4.5/5 ★ – Lord_Hazenberg's review of Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen.

I revisited this game for the first time since the Xbox 360 version in 2012 in anticipation for the sequel. The Dark Arisen expansion was all new to me, and thanks to the Xbox Series X the game gets auto HDR upscaling. So I’ll talk about how the game holds up 11 years on. Combat is the clear star of the show here. Being able to climb the large monsters to strike weak spots doesn’t leave melee classes behind. Bows feel good to use, and the magic can be a sheer spectacle at times. The ability to pick up & throw objects in the environment, including enemies if you’re strong enough, can lead to hilarious outcomes if you find a goblin near a cliff. Character creation is surprisingly important if you want more carry weight capacity. Your height, weight, build, & gender all affect this stat. Plus the female characters get bust size sliders so it’s immediately top tier. Another wonderful mechanic, that is still pretty unique to this day, is the pawn system. To those unfamiliar, you have a permanent NPC companion for the journey who you can fully customize as well as pick their class & abilities. Two more party members can be brought on if you choose to do so, and these can either be generated by the game itself or borrowed from other players if you’re connected online. Your pawn will gain knowledge as you progress whether it be quests, enemies, or areas on the map. If someone else hires you pawn, then they can give advice on anything you’ve done in your game including how to tackle certain quests. This works both ways as other players pawns you bring on can help in your world too. The game is not without its downsides however. Many quests can be missed as quest givers are not highlighted on your map unless you can see them in front of you. NPCs can disappear from the game with zero explanation if you missed their quest lines. The ending is pretty rushed too, as the game had to meet a deadline. The licensed Berserk armor found in the 360 version was also removed in the Dark Arisen version. A heads up for new players as well is how damage works in this game. If the enemies defense rating is higher than your attack’s, then you will only do 1 damage per hit which can be incredibly disheartening. Enemies can have differing resistances to physical, magic, and elemental damage, so make sure your parties damage types are correct for each encounter. TLDR; I’ve grown even more fond of this game on a replay. An action RPG of a bygone era before everyone was trying to copy Dark Souls. There is a story, but it’s not intrusive enough to take away from the gameplay. If one has any interest at all in the upcoming sequel, then Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen is a great way to discover what you’re in for.