“Dragon's Dogma,” initially released in 2012 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, is still a favorite of many action role-playing gamers. But Capcom can also be quite satisfied in retrospect. If you include “Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen,” which was released a year later, both titles have now sold a combined total of 7.9 million copies. With “Dragon's Dogma 2” planned for March 22, 2024, the series will finally be continued – after almost twelve years. We were able to find out exactly what awaits you in the sequel at an almost 3-hour hands-on event in Munich.
The face-off round was divided into two blocks. It started in a tranquil town in the northwest of the gigantic game world. Together with our AI-controlled companions Klaus, Conan and Mally, we were able to explore the location set into a rocky slope at our leisure and, in the process, land various quests.
One involves crossing the border between Vermund, the human kingdom, and Battahl, the beast nation, and then continuing further south of the map. The problem: Although we already have an official permit from the pen of a certain Captain Brant, in practice this is only valid for someone from the race of cat-like beasts. If we show the border guard the document as a “mystical spear hand” – the name of our hybrid class from the hands-on version – there is no chance of getting through.
Which brings us to the first major gameplay strength of “Dragon’s Dogma 2”. The developers at Capcom have come up with different solutions for almost every major quest challenge. In this case, we could, for example, wait for the carriage that drives past at regular intervals, hide in it and in this way secretly cross the border. Alternatively, we can also visit Ibrahim's Scrap Store in the nearby town and purchase a beastren mask weighing approximately 0.8 kg for 8700 units of gold. Set up quickly, have a quick chat with the border officer and the challenge is over!
If we understood Capcom's PR manager correctly, there even seems to be a third solution, which has something to do with a poorly guarded scaffolding near the fortress wall. However, we didn't try this path due to time constraints.