I’m slowly getting hyped for Dragon’s Dogma II

Give a dogma bone, he’ll kill a troll

Last year, during the Not-E3 season, Capcom revealed that Dragon’s Dogma II was in the works. One year later the company took time during a couple of recent showcases to give a deeper update for the game. And boy, is it lookin’ good.

I’m not the biggest Dragon’s Dogma fan — I’ve owned the original on Xbox 360 and Dark Arisen on Switch, and I’ve watch the anime (in the background while I work). It’s fine! It’s a fine IP. It has dragons, and I like Game of Thrones.

I wasn’t super excited for the announcement of a sequel, having already had a billion RPGs on my backlog, but the more I looked the more I realized that a more classic, medieval-based RPG wasn’t really on that list. It’s all sci-fi and cyberpunk lately. So, when the first teaser dropped a couple of weeks ago at Sony’s PlayStation Showcase, I suddenly felt a tingle.

It looked great, visually and thematically. The Pawns are back, the world looks huge, and the combat looks solid and easy to get into, something that I feel modern RPGs absolutely must have. The game is being developed by the extremely versatile RE Engine, the backend that powers some of the most impressive visuals across platforms, so the bar is pretty high.

With more footage debuting during another showcase last week, the game looks like it might deliver over that bar. (Footage at the 1:04 mark)

The new AI-powered Pawns will guide players and “learn” from their experiences, which is especially important on a map that’s 4 times bigger than the original’s world. YUGE. That aspect of NPC/partner engagement is what really screams “NEXT GEN TECH” no matter how nice the visual fidelity is. It’s a much needed update on the ideas of companions in video games, and one that could really change how we interact in game worlds.

Anyhoo, I’m juuuuust about ready to sign myself up. It may finally have gotten to me. Dragon’s Dogma II arrives on Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, and PC at an undetermined date. Check out the videos above and the images below and you may get hyped too.