Dragon's Dogma 2 review: A benchmark for modern role-playing games

Dragon's Dogma 2 left me genuinely speechless, despite it not being the kind of role-playing experience that I particularly like or enjoy, to be honest. Coming from having sunk more than 100 hours into the original Dragon's Dogma on Xbox 360 more than a decade ago, I was only mildly excited for the sequel simply because of my drastic shift of taste in video games.

That said, with every new trailer that Capcom released, I admit I felt the excitement kick in. Given I had plenty of time before Shadow of the Erdtree was released, I thought I'd take a dabble at Dragon's Dogma 2, completely oblivious to the fact that it would end up being one of the best gaming experiences of my life!

Dragon's Dogma 2 now has set a new benchmark for action role-playing games in my life, and something I think even FromSoftware's games would have to work harder to match, much less surpass. Everything in Dragon's Dogma 2 feels crafted with a lot of love and passion, from the excellent combat system to the organic open-world exploration.

While yes there are a few issues with the game, mostly on the technical side of things, it's nothing more than a minor inconvenience that I, or anyone who's looking for a good, robust, and engaging action RPG experience, can easily look past. Dragon's Dogma 2 is truly the quintessential role-playing game of this decade.

Say what you will, but Capcom taking a gamble and ditching MT Framework in favor of RE Engine is one of the best things the Japanese publisher did back in 2017. When it first debuted with Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, the RE Engine looked a bit rough around the edges, especially due to the lack of a proper TAA implementation.

Be that as it may, over the last few years, the RE Engine has evolved