Dragon's Dogma II: Dark Arisen Game Review

Far to the north of the lands of Vermund and Battahl lies the frozen wasteland of Norgan, an inhospitable kingdom that has long since been abandoned by the outside world. Your Arisen is summoned to Norgan when they receive word of another Arisen tied to an eldritch Fallen Dragon. Together with their Pawns and a host of new allies, the hero of Vermund must brave this world of ruin and uncover its most ancient and dangerous mysteries…

Far to the north of the lands of Vermund and Battahl lies the frozen wasteland of Norgan, an inhospitable kingdom that has long since been abandoned by the outside world. Your Arisen is summoned to Norgan when they receive word of another Arisen tied to an eldritch Fallen Dragon. Together with their Pawns and a host of new allies, the hero of Vermund must brave this world of ruin and uncover its most ancient and dangerous mysteries…

I really dug the long-awaited revival of the Dragon's Dogma franchise when it launched back in 2024. Its vast but excellently curated map was loaded with all sorts of secrets and epic battles to uncover, and adventuring across it was made thrilling thanks to the series' signature Pawn NPCs and Vocation class system. That said, I could understand what made the game divisive. There were intentional gameplay frictions that rubbed many players the wrong way on principle, such as the limited fast-travel system and the unpredictable nature of obstacles like the Dragonsplague that could turn any of your Pawn companions into walking time-bombs. Then there were the more objectively flawed elements, with the game's very inconsistent performance being chief among them, along with a relative lack of Vocation options and enemy variants to encounter, especially compared to the base game.

Well, it may have taken CAPCOM a full three years to reawaken this sleeping giant, but Dragon's Dogma II: Dark Arisen is here to bring the franchise roaring back yet again in a big, bad way. For starters, a pair of massive new patches have significantly fine-tuned the game's console performance, Pawn behaviors, Vocation options, and more, which has made the base title already feel significantly more polished and complete. What we're here to discuss is the expansion, which (somewhat confusingly) shares the same title as the expansion for the first Dragon's Dogma. Dark Arisen takes all of the recent improvements that have given Dragon's Dogma II its new lease on life and doubles down on all of them. This is the definitive version of a bona fide CAPCOM classic that absolutely deserves your attention.

Before we get to the new playground of Norgan, Dark Arisen offers fun new challenges for the Arisen to explore in their home turfs of Vermund and Battahl. Scattered all across the base game's map are around a dozen brand new dungeons called Lost Rites, which feature excellent loot and souped-up enemy encounters. Some of the Lost Rites are fairly basic gauntlets, while others pose lengthy and unique challenges tailored to specific limitations. One Lost Rite, for instance, demands that the Arisen only be accompanied by their Main Pawn, while another might ask that every member of the Arisen's Party enter with certain weapons or Vocations equipped. Not only do the Lost Rites make for a fun time in their own right, but they also give players the chance to earn valuable tools and currencies needed to make the most of their journey to the frigid wastes of Norgan.

It is once the Arisen finally makes their way up north that they can begin to feast on the true bounty that Dark Arisen has prepared for them. I already loved the world of the original Dragon's Dogma II, but I believe Norgan is the franchise's crowning achievement so far as map design is concerned. The frosty country makes for a hostile yet beautiful change of pace from Vermund's grasslands and Battahl's desert crags, and the sizeable map is absolutely stuffed with nooks, crannies, coves, and culverts to root around in whilst questing about for loot and glory. The sightlines of the hills and valleys you trek in Norgan are especially well-designed; I always found myself being rewarded for having the curiosity to veer off the main path and investigate the less-trod corners of the continent.

The much-improved game performance made this new adventure that much more thrilling and immersive. Just about the only presentational element I can complain about is what I perceived to be a worsening of the game's screen-tearing problem on my base PlayStation 5. It was an inconsistent issue, though, and I can't be sure how much of the fault lies with the game or with my television's lack of Variable Refresh Rate capabilities. Still, it is a minor issue compared to the massive FPS gains and the quality art direction of this new environment. While the story of the expansion is typical fare for Dragon's Dogma, which is to say it mostly exists to facilitate exciting battles and dungeon crawls, the atmosphere of the game has never been better.

I don't think the gameplay has ever been this compelling, either. While I was at first somewhat disappointed that we didn't have at least one new Vocation to sink our teeth into, director Hideaki Itsuno and his team have added so many new variables and options to the existing ten classes that it hardly matters. The biggest change to the experience of exploring Norgan comes from the new randomized loot system. All across the map, you will find piles of treasure and even various enemies that will drop weapons, armor, and tools of varying quality that must be appraised by the village elder in Norgan's base camp. After spending the requisite Rift Crystals, you will have a horde of new gear that may even come with special bonuses that modify specific Vocation Skills. While there's always the chance of getting burned by the fickle gods of random number generation, I cannot deny that the loot-goblin in my brain loves this new gameplay loop.

There are also Obelisks that you will discover as you explore Norgan, one for each of the main Vocations (minus the Warfarer). This is where you can use the currencies earned by completing those Lost Rites to unlock more new skills, buffs, and modifiers for your favorite Vocations. After putting dozens of hours into the main game, I was worried that I would get bored having to play through Dark Arisen with my mostly max-leveled roster of skills and augments, but the expansion gives players a whole host of meaty new systems to sink their teeth into as they kill hordes of new enemies and bosses.

While I could have done without some of the less necessary concessions to player gripes – did we really need another Eternal Ferrystone to make fast travel as brainless as it is in any other open-world game? – nearly everything that Dragon's Dogma II: Dark Arisen has to offer makes the already great base game into one of the generation's most exceptional action-RPGs. I know CAPCOM has been on an epoch-defining winning streak ever since Resident Evil 7 revitalized the whole company, but this might be one of the shiniest jewels to adorn their crown. If you missed out on Dragon's Dogma II the first time around, let this expansion be your perfect excuse to finally take up the mantle of the Arisen and leave your mark on a ruined world.