Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

The original game was good, not great. Dark Arisen adds content, fixes existing problems and offers a massive world to play in for a bargain basement price.

Aside from that though, the original Dragon's Dogma was one of the better role-playing games to come along in quite some time when it originally debuted last year. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is the very same game, only better, stuffed with even more content, and cheaper to boot. Now's a perfect time to dive in for new players, and those who've beaten it already will find a nice new challenge in Bitterblack Isle alongside some additional goodies for carrying over their save as a loyalty bonus. It's a game that keeps on giving, only with a bit less Dangan.

Dark Arisen adds devilish new content that will challenge you in new and lethal ways. Coupled with some welcome improvements to the main game, the game is even better than before.

It will take a capable character about a dozen hours to make it to the bottom of this mega-dungeon, and once you do, the dungeon locks up its doors once more and fortifies its defenses with even more fearsome guardians to match your inflated level and newly-acquired loot.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is a solid pick for anyone that has yet to try Capcom's open world RPG.

A great RPG revisited, with a challenging expansion and lots of enhancements to main campaign. Capcom dit a great job on refinement, but some technical issues remains.

It's not good to fans to release Dark Arisen without having the option to download it as downloadable content. But it must be said that this game is such a great role playing game. A must have.

If you’ve beaten the game and moved on, there’s enough new stuff to explore that it warrants another playthrough. And for those who are looking for a quirky RPG with epic moments (and pig-throwing hijinks), here it is in one neat bundle.

This is the original game plus the expansion reasonably priced, so if you missed them when they were released, you've got now a great opportunity to enjoy this open-world RPG.

There's no getting around it: Dark Arisen is difficult. There are moments when playing it that it may even feel like it's impossible and completely unfair, but the feeling of beating this title makes the incredibly tough adventure well worth it.

A welcome addition to the original Dragon's Dogma story, with tougher and more satisfying challenges and several improvements over the original game.

If you haven't played the original version, here's a chance to enjoy one of the best RPGs of this generation in its fullest form.

Easily recommendable for everyone who is even slightly interested in this franchise. Aside from the full game and the expansion, this edition also contains previously released downloadable content and other extra's. The price might be a little too high for fans though, considering what the additions are. Unfortunately Capcom isn't offering an alternative for their loyal fans.

Transferable save games, unlimited fast travel access and 100,000 rift crystals to spend might help swing the deal. For those on the fence however, the full game with hours of new content should be all you need to hop off. We wouldn't be surprised if this is the best budget release all year.

Dark Arisen is indisputably in Dark Souls' thrall. But this tribute is both thoughtful and creative, building upon Miyazaki's work with some individuality rather than merely mimicking its - arguably unrepeatable - wonders.

One of the best gdr of the last year became even better. New weapons, new enemies and more than 10 hours of pure fights await you on the Bitterblack Island.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen offers more challenge, monsters and secrets to the original Dragon's Dogma experience. With the same great combat system, but it has some important graphical issues.

Dragon`s Dogma is a surprise. The new content and graphics are nice, but not more. The game scores with its good price and with all additional content.

It’s great at combat and exploration, but the quests are often boring, the fiction is turgid and its technical problems are unignorable. But it’s a very good game, and it’s so interesting that I’m inclined to forgive most of its problems because it succeeds in such important ways.

Capcom adds new hours of interesting gameplay to one of their best new IPs of this generation.

The bittersweet reality is that Dark Arisen is an incredible package for the price tag, just know what you are getting into. The new area is only for the hardest of the hardcore, so be prepared to die.

While I can't wholly recommend Dark Arisen to anyone but the most hardcore of Dragon's Dogma fans, if you haven't touched the franchise yet, this is a perfect opportunity to do so. Despite the issues, the series is an intriguing prospect that does many things right, and shouldn't be missed by action or RPG fans alike.

Brutal difficulty spikes. [July 2013, p.82]

Bitterblack Island is a truly solid challenge bringing fun and atmosphere that is, however, suffering from the game's monotonous setting, limited space manoeuvring, and the game's linearity. Still, if you've never played Dragon's Dogma, you'll get the original heavy title along with this expansion pack.

Clears up some (but not all) of the original game’s odd missteps and adds a bunch of challenging and engrossing content. Might feel a bit like a rip-off for players who already own the original, though.

Dragon’s Dogma itself is a fantastic title with some innovative ideas for the genre. If you never played it, then I strongly suggest buying the Dark Arisen release, especially if you love western-esque RPGs; and for the budget price, you are getting one quality video game.

If you’re a newcomer to Dragon’s Dogma, then this is the edition to get; otherwise, you’ll have to be an incredibly dedicated fan as there isn’t enough here to justify an upgrade.

Dark Arisen adds some great new content to the excellent Dragon's Dogma, though the new dungeon's unbalanced difficulty turns fun into frustration.

The content added to Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen over the original Dragon’s Dogma might not be enough for previous players to be able to justify buying the game for a second time. For those who missed out on Dragon’s Dogma the first time around, however, this is a great way to finally give the game a shot.

A great value bundle that includes the original game, the new expansion, and some of the best action role-playing since Dark Souls.

While it features the same basic mechanics as its parent title, Dark Arisen plays away from its strengths by locking the player in something of a one-note environment to wage war on mostly reskinned enemies.