered throughout that recreation’s Bitterblack Isle dungeon was cursed loot, gadgets that wanted to be purified earlier than use. The similarity between the cursed loot and relic programs, in addition to the truth that each expansions are known as Dark Arisen, is not any coincidence.
“We wished so as to add a comparable relic exploration and appraisal cycle to Dragon’s Dogma 2,” confirms producer Naoto Oyama, “however this time we thought it was higher to deal with a new extensive space to construct upon the open recreation design that everybody loves a lot.” And so, reasonably than simply a single dungeon, this new model of Dark Arisen’s loot system takes place throughout a complete area.
It’s fascinating that Capcom has elected to free the loot cycle from the confines of a single dungeon, however nonetheless hold it contained inside the borders of 1 biome. The studio might have launched relics into the broader world, permitting them to be found within the lands of Vermund and Battahl – that will surely encourage veteran gamers to return to lands they’ve already rinsed clear. However Capcom’s determination is backed up by a clear goal.
“With a purpose to hold the brand new space distinct, [Norgan] is the one place by which the precise relic acquisition and appraisal cycle takes place,” Kinoshita explains. “However you are not locked into Norgan when you journey there. You may journey again to the unique map and use that acquired gear to tackle additional challenges, particularly the 12 new Misplaced Rites dungeons.”
These new dungeons symbolize a few of Dark Arisen’s best challenges. Of their depths lie uncommon, extremely fascinating gear. I didn’t get to set foot in any of them as a part of this demo, however the attract is robust.
“They ramp up in problem as they go alongside,” says Kinoshita. “You may select how a lot you need to do [Dark Arisen’s] two totally different contents in parallel. As an example, you may discover among the earlier Misplaced Rites dungeons after which get to fairly a difficult one you are not fairly prepared for. You can then go to Norgan and begin to discover relics as a technique to put together your self to complete the subsequent dungeon. And so there’s an interplay between these two totally different areas and components, though the precise relic drops and appraisal solely occur particularly in Norgan.”
Once I first realised what Dark Arisen was doing with loot, I’ll admit to feeling considerably disillusioned – I play RPGs for questing and story, and any sort of grind cycle with randomised loot is usually one thing that repels me. However I feel it is smart for Dragon’s Dogma 2, which thrives if you depart the well-trodden path behind and trek by means of the wilderness looking for your personal story. Whereas I hope the principle questline options extra advanced design than the fetch duties this demo provided, all my greatest reminiscences of the bottom recreation have been natural discoveries. The relic system seems to encourage much more of that, and the problem posed by the Misplaced Rites dungeons will hopefully push us into delving deep into the far reaches of this enlargement’s new land.
I doubt Dark Arisen will flip non-believers into Dragon’s Dogma 2 converts, however for many who already love its distinctive strategy to the open-world RPG, this enlargement guarantees to bolster the idiosyncrasies you recognize and love with concepts outdated and new.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Govt Editor of Options.