REVIEW: ‘Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen’ Is A Fun And Epic Saga

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen is the new expansion of Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma 2, adding plenty of new content, enhancements, and an epic narrative that sends players on a new adventure filled with thrills, new foes, and challenges in a brand-new region. The expansion’s narrative and missions are incredibly engaging from start to finish, even when the base game’s issues sometimes negatively impact the experience.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen begins as Captain Brant informs the Arisen that rumors say a second Arisen has mysteriously surfaced. He reveals that the new Arisen is rumored to be in Norgan, a long-abandoned, frigid region of the continent, and implores the Arisen to investigate. Upon arrival, they encounter several new enemies, including the aggressive Beorcans, and reach the final Norgadian settlement, which leads them to a cave where they encounter a mysterious immortal dragon.

After barely surviving the encounter, the Arisen meets the mysterious woman rumored to be the second Arisen, but they are separated shortly after. The Arisen then seeks out the Sphinx for information on how to kill the dragon and uncover the mystery behind the second Arisen. She then gives them three riddles to solve, which demand that they go on several quests before she can answer their questions.

The latest expansion offers a new chance at an epic adventure.

Dark Arisen‘s narrative starts off interestingly, presenting new mysteries for players to engage with. The Arisen has an omen of an eclipse bringing the rise of mysterious monsters and, in turn, an apocalyptic event. Soon after, they learn of a new Arisen and then encounter a mysterious immortal dragon with the ability to spawn these creatures. Things start to tie together, and the interesting mysteries start to unravel naturally as players progress through the narrative without the need for lengthy exposition.

The new Arisen is likely linked to the rise of the new dragon, and the dragon itself will be responsible for the apocalyptic event if it isn’t stopped. Finding answers as players progress the narrative is immensely rewarding, especially because almost every event in the expansion is epic and engaging.

Players fly into Norgan on the back of a griffin, immediately fight off an invading horde of Viking-themed enemies called the Beorcans upon arriving, fight an immortal dragon, explore deep, intricate dungeons, kill a frost troll, solve a Sphinx’s puzzles, and more. The new expansion is almost more engaging than the base game because players get to experience so many epic, high-quality events and encounters in such a short time.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen engages players with new enemies and obstacles.

This makes the expansion worth it on its own for how immensely entertaining it is. However, despite how engaging it is, like the base game, the narrative development is also few and far between. While many events unfold, the actual narrative mysteries, like the dragon’s origins and who this Arisen is, aren’t answered for quite some time, and players will have to wait a long time for events to fully resolve.

Beyond epic events, Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen offers new and returning players several additions, most of which are positive to the game. New enemies include Beorcans, wolves, trolls, and zombies. While they’re all inoffensive, only the Beorcans and mini-bosses are fun to fight, as the others are quite dull.

The expansion also adds a new blizzard mechanic called Whiteouts, where various areas of the frigid new region are fully encased in wild, windy snow. To travel through them without being debuffed, players will need to dress appropriately or use the new Heatstone item, which can be crafted, to warm up.

Don’t rely too much on the mini maps while traversing the new area.

Additionally, players won’t be able to see their mini map or know where they’re going, as visibility is low, and they will have to rely on the Eye of the Sphinx item to navigate to the quest location. While the addition is highly immersive and fits the theme of the new region, it doesn’t address the game’s already massive traversal issue.

Traversing and navigating areas is still one of the most miserable aspects of Dragon’s Dogma 2. A major example is trying to find the dungeon area that starts the Lost Rites quest, which unlocks several dungeon challenges in the expansion.

This alone took several hours. This was simply because the map marked it vaguely in an area with a dungeon entrance that looked like where you needed to go. However, players who think that would be wrong, as it’s actually much farther away but still close enough to justify the quest marker’s location.

The challenge presented by new dungeons will vary.

To find the area, players will need to go through a very hidden part of the woods in the area that leads to a monster den that then leads to the dungeon that’s actually the right dungeon you’re supposed to go to. Moments like this make the game incredibly tedious at times, and their frequency, even in the expansion, is highly disappointing.

That said, the new dungeons are engaging because they offer a real challenge, especially if you aren’t over-leveled. However, the dungeons become child’s play if you play through the expansion’s narrative beforehand or if you’re above level 40.

Other than that, the expansion adds several new items players will find useful. This includes new armor and outfits that look great, fit the new region, and have strong stats that are useful against the new high-level threats.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen is a worthwhile expansion even with the minor issues.

Another major addition is the relic system, where players find several ancient weapons and armor pieces that need to be appraised by an NPC to be usable. The system is incredibly rewarding, as finding them is usually random and doesn’t guarantee items for your current Vocation, but when you do, they’re rarely underwhelming and are usually useful for your character or their Pawn.

Lastly, Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen introduces several new side quests, most of which are unfortunately underwhelming, especially compared to the fantastic main quests, as they can be boiled down to being petty fetch quests seen in most RPGs.

Overall, Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen is a fantastic new expansion that improves the base game in many ways. While some of the base game’s worst parts impact the overall experience, the negatives aren’t enough to overshadow its amazing elements.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen will launch on October 9 for PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S.