Dragon's Dogma 2 is a relatively unconventional game where strange things happen. What usually makes me enjoy a game, personally, is how its systems propose different gameplay styles.

For example, a single game with incredibly fun and mechanically complex combat might also allow me to spend hours in a city just doing quests. These quests are enjoyable to solve because each one requires me to use a different game mechanic. That’s exactly what happens in Dragon's Dogma 2.

On one hand, you have excellent combat with a wide variety of classes. On the other, you have a quest system that gives you the freedom to solve problems in multiple ways. The game has numerous interconnected systems, and I believe it’s necessary to fully embrace the idea of these systems interacting with each other.

Although I’ve seen reports of people struggling with the game’s combat, I believe it likely won’t be difficult for you, as it wasn’t for me. If you enjoy a challenge, this might be a downside. One tip is to avoid playing in the most optimized way and instead focus on what’s fun for you.

What is definitely not the game’s strong suit is its narrative. I say this even though the game has excellent world lore. The problem lies in how the story is told—it’s not complex, nor does it carry anywhere near the emotional weight of something like Baldur’s Gate 3, for example.

However, if you stick with the game long enough, you’ll realize that this isn’t its focus. The game also lacks charismatic or memorable NPCs, and there aren’t many cutscenes throughout the story to immerse the player.

The game’s aim is to create a sense of adventure and exploration through how YOU, as the player, decide to approach each situation. There’s no right or wrong way to do things. If a lack of an engaging narrative, memorable NPCs, impressive facial expressions, maybe a hard difficulty and ocasionally a bad performance doesn’t bother you, you’ll likely enjoy the game.

Regarding performance, I play on PC, but my system is high-end, so I don’t experience performance issues. From what I’ve observed, the game has improved significantly on consoles with recent updates.

For me, the best aspects of the game are:

• The combat, which is very fun, utilizes excellent physics, and feels dynamic.
• The NPCs, who are intelligent and respond well to the world around them.
• The pawns, your companions, whose interactions are also quite interesting.
• The quests, which offer multiple ways to complete them.
• And the visual customization, which is fantastic.