Dragon's Dogma 2 has received its first trailer at the 2023 PlayStation Showcase, and it's coming along much smoother than expected. Although no release window was announced, a variety of gameplay was shown for fans to analyze. It will probably take a while to Dragon's Dogma 2 to come out, and should receive visual upgrades and new features as time moves on, but it looks like it has the base competencies of the first Dragon's Dogma down.
That reflects expectations for Dragon's Dogma 2 fairly well. Dragon's Dogma was a very ambitious game with surprisingly deep systems, and even sported an impressive postgame and New Game Plus cycle. However, even after its expansion, the game was not what it was envisioned to be. Large swaths of Dragon's Dogma were cut, and among those were ideas that went even further beyond the grand fantasy scenarios that naturally occurred in-game. Dragon's Dogma 2 resembles what its predecessor was always meant to be, all without losing sight of the original's epic scale.
Dragon's Dogma 2's World Could Be Huge
Players don't have a full picture of the world yet, but it's apparent that Dragon's Dogma 2 will be big. The first game was already massive, and went as far as overhauling parts of its map after the initial main quest was done. It's hard to say whether Dragon's Dogma 2 will retread enough of the first game's story to do again, but it's a possibility. Dragon's Dogma 2's trailer also introduces cat folk comparable to The Elder Scrolls' Khajiit. Adding new races to the human-centric setting suggests that the Arisen will be visiting a lot more varied locales than the caves, forests, and ruins they once did.
Indeed, the first shot of the trailer suggests a scope exceeding the first game's. Someone, possibly the Arisen, is riding across a body of water on the back of a griffin. These winged beasts were already straightforward yet exciting fights in the original game, with ranged attacks or holding on for dear life necessary to stop a griffin from flying out of active combat. Now it seems possible for fights to ascend even higher into the air than before, and veteran players are no doubt wondering what kind of spectacle that means for Dragon's Dogma 2's inevitable Dragon fight. Combined with some massive towns, cities, and general structures, Dragon's Dogma 2 could be staggeringly huge.
Dragon's Dogma Combat Retains Its Mythical Feel
The combat is bound to match that feeling, given that it inherits all the cues that made Dragon's Dogma's fights so epic. Groups of weaker enemies and the player's Pawns once again form large scuffles, and foes crumple to giant sword swings and even larger magical blasts just like they used to. Dragon's Dogma was notable during the age of Skyrim and Dark Souls for making its magic look and feel world-shaping, and Dragon's Dogma 2 recaptures that. Apart from the expected Bolide meteor spell, mages can now bring light to the night, and seemingly also create temporary platforms.
There's bound to be more tricks in the player's arsenal, and they'll need it when going up against the massive bosses. Even more mythical monsters like gorgons and sphinxes join Dragon's Dogma 2's roster, and battles with them should still be the dynamic affairs this franchise is known for. Already, the trailer shows a Pawn tossing another Pawn up to a large enemy's face before the rest of the party rushes its legs, and a subsequent shot reveals a cyclops breaking one side of a bridge. Dragon's Dogma 2 is full of possibilities, and it looks like it could match and exceed the first game's own.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
