Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 222 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 176 out of 222
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 222
  3. Negative: 19 out of 222
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  1. shiftyman
    Feb 8, 2018
    5
    With next to no story and dialogue, plus the woeful pathetic weapon upgrade system from BBI ruins what could’ve been an exceptional game.
  2. Belial2Spooku
    Oct 15, 2017
    7
    It´s almost the same game of the ps3.
    More Dragon dogma, if someone like the first one in the past generation it´s the same, same Flawls same Good things.
  3. frederik1478
    Nov 2, 2022
    7
    Dragon's Dogma is a really interesting game, but sadly it doesn't have the enemy variety to keep it interesting all the way through.

    The gameplay is fun if a bit shallow, it doesn't compare to Dark Souls but it does have its own player in creating your own pond and character style is fun in the Quest funny some of them and interesting. My biggest problem is there is a lot of walking    Dragon's Dogma is a really interesting game, but sadly it doesn't have the enemy variety to keep it interesting all the way through.

    The gameplay is fun if a bit shallow, it doesn't compare to Dark Souls but it does have its own player in creating your own pond and character style is fun in the Quest funny some of them and interesting.

    My biggest problem is there is a lot of walking about and there's not really so many interesting things to see in the way the world feels MC and it is fun to fight but after wild it is gonna become too repetitive. I enjoyed it. I have completed this game 2 times before but now I'm playing it for a third time and it does not stick to me.    … Expand
  4. CoreGamer1408
    Jan 28, 2019
    6
    The generic swords and sorcery story, plot and characters are so undeveloped I don't even care what is going on. Visually this was bad on the 360 back in the day. Now it looks like it is from the ark of gaming on the PS4. So all that is left is the gameplay to fall back on, right? The exploration is underwhelming. Trash mobs A.I. is basic to awful. Well when they fail to even reactThe generic swords and sorcery story, plot and characters are so undeveloped I don't even care what is going on. Visually this was bad on the 360 back in the day. Now it looks like it is from the ark of gaming on the PS4. So all that is left is the gameplay to fall back on, right? The exploration is underwhelming. Trash mobs A.I. is basic to awful. Well when they fail to even react comrades getting attacked. Boss fights I will get into that later.

    Problem with this game it is a party combat system that needs actual really human players (or a ME1 style combat system). Not three pointless A.I. morons that you are stuck with all the time. The pawn system is a gimmick and not a good one at that.

    Bosses are so boringly predictable. Get the Boss on the last health bar and unless the player health is at Max the Boss will try to one shot/hit with a rage/jump attack. Sometimes I just stood back and let the Pawns do all the work on the last Boss health bar round. Well the pawns can't die outright like the player and can be only KO. They just wait on slow death timer until recovery by the player. Nice in game exploit for sure stand back and not even play. Wow great game design developers the game plays itself.

    Travelling is annoying until I found enough of the limited port crystals aka the fast travel system to place strategically around the map. Lots of cookie cutter MMO style side quest missions to pad out game. Wasting many a time back travelling to the quest boards dotted around the land was annoying. As in coming back from another quest and/or free roaming to see that the quest board now wanted so many creatures dead I just killed in that other quest/area cleared I just finished, argh!

    Passable, but dated ARPG which is more focused on cookie cutter quests and flashy combat. No real interesting exploration or depth of story narrative. No New game+, no free roam. Only one auto save for one character only. While the ending feels like a slap in the face if you do things right.    … Expand
  5. kingdomgeekdom
    Mar 7, 2018
    5
    this is a decent action RPG with a cool premise of creating a pawn and allowing others to use it while you use others in your quest. It is a large open-world with a good amount of things to do, even if those are quest that just ask you to kill x number of such and such monster. Where it really fails for me is that there is no fast travel. Well there is, but it is expensive and doesn'tthis is a decent action RPG with a cool premise of creating a pawn and allowing others to use it while you use others in your quest. It is a large open-world with a good amount of things to do, even if those are quest that just ask you to kill x number of such and such monster. Where it really fails for me is that there is no fast travel. Well there is, but it is expensive and doesn't unlock until later in the game. That means a lot of running around across a large open world which can get quite boring and takes you out of the game when you run back and forth across the same section you explored a multitude of times.… Expand
  6. SplitMind
    Aug 2, 2023
    5
    The Hipsters' Skyrim. So many baffling and bad game design choices. The save file issue alone is laughable.
  7. Persona5GOAT
    Apr 9, 2020
    7
    I love the controls and combat but I would have like a more in-depth story, and the side quests are basically fetch, escort, or kill x amount of this type of monster. Not really great in that department. If there's a sequel I'd snatch it up and I hope it will be more polished. Some people have complained about the limited fast travel options but only in the very beginning did it kind ofI love the controls and combat but I would have like a more in-depth story, and the side quests are basically fetch, escort, or kill x amount of this type of monster. Not really great in that department. If there's a sequel I'd snatch it up and I hope it will be more polished. Some people have complained about the limited fast travel options but only in the very beginning did it kind of irk me. the map isn't as big as other open world games so it's not too hard to put up with footing it everywhere for a little bit. I like being able to customize Pawns' AI but at the same time it was not explained very well and is also "dynamic" meaning you can set their AI and find out a few hours later that it's changed somehow. Thankfully some old dude sells potions to rectify this, but again it's not really explained. Overall good, enjoyable, but feels like it falls short of what could have been.… Expand
  8. Xvatch
    Oct 16, 2021
    6
    Amazing concept, RPG, and replayablity ideas, but the AI let's the pawn system down so hard while it is such a key part of the game. I've spent a lot of time looking into how the AI works through Reddit etc and you are either always the last person standing in an important fight or the AI team just takes a run and jump off cliffs a lot of the time glitchily.. Dragon's Dogma 2 needs to beAmazing concept, RPG, and replayablity ideas, but the AI let's the pawn system down so hard while it is such a key part of the game. I've spent a lot of time looking into how the AI works through Reddit etc and you are either always the last person standing in an important fight or the AI team just takes a run and jump off cliffs a lot of the time glitchily.. Dragon's Dogma 2 needs to be much improved in this or the audience is going to be so nieche that it hardly presents itself. Only 2-4 knowledge chair inclinations actually have working AI, there is nothing really acceptable about that… Expand

Awards & Rankings

87
#87 Best PS4 Game of 2017
64
#64 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Worth Playing
    Jan 2, 2018
    85
    All in all, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is one of the best action-RPG titles out there, even though it's an upgraded port from the prior console generation.
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  2. ZTGD
    Nov 6, 2017
    70
    Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is a game about moments. Encountering a brand new monster, obtaining a powerful weapon or when a Drake crashes your goblin slaying party with a storm of hellfire- all moments that are memorable and fun to experience. The issue is that getting to those moments are oftentimes an absolute slog of tedious stamina and weight management, battling the same group of wolves and bandits for the thirtieth time.
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  3. 4P.de
    Oct 18, 2017
    78
    Despite all the visual enhancements you can still see that the original is five years old. With that in mind, this is still a good and at times positively rough action role-playing game that is worth exploring.
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