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Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is finally out on PC, available on Steam complete with all of its DLC at a bargain price. It’s a great RPG, one of the best of the 360/PS3 era. But is it still worth playing? Alice & Jim explain over 1080p60 gameplay footage. If you want to see more, here’s an hour of them streaming the game.
Maligned for its shoddy performance, daft story and small game world on release, most critics agreed that Dragon’s Dogma was a diamond in the rough. It’s full of great ideas – the pawn system, for example, where players can create a sophisticated AI companion and hire the services of those made by other people via an online portal, is an inspired piece of asymmetric game design. When returning to your game, your pawn may come back from someone else’s with new knowledge about the world, items they have found on their travels, and even bearing gifts from the other players who have used them. Your pawn will effectively explore, forage and fight for you when you’re not even playing.
Darkness was used innovatively too. In Dragon’s Dogma, night time is pitch-black and dangerous. If you run out of lamp oil or provisions on the way back from a quest, you’re dead. Most games of its ilk have a day/night cycle, but Dragon’s Dogma’s isn’t just cosmetic, it’s a fundamental part of the design, forcing players to plan around it. It can be a punishing experience, but hugely rewarding. For those of us who played it back in the day, the PC version is a great excuse to revisit a classic, and PC users who never got to try it are in for a long overdue treat.
Want to see us play more RPGs? Check out our Fallout 4 series here.
