Survival horror games wish they could give me the same level of "edge of my seat tension to jumping out of my seat release" as I experienced waiting for the title screen of Dragon's Dogma 2 to say "Dragon's Dogma 2".

Dragon's Dogma 2 is a game I have a metric fuckton to say about, to the point that I kind of hate having to open by discussing its rocky launch. Capcom's unfortunate habit of higher-ups forcing their devs to add microtransactions into a game, that are seemingly intentionally made as useless as possible to counteract this, is nothing new. The fact there was active misinformation about their nature, owing both to Dragon's Dogma being far more niche than an RE, MH or DMC, and people not fact checking, was. The golden rule applies as ever; if you think you need to spend real money on a port crystal, Rift crystals or jail key, don't. Everything is readily available in game, you'll be fine. They even turned the ox cart you escort early in the original into a fast travel point between towns, so not only do you have options, you can choose to watch the world roll by as you go, or, possible monster interference notwithstanding, doze off and arrive in mere moments. Isn't that grand?

Aside from that, the PC version was also a hot mess, which is a lot harder an issue to shrug off. DD2 is a pretty huge game, far more so than the modern REs or DMC5, all of which were running on the same engine and providing stellar experiences on PC. Monster Hunter is the closest comparison, and I think both World and Rise's PC ports went through similar states of needing to be fixed up, but one was a PS4 and Xbox One title, and the other launched on the Switch. DD2 leads the charge as, to my recollection, Capcom's first strictly 9th gen title, with a huge, interconnected world with nary a load screen in sight while venturing on foot, and it runs at 30FPS on consoles with the odd dips. Definitely surprising, given it's directed by a man known for prioritising 60FPS gameplay with the most popular titles he's helmed, but it was never too egregious from my experiences.

But hey, from what I heard, it ran like absolute piss on PC at launch, so maybe it was a callback to how DD1 ran on PS360 at launch? No idea what the technical stuff under the hood is like, nor the state of the PC release at time of writing, but if push comes to shove, it might do you good to hold off until some further patches, or a discount, if that's your only option. Denuvo and some pretty absurd spec requirements probably aren't helping, either. What a damn shame, since Dark Arisen's PC port played a huge factor in a ton of eyes being put on the game over the years.

But getting away from what transpired around launch, what is Dragon's Dogma 2? It's Dragon's Dogma with a fucking budget. The original game was woefully incomplete, roughly 50 to 60% of its planned content just straight up missing. Plot points get picked up and dropped off, the game's finale is massively padded, we never got to go to the moon. There was always that want, from myself, and people playing at launch in 2012, to see what the game could've been like if given a full budget and dev time. Rather than take the approach of a DMC5 to the original's DMC4, however, DD2 feels more like Itsuno getting a mulligan. As such, a lot of similar structural beats will feel pretty familiar to returning players, complete with a lot of story relegated to the oodles of side quests, and spoiler alert, the moon still remains out of our grasp. Can you imagine how sick it would've been to bring the RE Engine's abbreviation (REach for the moon) full circle like that? For shame.

Don't take me likening DD2 to a mulligan as a negative, mind. Warts and all, DD1 is one of the best games I've ever played, and I'll talk more on that swiftly. But I'll openly admit, there were parts of me that were left ever so slightly wanting. Wanting those vocations from the now dead DD Online, or the beastmaster vocation we all thought V from Devil May Cry 5 was a testing ground for. Wanting another bombastic J-rock title theme. Wanting pawns and NPCs to be that little bit more quotable as in the original. Okay, those last two are nitpicks, but that's besides the point. There was a part of me that wanted some of, if not all the DDO vocations to get a second lease on life, but alas. I'll just have to wait for fans to get private servers rolling. Maybe the game was over schedule due to the pandemic, maybe Capcom just wanted it out for the end of the fiscal year to bolster their quarterly reports a touch. Itsuno stands by the game not being unfinished, so I'll trust him, but regardless. Whatever the reason, it made a small part of me yearn for just a little bit more Dragon's Dogma.

