A solid sequel to its predecessor. Graphically and technically an improvement in many respects, and the combat system has also been refined.
The story is good, but the pacing has some serious problems - especially the sections where you play Atreus were just annoying and unnecessarily drawn out. I would even go so far as to say that Atreus' sections could have been left out and the game would have been even better.
The antagonists didn't captivate me nearly as much as Baldur did in the previous game. Thor was okay, but Odin was pretty disappointing to me (he's not a bad antagonist, just extremely predictable and more annoying than threatening).

So I've been playing this game for 20 hours now and have decided to pause it for the time being. Please don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game, but at its current state, it has some issues that have already taken away the enjoyment for me after just a few hours of gameplay.

First, let's address the points that don't directly concern the game:

- Microtransactions have no place whatsoever in a single-player game priced at $75. There's absolutely no excuse for it, and anyone defending it is part of the problem.
- MTX are simply unnecessary and tarnish both the game's and the publisher's image. Moreover, all these items offered for real money can easily be obtained in-game.
- It's ridiculous for developers to claim that fast travel will be limited because it doesn't align with their vision of Dragon's Dogma 2, but then offer Portcrystals for $3.
- The performance is extremely poor regardless of the platform, indicating that the developers didn't take the time to optimize the game properly. Getting 30-40 FPS on a nearly 4-year-old console for a game that doesn't even come close to looking as good as RDR2 or similar titles is simply disappointing. Performance on PC isn't necessarily better either (largely due to Denuvo).

Now onto the points directly related to the game:

- The main story, from what I've seen so far, is nothing special and rather dull.
- Side quests are average at best and not particularly rewarding.
- The AI of the pawns is quite "dumb," as they often fall off cliffs or get stuck at certain points.
- The pawns talk way too much and unfortunately have too limited a vocabulary, often repeating the same lines. It's annoying.
- You can customize your character and main pawn, even change their gender and race. But why on earth can't you change their names?
- The variety of enemies is almost laughable. Most of the time, you're fighting the same types of enemies, and it's no different with the larger boss enemies.
- The world of Dragon's Dogma 2 looks decent but is very monotonous. Compared to Elden Ring, it's a disappointment.
- Until recently, you couldn't start a new game because Capcom decided to completely omit this feature at release. What were they thinking?
- Loot in this game is often very unrewarding. Chests (even the dark ones) often give items you don't need or weapons and armor that don't fit your class.
- As mentioned earlier, fast travel is only possible to a limited extent. The game director argues that fast travel is only necessary when the game world is boring. This is an interesting perspective that essentially holds true. However, Dragon's Dogma 2 doesn't have a particularly exciting or diverse game world (as you fight the same enemies on the way from A to B, and not much else happens). On the other hand, after several hours of gameplay, it can be very annoying when you want to quickly reach another village, but it's miles away.

Definitely the best DLC From Software has ever created. This is a true masterpiece and I am not exaggerating.

The level design is unique and incredibly good. There are new extremely cool and insane enemy types. New weapons and arcane spells have also been added, giving the player even more options to master the game. The setting of the DLC, like the main game, is simply fabulous and combined with the lore and background story, this DLC makes for an unforgettable experience.

And the best thing about the DLC: the bosses. By far one of the best bosses in all of video game history (excluding "Living Failures" of course).