How Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen made us feel

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is a boosted version of last year’s Dragon’s Dogma (as the name would imply).

It’s not entirely a bundled DLC game, rather serving as an enhanced edition of the original which adds some great new tweaks, areas, items and monsters to kill; however, the gameplay and the story remains largely the same.

That means it’s more of the same epic battles; more toppling of giant mythical creatures; more trekking across lands and encountering hordes of the same enemies; and definitely more of the contrived and laughable dialogue and apathetic story.

It’s a glorious mix of good and bad, spectacular and annoying – but thankfully there are more positives than negatives.

You can check out MyGaming’s original Dragon’s Dogma review here. Over on Metacritic, the game has a Metascore of 77 and 80 on Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively. On GameRankings, it sits with 77.39% and 80.78% on Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively.

In short, DD:DA adds the following to the original game:

New area – Bitterblack Isle – a massive new underground realm to explore featuring over 25 new enemies.
More skills/equipment/augments
Increased character customisation options
Item appraisal
Japanese voice over
The Xbox version comes bundled with a second installation DVD which allows for smoother gameplay, which means no more lag.

Here’s what we loved and hated about Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen.

Reaction review

Taking down a massive beast by jumping and climbing up its back and then smashing it in the face

Every time a character says “aught” in yet another baneful conversation.

When you forget to save, die, and lose 2 hours of gameplay.

When you try to remember what the actual plot of the game is.

When someone comments about how easy the game is.

After playing for an entire weekend and not even getting close to finishing the main quest.

Playing through all the post-game content.

Finally being able to make attractive customised characters.

Listening to your Pawns say the same thing over and over and over and over…

Realising that the game is actually way better than Dragon Age 2.

Final verdict

Yeah, it’s cool.

The story is flat, the graphics are good – and the Pawns are annoying as all hell – but in the end, the epic battles (boss and otherwise) and hours of content more than make up for its short-comings and will keep you coming back for more.