One hour with Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen impressed me more than several with Crimson Desert

Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen is an enormous expansion for Capcom’s open-world RPG, and if you weren’t a fan of Crimson Desert, it’ll be right up your street.

The build-up to Crimson Desert’s release left a lot of gamers sceptical. It looked a little too good to be true. An open-world unlike anything we’d played before, with a sandbox restricted only by the player’s creativity.

Its successes are to be admired and its upcoming DLC already sounds exciting, but like many, I found its open-world to be a little too zany for my liking, even if traversing it atop a dragon was pretty cool.

Perhaps that’s why I surprisingly jelled with Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen. Having not played the full-game I went in expecting something good but what I played completely blew me away.

My hands-on demo at Gamescom put me in the shoes of a character decked out with powerful gear, and my companions were equally well-equipped. We found ourselves in the all-new snowy biome of Norgan, and as we explored, it felt like the Fellowship trying to cross the Misty Mountains.

The new gameplay mechanics introduced with the DLC are Relics. This is a new loot type you’ll grab off powerful enemies, and they can be appraised for excellent gear. You’ll need the upgrades too as some of the new enemies are tough. Fortunately, the pawns had my back, but some encounters still proved to be a challenge.

My objective hid in a fortress at the top of a mountain, but I regularly found myself compelled to go off the beaten path. Doing so led me to normal packs of enemies but eventually, I went head-to-head with a giant which I scaled Shadow of the Colossus-style.

All the while, I was adding more and more Relics to my inventory which I eventually cashed in for some last-minute gear before finally finding my way to the fortress' front doors.

Here, lay the last leg of my hands-on session, a boss fight with the dragon pictured on the DLC's cover art. I won’t spoil the end result of the confrontation, but know it was an intense affair that I’m looking forward to attempting again in the full release, especially after the way it reaffirmed my opinion of Crimson Desert.

Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen somehow makes Crimson Desert feel small

In many ways, I came away from my Dragon’s Dogma 2 preview feeling amazed, though equally ashamed. I’ve slept on this fantastic RPG for far too long, and had I played it prior to Crimson Desert’s launch, I might have not even bothered with Pearl Abyss’ RPG. It sounds harsh, but it really wasn’t my cup of tea. No shade to those who do enjoy it though.

The edge Dragon’s Dogma 2 has over Crimson Desert in my humble opinion is its world size, but not for the reason you’d think. When I say it makes Crimson Desert feel small, I mean in terms of proximity. It felt more concentrated and refined. Like there was always something to do or see no matter which direction I went in.

When I played Crimson Desert, I was stunned by its vistas. Looking out at the horizon and knowing I could travel there was neat, but the practice of actually going there often felt uneventful. Flying around was cool, but then you’re not really exploring are you? All the stuff to see is down on the ground.

Crimson Desert currently has one of the biggest open-worlds in all of gaming, but to me this preview reaffirmed that bigger isn’t always better. Quality over quantity.

Perhaps I’ll feel differently when I dive into the full Dragon’s Dogma 2 experience, but my short time with its Dark Arisen DLC impressed me far more than my several hours with Crimson Desert.