Dragon’s Dogma 2, the highly-anticipated sequel, just got a lot of new footage (some of it captured in 4K) from Tokyo Game Show 2023, where the game was playable for the first time.
Based on the first impressions, it’s clear that Capcom has largely focused on improving the key features of the original installment. To justify the statement, one of the “nostalgic” aspects of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the inclusion of the original “Pawns”, who are now revamped in a way to “contribute’ a lot more than ever, including helping to navigate throughout your journey and talking a lot more to the player character.
The preview revealed by Capcom included four different classes, starting with the Fighter. As the name suggests, the Fighter is equipped with a one-handed sword and shield and can block enemy attacks. The Archer, on the other hand, features an optional “third-person shooter-like aiming system” that has long-range attacks. The Mage has several spells with different tiers and incantations, though summoning the powerful magic requires more time than the other classes’ fast-paced attacks. Finally, the Thief is targeted towards “fast-paced” attacks with daggers and can even climb on monsters.
Capcom does have great ambitions towards the title, and in an interview with VGC, Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, Capcom’s producer, says that the IP is “valuable” to them. The famous director Hideaki Itsuno has expressed the fact that Capcom has addressed the “shortcomings” that they felt with the original title, mainly due to hardware limitations or time (the original Dragon’s Dogma was released back in 2012 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360).
We mostly just wanted to take things that we couldn’t achieve in Dragon’s Dogma at the time it came out, whether it be from just lack of time or pushing the limits of the hardware that was around at the time. So the main inspiration was sort of ourselves, and finally being able to achieve what we wanted on this current console generation.
One of the things that a lot of players said about the original game was that they often heard the same thing from the pawns. That was a bit of a technical limitation at the time in how much we were able to include for pawn dialogue.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 looks like a complete package, retaining the “nostalgic” vibes and implementing advancements in combat and the trademark Pawn system. Several admirers of the IP have been waiting for the sequel for a long time (the sequel was announced on the 10th anniversary of the first game), but Capcom has yet to specify a release date, though we’d wager it’ll be sometime next year. The title will be available on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
