2024-03-21 08:16:21
“Dragon’s Dogma 2” promises an action-packed RPG experience that will keep fans of the genre on the edge of their seats. Can Capcom’s sequel to the cult game live up to high expectations?
Do you like dragons, knights, magicians, elves, fireballs and epic battles, with everything that goes with a real fantasy adventure? Then that’s a very good basis for the action role-playing game “Dragon’s Dogma 2”.
Twelve years after the first film, developer Capcom once again takes us into a harsh world full of monstrous opponents and epic battles that a hero can only survive with the right friends. We have tested the game in advance and will tell you why you shouldn’t miss this feel-good role-playing game.
Story: Every beginning is difficult
Getting started with this action role-playing game is by no means promising right from the start. After creating your own character, the hero ends up in an initially quite crude, even forbidding environment – a fantasy land called Vermund.
“Dragon’s Dogma 2” is not love at first sight as you set out to prove to the world that you are indeed the chosen one, referred to here as the “Awakened One”. And who in the end is supposed to slay the dragon that threatens the foundations of civilization. The fact that the beginning of the game seems a bit distant and visually less convincing is also due to the starting environment, a dark dungeon. Everything seems dark and lacking in details.
Graphics: Atmospheric, but not extraordinary
Luckily, that changes quite quickly when the large areas full of green forests and rugged coastlines or old battlefields are explored. “Dragon’s Dogma 2” is certainly not a graphical miracle, but the landscapes are beautiful to look at and atmospherically staged.
This optic shows its strength especially at night, because it is really pitch black in the wilderness without any ambient light. Then only brought lanterns, torches, ghosts floating around or the remarkable effects of battle magic and burning swords illuminate the surroundings: an atmospheric and appropriate ambience.
The performance on the PlayStation 5 mostly remains in the acceptable range of a very smooth 30 frames per second, with a few fluctuations up and down. On the PC you need at least a GeForce GTX 1070 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card with 8 GB VRAM to be able to play the game in Full HD resolution.
Gameplay: 1,2,3 – I wish for a vassal!
Before the big finale comes after dozens of eventful hours of play, the player has to choose one of four classic fantasy careers: fighter, magician, archer or thief. However, this choice is not binding; later in the game it is easily possible to change professions and try out all play styles.
During the dangerous journey through the large, open world, one aspect is of central importance to the gameplay: the vassal system. Players don’t plunge into battles alone against goblins, cyclops, minotaurs, dragons and other mythical creatures. They always have at least one, but ideally three, computer-controlled allies at their side – the vassals.
The player chooses the main vassal right at the start of the game; the other two companions can be recruited at any time. While the main companion always remains firmly at the side and returns to our hero when he dies on screen, the others are essentially interchangeable mercenaries who neither gain levels nor are emotionally tied to the “master”. If they die and are not nurtured in time, they are lost and must be replaced.