Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen review

Word around Vernworth tells of a second Arisen appearing far, far to the north in the forgotten country of Norgan. This frigid land lies northwest of Vermund, past a treacherous series of mountains. Nevertheless, the Queen Regent is sending a contingent of soldiers to brave the frigid province, find this Arisen, and bring them back for questioning. In the parlance of the pretender to the throne, this of course means summary execution, and so the true Arisen sets off to make their counterpart’s acquaintance first. 

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an incredible game, providing not only an immersive action RPG experience but also a fascinating and introspective meta narrative layered on top. After the departure of the game’s director, Hideaki Itsuno, for whom the game was a passion project, I was initially skeptical when the Dark Arisen expansion was announced for the game. I’m happy to play more Dragon’s Dogma, but Capcom was also set on changing certain aspects of the game that, in my opinion, felt core to Itsuno’s vision. I don’t subscribe to auteur theory, but what I consider the Dragon’s Dogma experience requires a certain level of friction. My fears weren’t exactly assuaged after playing through the DLC, but I still had a fantastic time with it. Dark Arisen just feels a little closer to Skyrim than Dragon’s Dogma, and it’s not because of the snow. 

Dragon’s Dogma 2 review — Pawns, Arisen, and a journey into Free

Jack: As a kid, video games felt infinite. I didn’t know how they were made and I didn’t have access to the internet to find out. This lack of information created a wonderful illusion: I could finish a game and generally know what was in it, but I

GAMINGTRENDJack Zustiak

Dark Arisen is actually split into two distinct parts: Forsaken Dominion, which is your adventures in Norgan, and Lost Rights, encompassing the  several new dungeons in Vermund. The first comes with a recommended starting level of 40, while the second is much more lenient at 20. On PC, I went into Norgan first with a New Game + character in the late 50s, and the game still posed a decent challenge. Enemies here also seem to scale to your level, so about 10 hours into just this part of Dark Arisen, I was well into the 110s and 140s by the end, so any insane people who grinded to the level cap of 999 shouldn’t have to worry.

The DLC starts out tough, as you’re expected to quickly find and equip gear found through the new Relics. You’ll find Relics everywhere in Norgan, but most commonly on defeated enemies like the Beorcan. Relics come in classes and tiers, like a Level 3 rarity Bowstaff, and need to be identified before you can make use of them. This is done at Norgan’s sole remaining village, which houses a single family whom you’ll be getting to know over the course of the DLC. While you are here to find this mysterious Arisen, you’ll be coming back to the village almost constantly for side quests (which, just like the base game, will aid in your completion of the expansion’s main quest at certain points) and to have your Relics appraised.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen would be the best Switch 2 port if not for one fatal flaw

And when I say fatal I mean FATAL

GAMINGTRENDDavid Flynn

There’s a big focus on loot here, in both halves of the expansion. Lost Rights is essentially all about getting you some good early-to-mid game gear, while Forsaken Dominion has the strongest stuff in the game by far. I didn’t have much use for what I found in Lost Rights on my NG+ Character, but starting from scratch on Switch 2 it’s been very useful. Collecting tons and tons of relics, then having them all appraised at once is enjoyable, and when combined with the tailoring system to change the appearance of Norgan gear, unlocked right before the end of the expansion via a side quest, you can finally create some cool outfits. Tailoring is a bit more restrictive than I’d like; you can’t change the appearance of your cape, and some appearances are missing in other categories, but it’s better than nothing. 

Norgan is a fun, dangerous region to explore, featuring some new enemies as well as requiring you to contend with the weather. Some Norgan gear comes with Thermal bonuses, allowing you to resist frigid blizzards and storms, which can reduce your maximum stamina. Pawns won’t be able to guide you during a whiteout; your minimap gets frosted over, and your world map becomes inaccurate, which creates a fun survivalist aspect. There were several times when appraised relics had some great stats but no Thermal protection, forcing me to choose between stats or blizzard protection. If you have a steady supply of Heat Stones to make your party immune to weather for a short time, it may be worth choosing the better stats. You’ll also need to consider what special abilities weapons and gear come with, as some can even greatly augment your weapon skills, especially if you’re playing as the Warfarer vocation with access to all gear and multiple weapons at once. 

Dark Arisen is great to play, but the story leaves a lot to be desired. As I said earlier, this is where it feels less like Dragon’s Dogma and more like Skyrim, with the story here haphazardly using the meta aspects to create a plot that, while interesting, does diminish the impact of the base game’s twists and finale. The Pathfinder pointlessly appears in both Forsaken Dominion and Lost Rights to guide you when that’s really not his role anywhere else in the game. Simply installing the DLC will change the title screen to the Dark Arisen logo, which will ruin one of the base game’s coolest twists for new players. The overall plot just feels like it goes against the rest of the game’s core message and ideas. 

The expansion also falls into the trap of throwing you into combat after short stretches of dialogue just to make sure you don’t get bored. This game’s rated M, I don’t think you need to babysit my attention span like I’m a child, Capcom. Just let the characters talk or allow narrative moments to breathe for a bit. The expansion overall feels like it’s meant to pave over the interesting friction that made me love the base game. Fast travel crystals are plentiful in Norgan, and the update added an Eternal Ferrystone to make travel between them free too - the DLC is designed around fast travel in multiple ways. You’re constantly being showered in Wakestones to revive you upon death (I had 14 in my inventory by the end, not including those I put in storage), and you even get an Eternal Wakestone which… I actually have no clue what it does, as using it just says “It would be a waste to use here”. It’s not like any and all difficulty has been stripped out of the game; Norgan levels alongside you, so it’s constantly posing a challenge, but the interesting parts of that difficulty are essentially gone. You don’t need to explore much when you can just fast travel everywhere, and you’ll never lose progress because, well, you’ll never actually die. It’s like they reworked the game so people can say it’s hard without ever actually inconveniencing or challenging the player in any substantial way. I definitely had a good time with Dark Arisen, but I wasn’t challenged, neither in play nor artistically.