After Monster Hunter World: Iceborne and now Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, it certainly feels like Capcom has a penchant for putting icy tundras in their expansions. But it’s a move that works well, as both games have systemic design that brings something interesting to a snowy locale.
While the new setting itself is easily the star of Dark Arisen, the expansion as a whole is a bit more by-the-numbers than I was expecting for Dragon’s Dogma – especially considering how different Bitterback Isle was in the original Dark Arisen. Of course, more Dragon’s Dogma 2 definitely isn’t a bad thing, and this expansion has a few ideas to help flesh things out. But I can’t shake the overall sense that, as good as Dark Arisen is, it simply could have been more
Dark Arisen is, essentially, an entirely new region and sub-story stapled onto the already existing world of Dragon’s Dogma 2. The new region of Norgan is added directly to the upper-left area of the world map once you reach it. The expansion even starts midway through a playthrough, as you’ll need to begin by talking to Captain Brant in the Vernworth Tavern after he’s heard a new “rumour.”
“I can’t shake the overall sense that, as good as Dark Arisen is, it simply could have been more”
Whispers of a second Arisen wandering the frozen wastes have reached the captain, something that should be impossible, as only one Arisen is born in any age at a time – and that’s you. The core hook of Dark Arisen is venturing to this new area to investigate that mystery, and discovering a potential world-ending threat along the way.
While I do think that mystery hook is a strong setup for Dark Arisen, the beat-for-beat storytelling in this expansion is more ho-hum overall. It’s not exactly a bad addition to the game, but compared to the truly bizarre shark-jumping moments of the main game, it pales in comparison. For a majority of Dark Arisen, it just sort of feels like the overall narrative is spinning its wheels, unravelling that mystery at a dreadfully slow rate.
Instead, the real showstealer is the region of Norgan itself, and the wintry dangers that await you. Dragon’s Dogma 2 already made great use of location, environment, and weather to affect its gameplay systems – and it’s exactly the same way here. You and your pawns trudge through giant snowdrifts with difficulty, slowing down your exploration and mobility in combat. There’s also a lot more verticality to Norgan due to its mountainous terrain, and a new Climbing Hook feature lets you grapple to wooden posts scattered around the map, opening up new shortcuts and pathways.
But the environmental interactions are what are really interesting. Giant icicles hanging off outcroppings or buildings can be hit or shot to fall on enemies with deadly force. The rumbling of a giant’s footsteps might cause an avalanche in the more densely snowed-in areas, sending your party plummeting down the mountain. And spread out across the region are blinding “whiteouts” that heavily restrict your visibility and completely disable the map while they’re happening.
These new elements are layered onto the already fantastic exploration of Dragon’s Dogma 2, with Norgan packing in just as many secrets and surprises. Honestly, outside of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I don’t think there’s a single game that does exploration as well as this, as consistently rewarding and engrossing. And part of what makes that loop click even more in Dark Arisen is a swathe of new enemy types that populate the region. While there’s plenty of familiar faces, you’ll also have to contend with Viking-like warriors called Beorcans, terrifying zombie-like swarmers, frost dragons, and more.
A big surprise of this expansion, actually, is how much it focuses on combat, consistently putting your party through gauntlets of enemies and arenas filled with environmental hazards. Fighting in the cold also heavily impacts your sight and mobility, and constantly threatens you with the frozen status effect, which you’ll need to ward off with Heatstone items or warm gear. But Dark Arisen is equally surprisingly difficult, almost feeling like the game’s “hard mode” in some ways.
“But Dark Arisen is equally surprisingly difficult, almost feeling like the game’s “hard mode” in some ways.”
There’s an entirely new progression system dedicated to Norgan, revolving around looting items known as “Relics.” While you still have traditional levelling, there aren’t any new Vocations this time around, meaning gear is the main way you power up your character. As you fight enemies and find treasure, you’ll gather relics, which you’ll need to take to the village hub in Norgan to get appraised.
The Relics can result in usable items, gear, weapons, rings, and more. Rinsing and repeating this looting system means you’re constantly, incrementally upgrading your gear and getting stronger. But that also means that exploration is the key to making the expansion easier – a rather brilliant way to get players plumbing the depths of the region’s many caves and crevices.
The one disappointment I have with that huge focus on combat is that Vocations haven’t been altered or upgraded in nearly any way. The one exception is twelve totems scattered around the region, which you can activate to learn an “altered,” more powerful version of one skill for each Vocation. To activate these totems, you need flames gathered from the Lost Relics dungeons added with Dark Arisen – 12 unique dungeon challenges scattered around the main areas of Dragon’s Dogma 2.
As neat as some of these new skills can be, it’s a real slog to get those totems activated. You have to find the Lost Relics dungeon and make sure you meet the specific requirements for each one, beat the actual dungeon, then go to Norgan and hunt down the totem itself, and then oftentimes figure out the trick of getting to the totem. It’s a lengthy process for a single upgrade. And the fact that there are almost zero changes to combat outside of that eventually does make the expansion feel like a bit of a slog if you aren’t jumping between multiple Vocations to mix things up.
And that’s ultimately the core problem that holds Dark Arisen back: there’s simply not enough that’s “new” here. It feels like this expansion really needed one extra little notch to shake things up, whether that’s a new vocation to dig into, some new combat element, or something really unique in the progression of how you explore Norgan. Instead, however, it’s just more of the same – again, that same is good.
The fact that my favourite part of Dark Arisen was simply stomping around some new hunting grounds and spelunking my 50th cave is a true testament to how good that core gameplay loop of Dragon’s Dogma 2 really is. The high difficulty and relic system of the expansion still keeps some of that important friction ingrained into the experience, too.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is such a wonderfully idiosyncratic experience, where sometimes your biggest enemy is simply grappling with how to move through the world and interact with the environment. That’s an experience I adore in every way, a real, tangible way to make the player feel the impact of the world, and how they fit in it. This is a world that fights you every step of the way, but equally makes each victory feel monumental. The snowy expanses of Norgan double down on that idea, and permeate the expansion with the feeling of being on a trek, a real Lord of the Rings-esque walkabout.
But as much as I thoroughly enjoyed this new adventure, there’s a bug at the back of my head wondering what could have been with just a drop or two more of ambition.
