I’ve said a lot about Dragon’s Dogma over the last few weeks. I’ve played a good portion of it, and I’m excited for its release. It’s Capcom’s first foray in to open-world high fantasy, and it’s filled, as you’d expect with all manner of beats – like Dragons (obviously), giant cockatrices, ouroboroses, Cyclopses and countless more. Because of its open-world nature its drawing a fair number of comparisons to Bethesda’s Skyrim – but I’d have to say that it feels more like one of the Souls games – just without that crushing, brutal difficulty – mixed with a dash of Monster Hunter.
Here’s the game’s launch trailer – which tells you a lot about nothing, but it does look very nice. Remember, buying the game will not only guarantee you lines of cheesy dialogue in addition to a pretty excellent game, it’ll also net you access to the Resident Evil 6 demo.
Here’s the back-of-the-box hyperbole Capcom wants you to know:
- Highly Stylized Action Combat – The creators of this game were responsible for the action hits – Resident Evil 4 and Devil May Cry 4.
- Fight With Ability – The soul of combat comes down to how the game is played, where you strike the enemy, and how you react to their attacks.
- Pawn Them All – The Pawn system offers flexible combat assistance with a main pawn companion that you can train throughout the game and two secondary Pawns that can vary wildly to fit your combat style.
- Help Your Friends, Help Yourself – To enhance your battle experience, share your main Pawn with friends and others via PlayStation Network. Your Pawn’s experience as a member of someone else’s game will be passed on to you in loot, knowledge of the open world and strategies for taking down enemies. Or, you can choose one of the thousands of AI Pawns included with the game.
- Accessible Depth – Bringing an unprecedented level of depth to the action genre, every decision has an effect on gameplay in an intuitive way that does not require micromanagement. The weight of your weapon, the material of your armor — even the length of your legs — plays a role in how you fight your battles, but does not interrupt the flow of the action.
- Epic Adventure – Dragon’s Dogma is built from the ground up as an action experience for consoles with a continuous, epic storyline that stands alone in style, scope and substance.
- Open World – Utilizing Capcom’s proprietary MT Framework engine and the groundbreaking graphical styles and lighting effects used in Resident Evil 5 and Lost Planet 2, Dragon’s Dogma expands the environment to create a vast, richly detailed world, ripe for exploration.
- Night and Day – The open-world features a dynamic 24-hour day/night cycle that will offer different enemies and surprises depending on when you venture into the world.
- A Rich Population – In addition to interacting with hundreds of fully voiced NPCs, you’ll be able to fight a large variety of creatures, from goblins to griffins and dragons. Each enemy requires a different strategy and provides a unique experience.
- Resident Evil 6 demo – Dragon’s Dogma will ship with a redeemable token allowing purchasers early access to the Resident Evil 6 demo.
Dragon’s Dogma is set for a local release on PS3 and Xbox 360 next Friday, 25 May.
Last Updated: May 14, 2012
