On March 22, 2024, Dragon’s Dogma 2 will be released on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The sequel to the popular role-playing game from 2013 cites a very specific game as inspiration for the freedom in the open world: GTA 5.
Which game is it about? Dragon’s Dogma is a fantasy role-playing game by Capcom from 2013. Accordingly, it has been around for eleven years. Fans of the game have been waiting for a sequel for years. Over time, Dragon’s Dogma has become a true fan favorite.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 already looks like a worthy sequel in the trailers. The game once again offers a vast open world and its unique Pawn system. You recruit AI-controlled party members whom you can also share with other players online. All in all, Dragon’s Dogma remains a single-player game.
Another feature of the series is the breathtaking battles against huge boss enemies that you can climb. And even the character editor of the second part seems to be anything but modest.
The game director Hideaki Itsuno, who was responsible for the first part, spoke in an interview with GamesRadar+ about the design philosophy of the open world and the gameplay freedom. He named a surprising role model: GTA 5.
Dragon’s Dogma has shown its dynamic combat system in a new trailer:
Rockstar’s gangster epic has impressed the developer
Why was GTA 5 an inspiration? The fifth part of the GTA series, like Dragon’s Dogma, was released in 2013. In retrospect, game director Hideaki Itsuno is impressed by the way Rockstar Games designs their world.
Itsuno found it particularly inspiring how GTA 5 connects different gameplay systems, leading to a satisfying gaming experience. As a player, you feel completely free at all times. You get the feeling that you can do whatever you want.
GTA 5 is very flexible and allows multiple events to overlap. As an example, Itsuno mentions the chaos for which GTA is famous. You can do something that spirals out of control. Great chaos ensues, and the game world reacts to it.
The game manages that. It doesn’t crash, it doesn’t kick you out of one thing into another; it just lets everything flow in a way that, while chaotic, always feels intentional.
Hideaki Itsuno via gamesradar.com
For instance, during police chases, which rarely go as one expects. The blending of gameplay and open world was impressively achieved in GTA 5. The environment adapts to the chaos – this summarizes the genius of a GTA well and should happen similarly in Dragon’s Dogma 2.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 does without fast travel: According to Itsuno, the team aims to create an open world that is so exciting that players do not want to use fast travel at any time. To counteract this urge, the game even forgoes the otherwise so popular feature.
The open world is said to be about four times as large as in the first part of the role-playing game. By the time of the release on March 22, we will know how noticeably the inspiration from GTA has affected the game. MeinMMO author Max Handwerk has already played the game and written down his thoughts.
