Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is about a slaying a dragon that stole your heart (literally). But, the journey is way more fun than the conclusion
Dragon's Dogma
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Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is not a new game, in fact it is almost four years old. While its graphics are outdated by today's standards, the game is still surprisingly fun to play.
You play an Arisen, a person who has risen from the dead but unlike a zombie, you seem to have your brains intact. However, there are George Romero-style zombies in the game too and they behave exactly how you would expect them to.
Video: Watch the trailer of the PC version of 'Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
Being an old game, the graphics, as mentioned, are not as hot, and this is especially evident in your main character, that you are allowed to design yourself. The system used for that is a far cry from the newer RPG games like Fallout 4. While not great, it is still passable. You have three classes to choose from — fighter, strider and mage — and you can easily switch between them to up your skills and can also make hybrids.
Your undead situation is the result of you trying to a slay dragon that was destroying your village, ending with the said dragon stealing your heart. The rest of the journey is just you trying to get your heart back. There won't be much out of that storyline till the end of the game, which is great because there isn't much to be revealed during the game, and we feel it might have taken away from what really makes this game fun, the combat.
Like any role-playing game, your character can level up and, with it, you can upgrade skills, you armour and even your travel buddies called Pawns. The battle systems and quick access to power moves make the action quick paced and exhilarating, especially while fighting particularly tough monsters like Hydras or Chimeras. You can play the game using either a keyboard-mouse or a controller, both work well.
As mentioned, you have an AI support character (Pawn) to help along and you can hire up to four. They behave according to what you tell them during battle and while travelling around. They can be annoying as they spew garbage suggestions, thankfully you can turn that off. The best part is your Pawn can be hired by other people playing the game while you are offline and when your pawn is back they get better with experience, without you playing a single mission. You can craft your pawn in the same way you created your lead character. We would suggest making your pawn good-looking and load it up with good gear so it gets tagged along for more missions. The better your pawn, the easier the game will get for you.
Four years on, Dragon's Dogma is still a fun and addictive game to play, this is despite having an almost non-existent storyline and outdated graphics, a claim not too many games can make in its genre. The downside is if you have played the game on an Xbox or PS3, there is no new content, just better textures and fewer bugs.