Dragon's Dogma

Dragon's Dogma was made by Capcom under director Hideaki Itsuno, known for the Devil May Cry series, and first released in 2012 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as an action RPG that set itself apart from the open-world trend of the time by leaning hard into physical combat - players could climb onto a giant griffin's fur or scale a cyclops and strike specific body parts directly. The game offered several vocations players could freely switch between and combine into more advanced classes, with combat further shaped by gear weight, terrain and time of day, since nightfall filled the world with more dangerous monsters. The defining feature was the Pawn system, hired AI companions who remembered lessons learned on other players' quests and carried that knowledge back into your own world, blending offline adventuring with a quiet online layer.

The expanded Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen from 2013 added the sprawling underground dungeon Bitterblack Isle, packed with tough fights and rare gear for players who had already mastered the base game, and is still widely seen as the definitive way to experience the game - it later reappeared as a remaster on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, reaching a new generation of players.

Despite modest commercial results at launch, the game gradually built a cult following, reflected in the Japan-only free-to-play MMO spin-off Dragon's Dogma Online, which ran from 2015 until its servers closed in 2019, and in the Dragon's Dogma anime series that Netflix released in 2020, retelling the story of the hero's search for his stolen heart. Fans particularly valued the unusual combination of raw difficulty and cooperation with Pawns, which earned the game a reputation among gaming communities as an underappreciated gem long before it received a sequel.

After more than a decade of silence, Dragon's Dogma 2 arrived in 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC, expanding the Pawn system, the open world and the roster of vocations while keeping the focus on physically climbing monsters and using terrain tactically in combat. Critics praised the depth of the combat system and the return to the series' original identity, while launch-time technical performance and paid add-ons sold alongside a full-price game drew criticism.