I will fully admit that I didn’t really pay attention to the May 2023 PlayStation Showcase because I automatically assumed it wouldn’t feature anything I really wanted. After being an adult for nearly a decade, and having sat through a lot of these kinds of video game showcases, I’ve just naturally learned to temper my expectations.
But what a goddamn fool I was to ever doubt Capcom. Holy shit. We’re getting Dragon’s Dogma 2, you guys. Look at this trailer! Look at it.
I know I try to front like a “cool” young woman who wears turtlenecks and only reads authors like Ottessa Moshfegh, but I truly cannot overstate how much the reveal of the game’s logo felt like a warm hug. It has been over ten years since the first game came out. We had no idea what was going on regarding a sequel. It was almost delulu to hope for anything more.
And yet, here, right here, is more! Out of nowhere! This trailer is utterly gorgeous! I promise to go into more of a deep dive in another article, but for now, I really need to stress how incredibly exciting this news is. Single-player, current gen, no muss, no fuss—I weep. I truly weep.
If you haven’t been previously aware of this franchise before, this might have seemed like your standard fantasy shovelware fare. Thankfully, you’d be WRONG! Dragon’s Dogma is kind of a cult classic, because it came out not long after Skyrim and therefore was easily written off as a Bethesda clone. In reality, it’s one of the most unique, trippy, and engrossing RPGs I’ve ever played, if only because the gameplay is like the beautiful love-child between Shadow of the Colossus’ “climb-n-stab” mechanics and the Bethesda open-world model. I go more in-depth in another article, but trust me when I say, the first game is ridiculously fun and still worth playing. (Especially now!)
However, even with all the love it gets from us cult fans, we have to acknowledge its flaws: The plot and pacing felt awkward and unrefined, the characters were so-so, and some tertiary game mechanics were just bizarre (most egregiously the romance system, which is too weird to get into right now). Therefore, the strong desire for a sequel wasn’t just born out of a love for the game; it was out of a desire to see an already near-perfect thing actually perfected.
And yes, that’s hyperbolic, and obviously we aren’t literally expecting perfection, but Dragon’s Dogma is just such a special game with so much going for it, and the fact that we’re now getting even more is just so incredibly exciting. Just see how other fans are taking this news:
I guess my coworkers really were right. Time to buckle down, take the L, and buy a PS5.
(featured image: Capcom)
