(Credit: Capcom)
Ahead of Gamescom, Capcom invited me to a hands-on demo of Dragon's Dogma 2's newest expansion, Dark Arisen, and I'm happy to report that it fixes some of the action-RPG's biggest issues that have persisted since the base game's 2024 debut. The expansion features six skill slots, greater enemy variety, the return of loot grinding and appraisal, and a massive new map to explore. Here's how these changes fundamentally overhaul the game, based on my time with the PlayStation 5 and the Switch 2 builds.
A Return to the 6-Skill System
The most obvious change is that you can now equip six skills as opposed to the base game's four. As fans of the original Dragon's Dogma know, that title featured six skills per vocation (your character's fighting class). However, because of how Capcom designed the control scheme in Dragon's Dogma 2, it was pared down across the board. On paper, it sounded fine in terms of balance, but once I got my hands on the game, the controls felt limited. This was especially noticeable with the Warfarer class.
The idea behind the Warfarer was that you could equip any gear and skill you wanted. However, to switch gear effectively, you had to sacrifice a skill slot for the Rearmament ability. This limited your remaining skills to three, making the class feel considerably more restricted than intended. With Dark Arisen's six skill slots, the handcuffs are off. I still sacrifice one slot for Rearmament, but the other five can be used for whatever I want. There's enormous flexibility now, which makes the class much more appealing.
Likewise, the Warrior has been notoriously limited for some time. Even in the original game, you could only equip three skills. But now, with six skills available at any time, there's a massive set of options. For example, I equipped the counter ability, many situation-dependent charge attacks, and the lunging thrust move that closes the gap on midrange foes. It felt great to swap the skills on the fly without having to go back to town to change my loadout.
New Gameplay, Enemies, and Improvements
The Dark Arisen content from the first game makes a return, but not in the exact same way. The expansion introduces similar endgame elements throughout the new realm of Norgan. You find cursed gear (called relics this time around) as you defeat enemies and open chests, which you then take back to town to appraise, equip, and take into battle. This creates a very addictive loop.
It has plenty of new enemies, too, including barbarian-tier enemies that wield greatswords and longbows. They're harder to defeat than the bandits in the base game. There's also an electric variant of the saurian lizard-men, and a woolly cyclops with four tusks that uses a freeze-breath attack. Fighting the cyclops requires different tactics because its massive AOE freeze attack completely locks down the space around it. The battle's a fun change of pace.
I eventually faced an undead dragon that features a fantastic dismemberment mechanic, similar to the hydra fights in the original game. You can physically maim it by chopping off its limbs or its head, and because it's undead, it just keeps regenerating and getting back up. It was a tremendously satisfying fight that made me wish that more dismemberment opportunities appeared throughout Dark Arisen, not just for those specific setpiece battles.
Capcom is also adding some great quality-of-life improvements to Dark Arisen. When the DLC drops, it will allow for multiple save slots, so you're no longer restricted to a single playthrough. In addition, fast travel is much better than before, thanks to the return of the Eternal Ferrystone, which lets you teleport infinitely to any Portcrystal you've found. And, finally, new dungeons are being peppered throughout the new DLC zone to incentivize you to explore every nook and cranny.
Switch 2 Performance: Surprisingly Good!
Dark Arisen's Switch 2 performance was better than I expected as I fought creatures in handheld mode. I noticed some compromises—the shadow and lighting effects are a bit more dialed down compared with the PS5 version—but the graphics looked sharp.
In terms of performance, the frame rate hovered around 30fps in testing, whereas the PS5 demo ran at what appeared to be a consistent 60fps. The Switch 2 version dropped frames occasionally, but at no point did Dark Arisen ever feel like it was chugging. In fact, it felt significantly more stable than the base game did during its 2024 launch window.
Final Thoughts and Release Date
Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen is more than DLC; it's the game's potential redemption arc. If you felt restricted by the base game's limitations, this expansion is on track to become the exact experience I expected back in 2024. Dark Arisen hits PC, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S on Oct. 9.
About Our Expert
In 2014, I began my career at PCMag as a freelancer. That blossomed into a full-time position in 2021, and I now review email marketing apps, mobile operating systems, web hosting services, streaming music platforms, and video games as a senior writer. I'm a graduate of Hunter College, a hard-core gamer, and an Apple enthusiast.
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