Highlights

  • Dragon's Dogma 2 and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom share a focus on emergent gameplay, narrative, exploration, and cooking mechanics.
  • While Dragon's Dogma 2's live-action cooking scenes may break immersion, Zelda's Tears of the Kingdom's cooking mechanic enhances player engagement.
  • Dragon's Dogma 2 takes an innovative approach with its live-action cooking scenes, but it doesn't align with the rest of the game's presentation.

The open-world genre is simultaneously more diverse than it ever has been, but also the most predictable. While games like Horizon: Forbidden West can give players a photo-realistic action-adventure experience that pits them against robot dinosaurs, Minecraft can offer a stylized sandbox world that lets the player create whatever they can set their mind to. But regardless of how different their gameplay loops or art styles are, there are a set of conventions that have made it into most modern-day open-world games, and Dragon's Dogma 2 and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are no different.

Though there are many differences between the two, Dragon's Dogma 2 and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are actually fairly similar, at least when it comes to their open-world design. Both games put a large focus on emergent gameplay and narrative, both games emphasize player-led exploration, and both games share plenty of conventional open-world features such as a cooking mechanic, though one game arguably does this better than the other.

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Dragon's Dogma 2's Pawn System is Up There with WB's Nemesis System

Dragon's Dogma 2 impressively managed to live up to its pre-launch hype thanks to some innovative mechanics, none more so than its pawn system.

Zelda's Open-World Cooking Is More Fitting Than Dragon's Dogma 2's

Dragon's Dogma 2's Cooking Mechanic Breaks Immersion

Dragon's Dogma 2 is filled with features and mechanics that have inspired some pretty big reactions online, from its infamous Dragonsplague disease that causes Pawns to go insane and destroy entire villages and towns, to its unwillingness to let players fast travel around the world too easily. While it may not have spurred as much of a conversation as those features, Dragon's Dogma 2's cooking mechanic still sparked an interesting reaction upon launch, and it was all down to the mechanic's presentation.

When resting at a campfire in Dragon's Dogma 2, players can choose to cook some meat on the fire. This presents players with an in-game cinematic that shows a live-action piece of meat being cooked in a pan, with real flames surrounding it. Initially, players might find this cutscene quite impressive, and even quite calming, with the soft lighting and sounds of the flames flickering being quite pleasant. This quick cutscene might also be a highlight for foodies, with the meat being presented on-screen in quite an appetizing way.

However, Dragon's Dogma 2's cooking cutscene loses its luster quite quickly. The live-action sequence might look impressive, but it's incredibly jarring to experience, with Dragon's Dogma 2's in-game graphics looking drastically different from the live-action cutscene. This can break Dragon's Dogma 2's immersion immediately, and that's a bit disappointing for a game that usually puts its immersion front and center.

On top of frequently breaking the game's immersion, Dragon's Dogma 2's live-action cooking cutscene is also a bit of an issue for those who have an aversion to eating meat. While many non-meat-eaters don't find an issue in cooking meat when it's in a highly-stylized game, Dragon's Dogma 2's live-action cooking sequence is likely a step too far for some, though thankfully the scene can be skipped quite quickly.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's Cooking Mechanic Fits The Game Perfectly

While Dragon's Dogma 2's cooking mechanic can cause a disappointing break in immersion, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's cooking mechanic only serves to envelop players into its world even more. Using just its in-game graphics, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's cooking sequence sees players throw a handful of ingredients into a pot, and watch as they playfully dance around one another before vanishing in a puff of smoke, and giving players a unique dish.

Much like many moments in Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, it's the game's sound design that really seals the deal during this cooking sequence. While the ingredients hop around the pot, players can hear a now-iconic series of light metallic clashes, eventually resulting in a little musical sting once the food is finished. Just like completing a puzzle or unlocking a chest, Tears of the Kingdom's music makes cooking feel rewarding, and it's all done using just the game's graphics.