[[{“value”:”

Dragon’s Dogma 2 isn’t perfect, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t one of my favorite games of 2024. Climbing a giant monster and taking it down like you’re a supernaturally powered David against a monstrous Goliath is just fun, solidified into a game mechanic, and the combat only heightens the experience. With the Dark Arisen expansion giving me another reason to return to Battahl and, well, another reason to ignore the Pawn trailing behind me as I walk over the trail of corpses I’ve left in my wake, I’m ready to become the Arisen once again.

I won’t bore you with the base game’s details—if you’re here, you’ve probably already played one of the best RPGs of recent years. Dark Arisen isn’t just a simple narrative patched onto the existing game, either. It’s the culmination of months of performance improvements alongside the arrival of a substantial amount of new content. This isn’t just a small update, after all.

Dark Arisen sees you taking the role of the fated Arisen once again, heading to the Norgan region, which is blanketed in snow and under threat from the Fallen Dragon, a heartless beast of ruin that is basically a corpse walking around. That’s not terrifying at all. Fortunately, you’ll be working with Eir, a woman whose story begins with little more than a hunt for the beast in Norgan.

As the difficulty of this adventure rises, so too does the loot. Relics offer you a new way to empower your Arisen, with gear that has increased defensive and offensive stats. If you’re lucky, you may even find loot with unique skills, giving you an advantage over Norgan’s fearsome creature —and, well, who doesn’t love grinding for interesting gear? My Destiny-loving brain prays for the good drops.

Capping it all off are the Lost Rites, dungeons filled with loot from Arisens long gone, left in perilous places for you to uncover. Fortunately, these are repeatable missions that will challenge you and your Pawn companions as you attempt to collect rare equipment, which will become increasingly useful as you inevitably go back to fighting beasts again.

If you’re looking to buy the new expansion, don’t buy it on Steam. Instead, pre-order it for just $24.89 / £20.74 at Fanatical, getting you the expansion as a Steam key for less than Valve’s platform. However, if you haven’t played Dragon’s Dogma 2, you can also get the entire bundle at a discount, with the game and Dark Arisen expansion for just $41.49 / £37.34 at Fanatical. Considering I spent over 50 hours in the base game alone, that’s a lot of content at a fraction of the price.

Any game where you can make your character look like Thanos is undoubtedly cool. So, you’re in for a treat.

Disclosure: GameSpot and Fanatical are both owned by Fandom. This story was created in collaboration with Fanatical’s deals team.

“}]] [[{“value”:”Dragon’s Dogma 2 isn’t perfect, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t one of my favorite games of 2024. Climbing a giant monster and taking it down like you’re a supernaturally powered David against a monstrous Goliath is just fun, solidified into a game mechanic, and the combat only heightens the experience. With the Dark Arisen expansion giving me another reason to return to Battahl and, well, another reason to ignore the Pawn trailing behind me as I walk over the trail of corpses I’ve left in my wake, I’m ready to become the Arisen once again.

I won’t bore you with the base game’s details—if you’re here, you’ve probably already played one of the best RPGs of recent years. Dark Arisen isn’t just a simple narrative patched onto the existing game, either. It’s the culmination of months of performance improvements alongside the arrival of a substantial amount of new content. This isn’t just a small update, after all.

Dark Arisen sees you taking the role of the fated Arisen once again, heading to the Norgan region, which is blanketed in snow and under threat from the Fallen Dragon, a heartless beast of ruin that is basically a corpse walking around. That’s not terrifying at all. Fortunately, you’ll be working with Eir, a woman whose story begins with little more than a hunt for the beast in Norgan.

As the difficulty of this adventure rises, so too does the loot. Relics offer you a new way to empower your Arisen, with gear that has increased defensive and offensive stats. If you’re lucky, you may even find loot with unique skills, giving you an advantage over Norgan’s fearsome creature —and, well, who doesn’t love grinding for interesting gear? My Destiny-loving brain prays for the good drops.

Capping it all off are the Lost Rites, dungeons filled with loot from Arisens long gone, left in perilous places for you to uncover. Fortunately, these are repeatable missions that will challenge you and your Pawn companions as you attempt to collect rare equipment, which will become increasingly useful as you inevitably go back to fighting beasts again.

If you’re looking to buy the new expansion, don’t buy it on Steam. Instead, pre-order it for just $24.89 / £20.74 at Fanatical, getting you the expansion as a Steam key for less than Valve’s platform. However, if you haven’t played Dragon’s Dogma 2, you can also get the entire bundle at a discount, with the game and Dark Arisen expansion for just $41.49 / £37.34 at Fanatical. Considering I spent over 50 hours in the base game alone, that’s a lot of content at a fraction of the price.

Any game where you can make your character look like Thanos is undoubtedly cool. So, you’re in for a treat.

Disclosure: GameSpot and Fanatical are both owned by Fandom. This story was created in collaboration with Fanatical’s deals team.”}]]  Read MoreGameSpot – All Content