Highlights

  • Dragon's Dogma 2's challenging save system forces players to accept consequences, adding depth to the experience.
  • Players must utilize specific in-game methods to save, as autosave may override other saves, leading to irreversible outcomes.
  • While controversial, the save system in Dragon's Dogma 2 is essential for maintaining the game's challenging and unforgiving nature.

Dragon's Dogma is known for its challenging monster battles, especially when it comes to the franchise's larger monsters, like Griffins and Dragons. Dragon's Dogma 2 brings many of the first game's monsters back into the fray, along with plenty of new foes for players to face. However, despite the threat that these monsters pose, both to the world and to the player's party, they are hardly the true threat when considering what is constantly going on behind the scenes in Dragon's Dogma 2 — specifically, the now infamous save system that has polarized players since the game's launch.

Dragon's Dogma 2's save system is very unforgiving, so much so that the threats posed by the world outside a city's walls are hardly threats at all in comparison. Whereas most games allow players to depend on their saves to prevent bad things from happening to them, Dragon's Dogma 2 doesn't allow its players that level of control. Instead, it prefers to let players experience and live with the full consequences of their actions. This feature has divided players since the release of Dragon's Dogma 2, with save scummers and role-playing enthusiasts debating whether it is a necessary part of the game.

Elden Ring Dragon's Dogma 2 open world mashup
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How Dragon's Dogma 2's Save System Works

Players have a couple of different methods available to save their game in Dragon's Dogma 2, and both methods are essentially saved in separate files. The most dependable method for saving a game is by resting at an Inn or a house the player has purchased. Players then have the option to "Load from Last Inn Rest" from there, which will take them back to the moment their party wakes up after resting at an Inn. However, the reason this is referred to as the "most dependable" method is because the other option is far from it.

The other, far less dependable method involves simply saving from the system screen in the game's menu. The reason this method is unreliable is because the game's autosave function will save over it, and since the autosave function is always in operation behind the scenes, any saves done via the system screen are frequently made useless.

As a result, players may save their game before a big battle or important quest in hopes that any potential failure might be reversed later on only to find that the game autosaved at the least opportune moment, leaving them with little choice but to accept the consequences and move on.

Dragon's Dogma 2's Dragonsplague unfortunately takes advantage of the game's save system, as once a Pawn becomes infected, that Pawn will eventually transform into a dragon after a player rests at an Inn and wipes out entire cities. Because the game saves upon the player resting at an Inn, any damage done then becomes permanent and irreversible. However, despite the unfortunate circumstances that Dragon's Dogma 2's save system can trap players in, it is a necessary evil and a pivotal part of what makes Dragon's Dogma 2 the experience that it is.

Dragon's Dogma 2's Save System Is a Necessary Evil

At the end of the day, Dragon's Dogma 2 simply wants its players to accept the consequences of their actions. Saving before an anticipated unfortunate event, otherwise known as "save scumming," has become an all-too-common practice among gamers that transforms what should be a legitimate role-playing experience into an experience where the player has arguably too much control. Dragon's Dogma 2's save system is not only part of the game's challenge, but it also encourages multiple playthroughs, as players may want to make different choices during subsequent runs to see how things play out.

Dragon's Dogma 2's save system may be its players' worst enemy, but it is an essential part of the game's DNA. What is meant to be a challenging and unforgiving experience should remain that way, and Dragon's Dogma 2's save system reinforces those characteristics.