Dragon’s Dogma 2 Wasn’t Deliberately Designed To Be ‘Inconvenient,’ Says Capcom

Many players have praised the Dragon’s Dogma series’ approach to open-world exploration, making every fetch quest feel like an adventure. Fast travel is limited, quests can fail without much hand-holding, and even getting from one town to another can turn into an unexpected Griffin ambush. However, some also seem to find the lack of modern RPG luxuries and sometimes obtuse mechanics an ‘inconvenience’ just for padding playtime or for the sake of it. But according to Capcom, that was never really the point.

Speaking with Famitsu magazine in issue 1962, Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi and director Kento Kinoshita addressed the team’s mindset when designing the game. “The first thing I’d like to say is, ‘inconvenience makes it good’ is not fundamental to Dragon’s Dogma 2,” said Hirabayashi. “[…W]e didn’t want to deliver the game with ‘inconvenience is important’ as a slogan.” Instead, the team is keen to sell a ‘sense of accomplishment’ as the key idea behind the game.

Hirabayashi used mountain climbing as an example, asking which feels more rewarding: driving halfway up and then walking the rest, or hiking the entire trail on foot? “The grand concept of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is to enjoy a feeling of realistic adventure,” Kinoshita echoed the sentiment. The team worked hard on the base game to replicate the feeling of the latter. Still, Hirabayashi admitted that after releasing Dragon’s Dogma 2, he found that people have ‘their own way of climbing a mountain.’

Now, for the DLC, instead of simply changing or removing things to accommodate people who find parts of the base game annoying, the team decided to give more ways to make climbing those mountains enjoyable. “With that in mind, for [Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen], we have not altered the engaging aspect, such as the experience of overcoming hardships and difficulties, but we have made adjustments and changes to broaden available choices,” explained Kinoshita.

One such example is the Dragonsplague mechanic, which received mixed reactions from the player base and was instead buffed to reduce the ‘annoyance’ and ‘expand players’ choice’ without removing the tension from the base game. Meanwhile, hardened Arisens looking for even more punishment can tackle the Hard Mode from the base game once again when it arrives alongside the DLC on October 9. The addition can be pretty literal to the analogy, too, through the introduction of a new climbing item. “We’ve also added new exploration mechanics that take advantage of [Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen]’s verticality, such as the new ‘Hook Rope’ item that lets you hang and climb on steep cliff faces,” remarked Kinoshita.

Other times, the team simply wanted to make the game less annoying to play. “When traveling between locations multiple times, you can go on foot or ride an oxcart to take in the world while adventuring. On the other hand, depending on the player, some might think, ‘I’ve explored this area on foot, so fast-traveling with Eternal Ferrystone [added in version 3.1] is an option too, right?'” The team is also increasing the number of skill slots from four to six, as well as EX versions of existing skills for each Vocation. That should give players more build flexibility and options, especially those playing Wayfarer.

With the Dark Arisen DLC, Dragon’s Dogma 2 isn’t abandoning the friction that makes its adventures feel distinctive. Capcom just realized that it doesn’t have to dictate exactly how you get to the top of the mountain. Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen expansion will launch for the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch 2 on October 9, 2026. For more gaming news and interviews, keep an eye out on GameObserver.