Dragon's Dogma

This fantasy action RPG from Capcom cast players as the Arisen, whose heart was devoured by a dragon, granting them extraordinary power along with a curse that ties them fatefully to the creature, while on their quests they are accompanied by so-called Pawns, unique AI-controlled companions who can be shared online between players, passing along strategies they've learned against enemies. Hideaki Itsuno and his team built the game around physically believable combat, where players can literally climb giant monsters such as griffins or chimeras and attack their vulnerable points, creating a sense of epic, almost wrestling-like battles unusual for the genre.

The gameplay is built around a choice of several vocations that players can switch between over the course of the game, so a sword-wielding fighter can become an archer or a mage, and hybrid classes combine magic with immediate action. The open world offered a dangerous night full of stronger enemies and a system that rewarded careful planning of light sources and equipment: a lantern, oil for it, and the weight of carried items were all a full part of preparing for a journey. Travel was deliberately slow and fast-travel options were very limited, turning every expedition into a small journey of its own. The Pawns' verbal callouts sharing observations about enemy weaknesses and dangers along the way created the impression of a living, communicative escort.

Critics praised the originality of the combat system and the Pawn system, even though technical shortcomings and a less engaging story drew criticism. Dragon's Dogma nevertheless became a cult favorite with a loyal fanbase, which led to the expanded Dark Arisen edition with a demanding underground complex, and much later to the sequel Dragon's Dogma 2. The online sharing of Pawns between players also foreshadowed later trends in asynchronous multiplayer cooperation in single-player RPGs, and today the game feels more like an idea ahead of its time than a dated title.