Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen review for PC

Why should you give two thoughts to picking up a PC re-release of a game that launched on Xbox 360 and PS3 back in 2013? Well, here?s a bunch of reasons.

1. Dragon?s Dogma: Dark Arisen is awesome. OK, maybe that?s a bit too nebulous, but it really is. Easily one of my favorite RPG?s of all time, and certainly one of the best released in the past decade or so. It features a large, open-world, lots of unique enemy encounters, fantastically designed monsters, tons of combat options, a super diverse character creator, and an amazing soundtrack.
2. The PC version essentially fixes any issues I had with the original game. The framerate is unlocked, 60 frames per second is easily achieved by mid-tier systems, the textures look great, the letterboxing is gone, and other quality of life additions have been made to make the game even more enjoyable than it originally was.
3. You can share sidekicks online. This isn?t a new feature, but it?s still a pretty cool one. You can outfit your A.I. companion character with gear, level them up, make them look real dumb (or awesome), train them with the same skills and abilities your main character can get, and then make them available for other players to recruit. Sometime?s they?ll even come back improved, after encountering different enemies or areas that allow them to give tips and find objects based on their explorations away from you.
4. Did I mention how great the combat is in Dragon?s Dogma? It?s all action based, with various classes to unlock, but you can mix and match various abilities as well, allowing for hybrids. Movement and combat is super-responsive, and spellcasting is genuinely impressive. You can also mount large enemies like Chimaera?s, Wyrm?s, and so on, providing some unique verticality to combat missing in other like-minded RPG?s.
5. Dragon?s Dogma features lots of unique, equippable gear that is gender specific and upgradeable with tons of materials to collect. Every piece of gear can be upgraded at least three times, with varying degrees of rarity, boosting magic and physical defense. Some pieces of gear provide additional protection against elemental attacks, while others allow the use of various skills that you may not normally have access to. Gear can also be class specific, and there?s a ton of it in the game to either find or buy. Quick tip, once you arrive in Gran Soren, make sure to check your chest at the local inn for some useful armor sets that are available right off the bat.

Seriously, give consideration to checking out Dragon?s Dogma: Dark Arisen when it launches on Steam this week. It?s a fantastic RPG made better by this release, and is something that every RPG fan should experience.