There are many fantastical creatures to struggle in Dragon’s Dogma 2, however nowhere within the base recreation will you discover a dragon that vomits zombies. You will discover such a beast in its upcoming Darkish 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 unpleasant 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 approach to introduce extra mobs to a boss struggle, and for a second I’m distracted from my undertaking of hacking the dragon’s legs off to carry out a sequence of spinning sword assaults, slicing down the newly-birthed fodder three at a time.
Such a beast awaits you in Norgan, the brand new “Forsaken Dominion” that Darkish 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 really helpful for characters round degree 40, and will 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 brief fetch quest later I’m outfitted in furs match for a Stark. Whereas the demo didn’t permit me the prospect to completely discover why hotter armour is so vital – does the chilly inflict injury over time, like within the trendy Zelda video games? Or does thermal clothes present higher protection in opposition to icy assaults? – my brief 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 in opposition to the yeti-like Norgan large, I used to be frozen stable by the beast’s arctic breath. Later, halfway by the struggle, an sudden avalanche knocked me off my ft, disrupting my chain of assaults. As ever, your AI companion Pawns chatter away, and their dialogue hints to such avalanches being triggered by each massive beasts and your individual weapon strikes. Different techniques prompt by my social gathering embrace 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 might rain down like glass on our foes.
“I undoubtedly did not need the chilly, snowy area to purely be a visible impact,” Darkish Arisen’s director, Kenta Kinoshita, tells me. “If a snowstorm has blown in and is obscuring your visibility and the wind is working in opposition to you, then you are going to must provide you with a approach to get round it. However the wind will also be used to your benefit; for those who’re making an attempt to leap over a spot in a crevice and also you’re capable of 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 high of giant enemies for those who orient your self proper.”
The bottom recreation inspired you to make use of the world round you as a software and a weapon, a philosophy Darkish Arisen is increasing upon additional. Kinoshita describes how enemies will cross frozen lakes in pursuit of you, and so you’ll be able to 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 suffering from The Brine, the crimson tentacled mass which swallows up any residing factor.)
“There might be an enemy that steals your relics and runs away,” Kinoshita provides. “How do you discover the place it is gone? Nicely, comply with the footprints within the snow and possibly you will hint it again to its nest and discover the relics that it is stolen from you and extra moreover. At each completely different degree of encounter design, I needed the chilly theme to [provide] a degree of friction that is actually attention-grabbing for the participant to find after which strategize on methods to overcome.”
Unknown Treasures
By relics, Kinoshita doesn’t simply imply any outdated piece of apparatus you’ve discovered. Relics are a part of Darkish Arisen’s new loot system that sees you gather thriller spoils from throughout Norgan and convey them again to camp to be “appraised” by Jiera, the native sensible lady. When acquired, relics are listed in your stock with obscure descriptions – this one is a helm, this can be a mild weapon – and are completely ineffective to you. Throw Jiera a number of rift crystals, although, and he or she’ll reveal their true nature, turning them into gear you’ll be able to carry into battle. In comparison with the gear found within the base recreation, relics usually tend to have attention-grabbing properties that you could possibly construct a method round, reminiscent of substantial stat modifiers or talents.
One of many demo’s early quests paired me up with Freki, an enormous direwolf with a style for hare and a nostril for relics. Following your first scripted journey, you’ll be able to feed Freki meat everytime you wish to set off his hunt for buried relics – merely comply with him to amass new treasures.
This new system intrigues me as a result of it encourages a really 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 manner of building a compelling cycle of discover, gather, decipher, equip, repeat. The bait, in fact, is the potential for discovering that one piece of substances 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 higher weapons and armour.
Kinoshita agrees that this extra natural type of play is a spotlight for Darkish Arisen, past the standard framework of a fantasy RPG. “There are, in fact, quests. You may unlock them and comply with alongside the storyline,” he explains, “however as they relate to the relic system, they’re extra of a method to provide the participant a purpose to exit and discover completely different areas.”
If the relic system sounds acquainted however you’re not nicely acquainted with Future’s Grasp Rahool, then it could be since you’re a long-term Dragon’s Dogma fan who remembers the unique’s expanded re-release, additionally known as Darkish 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 techniques, in addition to the truth that each expansions are known as Darkish Arisen, isn’t any coincidence.
“We needed so as to add an identical relic exploration and appraisal cycle to Dragon’s Dogma 2,” confirms producer Naoto Oyama, “however this time we thought it was higher to give attention to a brand new broad space to construct upon the open recreation design that everybody loves a lot.” And so, somewhat than only a single dungeon, this new model of Darkish Arisen’s loot system takes place throughout a whole area.
It’s attention-grabbing that Capcom has elected to free the loot cycle from the confines of a single dungeon, however nonetheless preserve 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 choice is backed up by a transparent objective.
“With a view to preserve 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 Darkish Arisen’s biggest 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 powerful.
“They ramp up in problem as they go alongside,” says Kinoshita. “You may select how a lot you wish to do [Dark Arisen’s] two completely different contents in parallel. As an example, you would possibly discover a number of the earlier Misplaced Rites dungeons after which get to fairly a difficult one you are not fairly prepared for. You possibly can then go to Norgan and begin to discover relics as a approach to put together your self to complete the subsequent dungeon. And so there’s an interplay between these two completely different areas and components, although the precise relic drops and appraisal solely occur particularly in Norgan.”
Once I first realised what Darkish Arisen was doing with loot, I’ll admit to feeling considerably upset – I play RPGs for questing and story, and any form of grind cycle with randomised loot is often one thing that repels me. However I feel it is smart for Dragon’s Dogma 2, which thrives while you depart the well-trodden path behind and trek by the wilderness searching for your individual story. Whereas I hope the principle questline options extra advanced design than the fetch duties this demo supplied, all my finest reminiscences of the bottom recreation had 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 Darkish 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 realize and love with concepts outdated and new.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Govt Editor of Options.
