Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen Review (PC)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
  • Platform: PC
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  • Gamepad support: Yes  
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Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen review on PC

Capcom has been around for decades, delighting generations of gamers with a myriad of titles over the years. In recent times, the Japanese company has relied mostly on bringing back classics through remakes, like the early Resident Evil games, while working on big sequels like Street Fighter V.

Now, after surprising PS3 and Xbox 360 owners back in 2012 with Dragon’s Dogma and in 2013 with the Dark Arisen expansion, Capcom has finally brought forth a PC adaptation in the form of the complete Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen experience.

With a suite of graphical improvements, a seamless story that combines the initial experience and the expansion, not to mention the same action role-playing game mechanics that made plenty of console users fall in love with it, the title is looking like a sure winner.

Does Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen have what it takes to succeed on PC or should users go back to other, more established RPGs? Let’s find out.

Story

Dragon’s Dogma surprised quite a lot of people when it arrived several years ago on consoles mainly because it felt like a proper Western role-playing game, in the vein of franchises like BioWare’s Dragon Age or Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls. However, it arrived from Capcom, a Japanese developer whose closest project previously was the Monster Hunter series.

Even so, the title manages to deliver a pretty compelling narrative that, despite quite a few medieval fantasy cliché moments, draws attention and provides some motivation for continuing your adventures, besides the actual gameplay mechanics.

Simply put, your calm fishing village gets attacked by a giant dragon, and during the events, the monster carves out your heart and eats it, tying your fate and his forever. After a speedy recovery, you soon find out that you’re the Arisen, the only being capable of actually taking down the big, bad dragon.

What follows is a fairly typical plot that involves kingdoms and factions that fight over your allegiance, but also some surprising moments, like the introduction of the Pawns, which are companions that serve the Arisen in his/her quest to vanquish the monster.

While it can feel a bit tedious to navigate through the conversations and the somewhat weirdly acted cut scenes, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen executes its medieval fantasy plot pretty well and doesn’t really prevent players from their actual adventures.

Full party in Dragon's Dogma
Full party in Dragon's Dogma

Gameplay

Regarding actual gameplay, Capcom’s title doesn’t stray too far from previously established tropes concerning medieval fantasy RPGs. You create a custom character and can pick from three main classes, in the form of Fighter (classic warrior), Strider (rogue), and Mage. However, as you progress, you can unlock advanced and hybrid vocations, such as Warrior, ranger, sorcerer, as well as mystic knight, assassin, or magick archer.

You wield a main weapon and an off-hand one, such as dual daggers and a bow, for a strider. As standard, you can alternate between normal and heavy attacks with your main weapons, but you can also augment your offensive skills by unlocking or buying new moves from merchants.

Capcom’s Devil May Cry series influences combat, as moves are fast and stylish, allowing up close classes, like fighter and strider, to delve into the fray and cut down foes, while mages augment their abilities, heal when necessary, or unleash their own flashy spells.

Things get really impressive when giant beasts enter the fray. Like any good fantasy game, Dragon’s Dogma features all sorts of mythical monsters, from the actual dragons to griffins, chimeras, cyclops, and many others, besides your regular bandits, wolves, spiders, or other such things.

While you can try to fight these beasts in a regular way, the game also allows characters to climb on top of the monsters and gain an advantage. Climbing onto the back of a cyclops to damage his vulnerable eye is recommended, but going on top of a griffin just as it takes off might make you regret your decision.

While fighting is quite fun and hectic, the game can be rather grueling, even on the Easy setting. Dragon’s Dogma doesn’t shy away from punishing players who try to rush through the main quests, as there are plenty of tough foes scattered on that path. As such, try to complete side quests in order to level up, gain gold, as well as better gear for both you as well as your Pawns.

Speaking of Pawns, this is one of the main claims to fame for Dragon’s Dogma. Companions aren’t anything new when it comes to RPGs, but Capcom’s experience lets you create a main Pawn that can then be accessed by other players via its novel multiplayer system. You can browse the mythical land where Pawns come from for powerful examples that can help you get past tricky dungeons or quests.

The Pawns are fairly smart in combat, but they don’t always do so well when it comes to dealing with larger groups of foes, as they can split up and end up dying in some corner. There are, however, some great moments that can take place, such as a Pawn holding down a foe so that you can deliver the finishing blow. The cinematic camera, if turned on, also highlights these moments to make your fights more impressive.

Speaking of the camera, it’s relatively decent but, when combined with the lack of a lock-on system for targeting foes, it can make fights feel a bit aggravating. I’ve had many occasions in which my strider tried to execute a flurry of dagger strikes into thin air, even if the enemy was mere centimeters from where she stood.

Enemies are varied, and as mentioned above, quite tough, so make sure you complete quests and get great gear, especially if you want to explore at night.

This is also a pretty memorable aspect of Dragon’s Dogma: nights are scary and dark. You need lanterns to brighten your surroundings, as well as combat skills, for when you face off against tougher opponents and other surprises. However, there are quite a few things that can only be done at night, such as exploring certain locations or finding specific items, so the rewards can outweigh the risks.

One problematic aspect, however, is that the actual time isn’t displayed anywhere, so you can only guess how much time there is until nightfall. You can visit an inn to make the time fly by, but this means that you need to head on to a large settlement.

The game’s world is also quite varied, but traveling around it can get a bit tedious as a lot of quests rely on back-and-forth journeys. The fast travel system, which incorporates the Eternal Ferrystone mechanic introduced by the Dark Arisen expansion, takes some time to get used to.

The mouse and keyboard controls are decent when it comes to combat and general exploration but navigating your inventory, for example, is a bit cumbersome. The game was originally designed for consoles so using a controller is recommended.

Climb on beasts in Dragon's Dogma
Climb on beasts in Dragon's Dogma

Graphics and Sound

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen runs very well on quite a few configurations, maintaining solid framerates even in hectic battles with giant monsters. However, even with the better resolutions and effects, it does show its age, so don’t try to compare it with The Witcher 3, for example. Even so, besides the in-engine cut scenes, the game looks decent and won’t make your eyes sore.

The soundtrack is also pretty impressive, featuring great orchestral scores that make your action-filled battles feel even more epic. The voice acting is decent, albeit some performances aren’t exactly bursting with emotion or depth. The old-timey English dialog can also wear on your nerves as the game tries to shoehorn into the conversations archaic expressions or words.


The Good

  • Fast-paced combat
  • Big world filled with adventures
  • Novel Pawn system

The Bad

  • Quite challenging in some situations
  • Fights can get hectic with lots of foes and lack of lock-on
  • Pawns act erratic sometimes

Conclusion

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen for the PC delivers a compelling RPG experience with great combat mechanics and a varied world to explore. It can be quite tough if you’re trying to speed through the main quest, but patient players who complete side quests and gear up their character, as well as their Pawns, will find plenty of things to enjoy in Capcom’s RPG.
story 7
gameplay 8
concept 8
graphics 8
audio 7
multiplayer 0
final rating 8
Editor's review
very good
 

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen PC (16 Images)

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen review on PCEnter battle in Dragon's DogmaTeamwork in Dragon's DogmaFull party in Dragon's DogmaClimb on beasts in Dragon's Dogma
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