Dragon’s Dogma 2 review: A walk on the wild side

The parallels with Bethesda’s epic Skyrim remain strong for this follow-up – a sprawling medieval world beset by dragons, teeming with quests and primed for emergent gameplay. It’s clear too that Capcom has learned somewhat from the shortcomings of the original – and that perhaps the technology powering its open world has finally caught up with the developers’ ambition.

The plot won’t many awards for originality – a chosen hero named the Arisen must overcome scepticism, vanquish a monstrous dragon and unite warring lands. Or something. Honestly, it’s best not to sweat the big picture because the characterisation and performances in the cut-scenes resemble outtakes from a Monty Python movie – all over-emphasised or underplayed arbitrarily.

No matter, because while the narrative of the main quest unfolds limply, you’ll be having far too much craic just getting into chaotic random scraps with ogres, goblins and all manner of other beasts.

Capcom draws from the template of countless other open-world games – towns with merchants, meandering roads that tempt you with side-paths promising intrigue, and a class system that lets you be a warrior, a mage, an archer, and more.

But Dragon’s Dogma 2 applies its own stamp in several ways. Chief among them is the returning system of companions known as Pawns – granting you one permanent posse member and two other slots to temporarily hire pals of disparate powers. The Pawns perform a lot of grunt work for you – bopping enemies, opening chests and warning of danger. They’re a little too chatty for my liking but though you have little direct control over them, they generally acquit themselves well in battle. The variability of these companions gives you wide scope for experimentation.

Likewise, your own character’s build offers granular control as the game rolls on, letting you swap easily between ranged and melee options, for instance.

Capcom’s most contentious decision forces you to walk everywhere. Even running leaves you out of breath after a few seconds. There’s a very limited fast-travel system, no mounts and a lot of ground to cover. Complete a quest miles from home and you face a lengthy schlep to collect your reward. Hence, the developers’ decision to render that journey potentially hazardous yet interesting, making you earn that reward twice over.

It doesn’t hurt that the game world has beauty to spare, from the rolling hills to the intricate back alleys of the settlements. Most of all, you will remember the emergent encounters, especially the ones that spiral out of control as the game’s systems conspire to throw multiple enemies in your face at once. That 10-metre-tall cyclops might look like manageable fodder between the three of you but what if a pack of goblins wanders onto the scene and they end up as missiles hurled in your direction by the big guy?

Such frantic brawls are the fuel that keeps the fire lit under Dragon’s Dogma 2. You won’t enjoy the sometimes risible dialogue, nor the punishing and at times unfair randomness that can punctuate your trekking, leaving you a long way from safety without companions. In the end, though, it is that tension between chaos and cruelty that makes the game frequently compelling.