During combat, it’s still hard to gain control of our character.

At Gamescom, Capcom gave the press the opportunity to try out the ambitious expansion for the PlayStation 5 for a full hour. There was no presentation, which makes perfect sense in hindsight since it’s an expansion for a well-known game. The new content is set in the frozen Norgan Wastes, a region reminiscent of Skyrim located north of the temperate Vermund and desert-like Battahl regions available in the base game. In the demo, players find themselves in an isolated Norgan settlement plagued by monsters, harsh weather, and a mysterious rumbling emanating from the northern mountain fortress. A local Beastren family explains that they have guarded the region for generations, even though it is largely deserted and overrun by hostile Beorcans, a tribe of large, Viking-like human enemies who immediately attack and deploy wolves in battle.

During the tutorial, you had to travel to the abandoned settlement in the eastern part of the village to collect winter grass flowers. A local blacksmith named Hal uses these ingredients to make a painkiller, which makes him fit enough to forge or repair equipment for the team. It’s easy to get lost in the game, but the reliable NPCs, the Pawns, are there to prevent that from happening. Capcom equipped the party accordingly; a Beastren Pawn named Leo knew exactly which path to take to reach the mission’s objective. One criticism of the base game was that players had too few active abilities. The number has increased from four to six, which is undoubtedly a significant and welcome improvement. However, it took a little while to get used to the button combinations required to activate the abilities. During battles against the Beorcans, it becomes apparent that, while the combat style is heavier and slower than in other action RPGs, the game too often takes control away from the player for no apparent reason.

Defeating a yeti-like creature took more than seven minutes, mainly because, by the time I climbed onto it to reach its weak spots, my character lost all his stamina in a matter of seconds and had to scramble back down, gasping for breath. While drawn-out fights help make battles feel more epic, this takes it too far, especially with a roaming boss. The Pawns can liven up the atmosphere with their funny remarks and actions. Then, the first Relics slowly began to appear, described as spoils from ancient battles, which Jiera, the matron in the Norgandian settlement, can appraise. Weapons and armor obtained through the new Relic system provide better stats based on the rarity of the original Relic and can grant new abilities or enhance existing ones for the Arisen and their Pawns. This seems like a promising way to facilitate progression in Dragon’s Dogma II.

The highlight of the demo was the massive undead dragon on the cover of Dragon’s Dogma II: Dark Arisen. The dragon had a lot of health points (HP) and summoned various undead minions that harassed the player character’s party. At a predetermined moment, the dragon fully replenished its health, triggering a cutscene that introduced a new story character named Eir. Eir declared that the dragon was her responsibility alone, and with that, the demo concluded.

Dragon’s Dogma II: Dark Arisen is set to release on October 9 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC.

Source: WCCFTech