Dragon’s Dogma 2 Sets a New Standard For Emergent Gameplay

Though finding an exact definition for it is much easier said than done, the phrase “Emergent Gameplay” often refers to video games that revolve around, or have large portions of gameplay that follow unscripted events. These events often occur at random and challenge the player to use the game’s toolset in a variety of ways, resulting in completely unique, memorable experiences. Dragon’s Dogma 2 is absolutely packed to the brim with these emergent gameplay moments.

Though the term has been used for a while now, emergent gameplay has really become a popular buzzword in the gaming industry in the last decade or so, growing in popularity alongside the rise of the open-world genre, where the most notable emergent gameplay examples can be found. Though it certainly isn’t the first, nor the most polished, Dragon’s Dogma 2 might have just set a new gold standard for the use of emergent gameplay in the open-world genre.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Features First-Class Emergent Gameplay

How Past RPGs Have Tried to Use Emergent Gameplay

Emergent gameplay has been an ever-growing staple of the open-world RPG genre, particularly in the last decade or so, and The Elder Scrolls franchise is often cited as one of the feature’s best examples. Though present in previous entries as well, Skyrim features a slew of emergent gameplay mechanics, from dragons attacking settlements at random, to different factions battling one another in the open, to a prisoner escaping their convoy and fleeing past the player. These events are usually largely unscripted, and they’re a big reason behind Skyrim‘s longevity, ensuring that every playthrough is different.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its 2023 sequel Tears of the Kingdom are some of the latest games that revolve around emergent gameplay. While story and side missions exist in these games, much of the experience centers around the player’s own exploration of the world, and the unscripted events they stumble upon. The player’s vast toolset goes hand in hand with these unscripted moments, allowing for a truly unique, emergent experience.

How Dragon’s Dogma 2’s Emergent Gameplay Sets a New Standard

Pretty much the entirety of Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s open-world is built around emergent gameplay, with practically every step into the wilderness conjuring up some kind of unscripted, highly memorable event. More often than not, these emergent moments involve some kind of monster attack, but the magic of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is that no one enemy encounter feels the same. While the player will face off against a pack of goblins countless times during their Dragon’s Dogma 2 adventure, these goblins can be aided suddenly by a pack of wolves, a group of bandits, or another small army of goblins, leading to a frenzy of action.

These moments only get more impressive when larger monsters are introduced to the fray. From ogres to cyclopses to griffins, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is home to a range of hulking monsters, all of which can appear at random in the open-world, and all of which are capable of really enhancing the game’s emergent nature, performing attacks that can level the environment and destroy bridges, and even flying the player randomly across the map. These moments are then further reinforced by the game’s NPCs, many of whom will be strolling by and will assist the player in their fight.

All of this combines to make Dragon’s Dogma 2 the new standard for emergent gameplay. When booting up Dragon’s Dogma 2 for the first, fifth, or fiftieth time, players never know what they’re going to experience over the next few hours, and that level of unpredictability, paired with Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s cinematic nature, leads to a level of replayability and emergence that hasn’t really been seen before.

Dragon’s Dogma 2

The long-awaited sequel to 2012’s action RPG, Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 follows the Arisen, a hero whose heart is stolen by a powerful and massive dragon. Featuring a world 4x the size of its predecessor, Dragon’s Dogma 2 emphasizes customization and player control through its character creator, vocations system, and AI-controlled Pawns. 

Released

March 22, 2024

Genre(s)

Action RPG

Engine

RE Engine