Dragon’s Dogma 2 is one of the most ambitious games to launch this year. While a wealth of technical problems held back that ambition when it was released, the experience is vastly improved on the PlayStation 5 Pro from Digital Trends’ testing. As such, I highly recommend that PS5 Pro owners looking for games that take advantage of their new hardware pick up Dragon’s Dogma 2 this Cyber Monday. While it typically retails at $70, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is discounted to $46 on Amazon for Cyber Week.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is lighter on narrative than most other RPGs as it follows an Arisen on their quest to ultimately defeat a dragon that took their heart but did not kill them. Capcom took that approach because the true value of Dragon’s Dogma 2 comes from all of the emergent moments that arise during its quest. This is a tough game, but its combat systems also feature a lot of eccentricities that make every battle feel different.
You might encounter a giant troll while walking through a forest for a quest and get the bridge you need to cross destroyed while fighting it. Then, your main goal in that fight might become knocking the troll over that ravine so you can walk across it or flee to find another path to your destination and not get completely wiped out. Essentially, the most memorable moments of your adventure will come through emergent gameplay, not necessarily the questline Capcom is presenting to you itself.
This approach to RPG design captivated me as I constantly wondered what would happen next. Unfortunately, Dragon’s Dogma 2 did seem to buckle under the technical constraints that such an ambitious game requires. Its frame rate performance across all platforms, including PC, was dreadful at launch, and even then, the resolution quality would frequently look blurry. While some prior post-launch updates made Dragon’s Dogma 2 run and look better, a recent update introducing PS5 Pro support vastly improves the experience with more detail throughout and a new “Balanced” graphics quality option.
If you want to play Dragon’s Dogma 2 on a console, PS5 Pro is the best way to play it. Currently, the PS5 Pro lacks a killer app. While Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a third-party game that is still not running at the highest resolution or frame rate levels possible on PS5, its clear improvements when played on the platform make it one of the best uses for Sony’s latest console hardware.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
