Dragon’s Dogma

The current generation of console gaming has seen a lot of criticism being directed Capcom’s way thanks to an acute case of sequelitis; not to mention its newfound dependence on third-tier western studios to create said sequels. There just wasn’t enough quality original content coming out their Japanese development dens, which were once the toast of the videogaming world churning out mega-IPs that shaped the industry.

Take that...

But Capcom, quite evidently, isn’t one to ignore its detractors. Dragon’s Dogma is their second new IP this year (the other being Asura’s Wrath), and it’s also the more ambitious of the two – and that’s saying something given how mental Asura’s Wrath was. Helmed by a super-group of Capcom staff who’ve worked on the likes of Devil May Cry, Resident Evil and Killer7 and led by experienced hands such as Hideaki Itsuno and Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Dragon’s Dogma was clearly a project that received a huge internal push.

You are the Arisen, a commoner whose chance encounter with a dragon ended with the beast stealing your heart and yet leaving you somehow alive (in a manner of speaking) to tell the tale and seek revenge. There’s a lovely prologue that introduces you to the basics of combat and a smattering of lovely pre-rendered cutscenes sprinkled throughout the 60+ hours you’ll be playing the game. But Dragon’s Dogma’s story is unfortunately its weakest feature. It’s standard fantasy fare, which honestly wouldn’t have been bad in itself if the characters had been emoted and voiced better. You’ll have to work to invest yourself in the goings-on, but it’s to the games credit that the story doesn’t detract from the overall gameplay experience.

A game that’s bigger than anything Capcom has ever attempted before, Dragon’s Dogma straddles multiple genres. Under the overarching umbrella of a sprawling action-RPG, it also mixes in elements of classic Hack-and-Slash and Survival Horror to create an experience that’s quite unique and refreshing. The world of Gransys in which the game is set pushes Capcom’s MT Framework engine to the absolute limit, reducing it to bouts of unsightly rendering hiccups, clipping, and pop-up issues thanks to the breadth and scale of both its inhabitants and its geography.

As sizable as the world is, there’s always something new to see thanks to randomly generated boss battles and enemy skirmishes. You’ll never really know when these epic moments will show themselves so you (and your party of three) will have to be on your toes, well stocked up and equipped for the surprise cave troll or Cyclops encounter. A well-deserved pat on the back to Capcom for making the world as filled with colour and spectacular vistas as it is. Even the prerequisite RPG dungeons are well laid out and aren’t a chore to play through.

Lemme at 'em...

There’s also a lovely day-night cycle at play, with nightfall adding more than a cosmetic wrinkle to proceedings. You’ll want to make sure you’re well leveled up and kitted before you venture out in the dark thanks to all the more-powerful-than-usual enemies that are out in force. There are lanterns and such that’ll brighten things up a bit, but dusk is generally when you want to head into town or set up camp in a safe spot with plenty of fires lit around you.

A lot of the variety also comes from varying not just your characters class and vocation, but also from doing the same for your primary pawn and picking the right secondary pawns to travel with you – pawns being hirable emotionless humanoids from the rift dimension that are at your beck and call. The game also lets you edit your own physical characteristics as well as those of your primary pawn. While Dragon’s Dogma lacks traditional multiplayer, the pawn system lets you hire pawns created by other players for a fee.