Dragon's Dogma 2 Review

The sequel refuses to modernize, and mostly that is the point. There is no fast travel worth the name, so a journey across the map is a real expedition with an oxcart, an ambush and a decision about whether nightfall is survivable. Pawns are dramatically smarter, offering directions, remembering routes and occasionally being insufferable about it. The combat keeps everything that made climbing a monster feel like a physical problem and adds enough new vocations to justify a second playthrough.

The frustrations are equally intact. The story is a rerun of the first game's structure with a stronger opening and a weaker middle, the main quest resolves into an ending most players will need a guide to reach properly, and the writing outside the set pieces stays flat. Capcom shipped it CPU bound, with towns dropping into the twenties on strong hardware, and put paid items on the storefront on day one, which soured the launch conversation entirely.