Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

The Dragon’s Dogma starting village is the first game town that has ever felt real to me.  As I was walking between two buildings, I suddenly realized that this felt exactly like walking around an old, eastern European town that’s been built and rebuilt since the middle ages.  Besides the layout, being able to enter any building is always nice – buildings aren’t just placed to make the place feel large.  But then, I realized I had to climb on top of a building for a quest and I was very, very happy.  I’ll take this game over “We place half our guards on the roofs because reasons” Creed any day.  Even with dragons, magic, and companions that literally fall out of thin air, it feels more realistic than Italy during the renaissance.

For the actual game, well… I haven’t gotten that far into it yet, which is kinda how these games go.  Nevertheless, it seems like it will be a fun, classic cRPG.  The controls feel good, and the animations are incredible.  Your character has momentum and weight while still feeling like a video game hero.  The NPC dialogue is a bit stilted, but I think that’s mostly due to the silence of the protagonist; if I have a chief complaint right now, it’s that I think they could have used a voice actor for the protagonist.

There are a few mechanics in this game that I hope find their way into other games (and I’ve only played for an hour!).

• Character creation is well fleshed-out, yet still possible to accomplish in under an hour (even ZeroLenny would be pleased).
• Climbing exists.  It also feels realistic and has combat implications.  I love this – of course, I’m also a guy that died after using Dimension Door to land on the back of a dragon … twice … in a Pathfinder campaign, so my judgement may be suspect.
• The run-and-jump animation is blissful.
• Stamina only matters outside towns.  Let me say that again: stamina only matters outside towns.  Why doesn’t everything do this?

Obviously, these folks just need to team up with the Dark Souls folks (plus the guy in charge of the kick mechanic in Dark Messiah) and all other RPGs will cower in fear.

Steam link