But that's only because I love Dragon's Dogma. And on a gameplay level, Dragon's Dogma 2 is more Dragon's Dogma. Everything from the original is here and accounted for. The game's unique approach to adventuring, asking you to watch the limits of what you're carrying and picking the right time to set out on your trek, should you not choose to fast travel, returns with a vengeance. A turnoff for some, especially with no infinite ferrystone this go around, but I was eager to cock a leg because of how much fun I was having exploring the world and going around boiling goblins and saurians with my sorcerer. The pawn system returns, and is just as cool as ever, allowing a still entirely single player game to feel like it has its own community, with pawns recruited by other players gaining quest or enemy knowledge and using their tactics or acting as guides on your own adventure. Could've done without the loss gauge, a new mechanic preventing HP from being recovered until the party rest at either an inn or campfire, but you could always argue that's another point in favour of the game for making it feel like an adventure, or preventing you from growing complacent and spamming your heals or relying on your trusty Mage.

And then there's the combat. DD1's left and right hand skills might be gone, and in some respects, I missed it. Especially now there's 4 skills on the face buttons, rather than 3, the thought of having 8 total on top of the regular moves on offer, was an itch the game really left me yearning to scratch... but it never got under my skin much, because DD2 is using DD1's combat and building on it. Vocations new and old, climbing on monsters to target their weak points or stagger them, synergy between player and pawn when casting magic simultaneously, it's all here and with more to offer. Sure, I wish there was more enemy variety; goblins, saurians, bandits, harpies, knackers and oozes being the lion's share of basic mooks, and the odd boss monsters throughout the world, from ogres, cyclops and griffins to the odd dragons, are here too, but when I'm having as much fun as I am both during exploration and combat, it's honestly something I'm more than willing to let slide from the amount of enjoyment I'm getting.

Through most of the game, I was swapping between the old familiar vocations of Fighter, Sorcerer and Magick Archer, but the brand new Mystic Spearhand became a quick favourite with its unique approach to combat, offering a telekinetic grab on smaller foes to be used like ammo, timing inputs for follow ups and teleports, to even an AOE move that just makes your party invincible for a couple seconds. It's kinda cracked. The Warfarer was my endgame pick, juggling Fighter's sword and Magic Archer's bow for handy coverage of both ranged and close quarters. It's not quite the full on vocation switch I'd dreamt of, especially given its ability to swap weapons takes up a skill slot and only leaves you with three to pull from your unlocked pool therein, but I had the goofiest grin on my face as I peppered enemies with my auto targeting magic projectiles, swapped weapons, and closed the distance for a Blink Strike.

And I didn't even use all the vocations, either! My pawn was running wild with the Thief vocation into the end game, and it's focus on huge damage and its sick grapple hook were awesome to see, but I never got to try it firsthand. Nor did I try the similarly new Trickster vocation, or returning Mage, Warrior or Archer. There's even entire chunks of the game I missed; new bosses like Medusa and the entire Sphinx side quest I never experienced, along with the crackhead mechanic of the Dragonsplague, wherein your pawn can go apeshit and wipe out an entire town if you're ignorant to the signs.

And in spite of an almost 65 hour playthrough now under my belt, I already want to go back again. I wanna get those trophies I missed, do those side quests I skipped over, try the other vocations, just like how I felt with the original game last year. That's one of the best things I can say about a game; that even after a lengthy first playthrough like that, that I already want to get right back into it and go another round. I almost feel thankful the PC version isn't too optimised on the Steam Deck yet; otherwise I fear I'd literally never be able to put the fucking thing down. I haven't even talked about things concerning the postgame, where Itsuno's true crackhead (endearing) vision comes into play. With its own unique mechanics that almost seem designed to punish the complacent player, I want anyone reading this to experience that shit blind like I did. It's not another Everfall, that's all I'll say.

And that's exactly what Dragon's Dogma 2 is. Itsuno's vision. The one that he couldn't make a reality with the budget, time and hardware afforded to him over a decade ago. To the many who bounced off the original Dragon's Dogma for many a reason, you probably aren't going to be swayed by the sequel's commitment to some of its more contentious, less friendly mechanics. But that's because Dragon's Dogma wasn't meant to be a massive, mainstream RPG hit. Hideki Kamiya, when developing the original Devil May Cry, claimed he'd rather have 10% of people love DMC, than to have 90% of people like it, and I wouldn't be surprised if Itsuno was thinking along a similar line of logic. Dragon's Dogma wasn't meant for everyone. But goddamn it, it was meant for me, and I'm so happy to have had such a great time playing both the original, and now its sequel that makes that humble little 7th gen JRPG feel like a mere tech demo in comparison. An all timer that I'm ecstatic to have experienced.

Itsuno-san, I fucking kneel.