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Were sure someone must keep tabs of what game has appeared on the greatest number of formats over the years, but even though we know its not Dragons Dogma it does feel that way. It was first released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2012 and then three years on PC, and another two after that for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. And now its on Switch. We can only assume a PlayStation 5 version is being readied as we speak.
Dragons Dogma is a peculiar mix of Dark Souls, Skyrim, and Shadow Of The Colossus. It borrows ideas liberally but carefully, in its attempt to make a hybrid of Western and Japanese style action role-players. Something it largely succeeds in, while still maintaining its own identity.
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Although it avoids seeming like a clone of any one particular game, theres little in the way of interesting storytelling or characters here. The opening tutorial features a medieval style knight hunting down a large and surprisingly garrulous dragon; its hinted that both he and the knight are merely part of a never-ending cycle, with the game proper beginning years later as the dragon reappears and plucks the beating heart out of your custom-created character.
The fact that you manage to survive this encounter with nothing but a nasty scar has everyone referring to you as Arisen – a chosen one who not only stands up to dragons but can command strange otherworldly warriors called pawns.
Although Dragons Dogma is strictly a single-player only game youre able to recruit up to three pawns to your party. The first you get to customise in the same way as your main character, the other two are recruited by either meeting them in the game world or using magical stones dotted around the landscape to pick and choose your allies.
Since both you and your primary pawn earn experience, and can be equipped with weapons and equipment independently, the idea is that you can lend and trade pawns with other players (something that does not require Nintendo Switch Online). The game constantly checks to see what other people are doing with their borrowed copies, and both you and their actions feed back on each other.
The pawns display an impressive level of artificial intelligence, and depending on whether a pawn is a fighter, archer, or wizard theyll tackle enemies and bosses intelligently and without being asked. Which is a good job because, despite their importance to the game, you have surprisingly little control over them – just a small set of tactical commands that dont amount to much more than stop and go.
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Not only will pawns fight for you but theyll also heal you when necessary, and even when youre just exploring theyll search for ingredients and hidden objects – as well as memorise a location for anyone you might later pass them onto. Its a very strange concept, that the games story fails to make sense of, but in gameplay terms it definitely works.
Of course, the pawns wont do quite everything for you and given the teams background with the Devil May Cry series its not surprising to find a very robust fighting system. You start off with little more than a light and heavy attack but can learn additional moves if you pay a trainer, all of which work with a satisfying sense of weight and power.
Visually, the game was always something of a mixed bag, with some impressively large and detailed monsters but lots of very distracting screen-tearing. Theres a little bit of slowdown in handheld mode but otherwise the Switch version works perfectly, although thats not much of an achievement for such a relatively old game – even though it can still look very attractive at times.
During the day it almost looks like youre holidaying on some peaceful Greek island, but youre told by everyone you meet that venturing out at night – or into any of the many dungeons and caves – is near suicide. And when you first start thats very good advice for although Dragons Dogma doesnt go to quite the extremes of Dark Souls its not afraid to punish the incautious.
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But while Dragons Dogma mixes and matches its influences with impressive skill the game world is nowhere near as intricately designed as either Dark Souls or Skyrim. It lacks personality and, at least in daylight, atmosphere. And with no memorable characters and inevitability repetitive quests your interest begins to wane more quickly than any of its would-be pRead More – Source
