Both the original and Dragon's Dogma 2 are not games for everyone. Not in the Dark Souls, uber challenging sort of way necessarily, just in that they do not hold your hand, right down to not even having a lock-on feature in combat. There's a long list of other aspects that provide friction, interesting friction, that make the games so beloved. At least, they're beloved in the West, because folks over in the RPG's home country of Japan have a different perspective, a difference its devs find difficult to balance.

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I know full well that pally RPG Dragon’s Dogma 2 has its Dark Arisen expansion out this year. Still, two years and one megalo-DLC announcement after release, what I still find most fascinating about it is the Dragonsplague: an insidious affliction that quietly infects your mates (or Pawns, whatever) and heightens their fighting prowess, but if left untreated, can induce a bescaled hissy fit that will kill the entire population of your favourite NPC village. Overtuned, ill-communicated bullshit, or laudably bold application of arrogance-punishing friction? These days I lean the latter, but still, what an interesting mechanic that I can think about it on and off since 2024.

Capcom, meanwhile, always seemed to play the hedging game, patching in various tweaks and tunings to Dragonsplague in an attempt to placate both camps. The game’s Title Update 3.2, due in late August (ahead of Dark Arisen on October 9th), appears to come down further on the 'Angry fire virus can be fun, actually' side - though according to a Q&A with producer Naoto Oyama and expansion director Kento Kinoshita, these upcoming changes will bring Dragonsplague more in line with Capcom’s original vision for it.

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