Highlights
- Traversal in open-world games is crucial and Dragon’s Dogma 2 offers unique movement mechanics.
- Players can walk or ride an oxcart in the game, but otherwise navigation is limited.
- The climbing mechanic in the game is used for combat against large monsters, adding a cinematic touch.
One of the most important pillars of any open-world game is its traversal systems. Whether it’s riding a horse, driving a car, flying a plane, parkouring across rooftops, or swinging from skyscrapers, it’s imperative that open-world games have some form of intuitive, engaging traversal mechanics, especially considering the size of some modern open worlds. While Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t have any distinct traversal methods as such, it isn’t without its own set of unique movement mechanics.
When traversing across Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s open-world, players are given just two options, with the first being to walk across the map on foot, and the second being to take an oxcart to the desired destination. With so much of the Dragon’s Dogma 2 experience revolving around its emergent open-world gameplay, the last thing Capcom wants players to do is just zip straight past it all, but that doesn’t mean that the developer hasn’t given players a fun set of movement tools, and they can draw an interesting comparison with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
How Dragon’s Dogma 2’s Character Creator Compares to Baldur’s Gate 3’s
Baldur’s Gate 3 is widely considered to be one of the greatest RPGs ever made, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 gives its character creator a run for its money.
Comparing Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Climbing Mechanics
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Offers Ultimate Freedom of Movement
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is considered one of the most revolutionary open-world video games of all time, and its climbing mechanics played no small part in that. Pairing excellently with Breath of the Wild‘s player-centric approach to the open-world formula, these climbing mechanics allowed players to scale just about everything on the map, from mountains to buildings to trees to towers. That is, as long as the player had enough stamina and, in some instances, the right gear.
This near-unlimited level of player freedom had never really been experienced in a video game before. Players may not have technically been able to reach certain locations, but the illusion that they potentially could was freeing enough. But somehow, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was able to up the ante even further.
Climbing remained a vital pillar of
Tears of the Kingdom
‘s gameplay, but now, players had access to a range of
Zonai abilities
that they could use to assist their expeditions, such as building themselves a ladder using Ultrahand.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Pairs its Climbing Mechanics with Monsters
Dragon’s Dogma 2 features a very similar climbing mechanic to Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, where the player’s stamina bar slowly depletes as they continue to climb. However, the big difference between the two games is what their climbing mechanics are used for. Zelda‘s climbing mechanics are the primary form of traversal in those recent open-world entries, but in Dragon’s Dogma 2, the climbing is used solely for combat.
While players can technically hop up onto a cliff ledge or use a levitation spell to reach new heights, Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s climbing mechanics only really come into play when players are facing off against a large monster or boss. Be it an ogre, griffin, chimera, or golem, Dragon’s Dogma 2 lets players clamber their way on top of a monster and hack away at the beast beneath. Though Zelda‘s climbing mechanics are extremely practical, Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s are highly cinematic, often leading to intense moments like holding on for dear life as a griffin takes flight with the player on their back, or attempting a superhero landing after an ogre throws them into the sky.
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
