A few years ago when Skyrim hit computer screens, everyone wanted to make an open-world fantasy game, with dragons, wizards and more. Dragon’s Dogma was Capcom’s effort, bringing in their signature fighting mechanics that they’ve been known for from Street Fighter and Devil May Cry. The game finally launched on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and was huge in Japan. And at last, three years later, we have the game repackaged and re-released for a Windows PC platform. What is it about? You are the hero of legends, the ‘Chosen One’, and you are made brutally aware of that fact by a massive dragon who has taken your heart. This makes you one of the Arisen and you have no choice but to go kick some dragon derriere and get your heart back. This journey takes you across leagues of land filled with large monsters and other forms of lurking evil. How does it play? Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen is a straight port of the Dark Arisen expansion plus the original game. So what you get is a large deep affair: an open-world game that’s large in scope because of the sheer amount of content that it packs in. Drill down to its core and you’ll find a true-blue serious role playing game (RPG) happily married to an action game. Once you have created your character from a bunch of classes complete with stats, you will be booted into the open world.
A game is as good as its fighting system, and Dragon’s Dogma has one of the most fluid ones out there. It’s a hack-and-slash game that’s a tonne of fun to play.
You have lots of menus to wade through; commands to give your party members and all that other RPG fun, which may seem bipolar, but it’s something action game buffs can get into while RPG fans have meaty customisations to bite into.
A typical battle would have you strike with timing at foes, unleashing special attacks from a set of moves. The game, however, throws up truly large monsters, which you can grab onto and then proceed to hack parts off. Extremely easy to get into and yet deep enough to keep you constantly engaged.
Aiding you are Pawns, Party Members that are essential to succeeding in combat; with enough smarts to not get in the way. The only downside is if the die, they’re gone for good. So if you plan on getting attached, you really need to take care of them. The biggest gripe with the game is that it looks dated. This port would have been at home being released in 2013 itself.
That said, the game plays really well on PC and the frame rates are high. Plus, the world itself is engaging, with lots to explore, loot to find and monsters to slay. Should you get the game? It’s worth the price if you have played the original and want to experience it again on a PC; or even if you’re new to the game and want an open-world game to sink your teeth into.
The author is a freelance tech, gaming and lifestyle writer
