The Dragon's Dogma 2 community was almost going mad trying to find teasers and clues about an upcoming expansion before Capcom finally confirmed it all. That Dark Arisen expansion is almost here, and just like what it did to the original game (which also had a Dark Arisen expansion), Capcom is giving a revitalizing injection to the campaign.
The Dragon's Dogma 2 campaign certainly has its high points, but once you've spent some time getting stronger, the lack of enemy level scaling means all of the incredibly cool combat mechanics go out the window. There simply isn't enough high-level content to justify endlessly tweaking your build.
The Dark Arisen expansion has more than one way of tackling this issue, and the new Forsaken Dominion territory is one of them. This is not an area you should head towards as a new player, as its dangers are not just the monstrous kind but its terrain and weather as well.
As you brave the blizzards of these northern lands, you can hunt for this region's unique Relics in its open world. Bringing these back safely (as thieves seem to be plentiful) to be appraised unlocks powerful new gear infused with custom properties and even new abilities. This basically transforms the rigid loot system of the base Dragon's Dogma 2 into a highly rewarding and replayable gear chase.
You'll definitely need those new armaments too. Capcom has a fresh slate of undead and ice-themed monsters, bosses, and variants of old foes incoming with the expansion, that have new types of weaknesses and quirks to learn. There's even a hard mode being introduced soon to bump up the difficulty across the entirety of the game.
Outside of the new story that takes you and your pawns to the new region, there are new Lost Rites dungeons to find and tackle in the main map's regions. It sounds like these 12 multi-tiered, brutally difficult gauntlets will push your skills with sandbox systems and combat to the limit, all for the chance at gaining legendary gear and clues about this fantasy universe's past.
It's not just expansion buyers who are eating good. Capcom has been treating base game owners to things like a reusable fast-travel system, increased skill slots, a big boost to the frame rate, and more. So if you've been on the fence about returning, even the original game is now in a much better state for another playthrough. That's even easier now since Capcom finally added more save slots to the game too.
This is another case of a developer coming back to deliver exactly what its community has been asking for and subsequently pushing a great game into the exceptional class in the process.
