Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen

The premise

You play the Arisen, a hero chosen by a dragon, who must reclaim the throne of Vermund from an impostor. Combat is real-time: you cross a large open world on foot or by oxcart, joined by “Pawns”, AI companions. Your main Pawn is customisable and learns from your fights, and you can recruit Pawns made by other players online. Combat is built on ten very different “vocations” (classes), and you can climb onto huge monsters to strike their weak spots.

What Dark Arisen adds

The expansion opens Norgan, a snowy northern region with abandoned towns, blizzards and new monsters, built around an undying dragon and another mysterious Arisen. It also adds Lost Rites, twelve dungeons spread across the world, new skills and relics to appraise for gear. Nintendo Life finds it tough: even with a level-80 character, he “got beat up constantly”. The 2026 updates also made fast travel easier and removed Dragonsplague, a mechanic that could wipe out whole towns.

The Switch 2 version

All three reviews praise a successful port. The game offers three settings: a 30fps cap, an unlocked frame rate and FSR 3 frame generation. Nintendo World Report estimates 720p docked before upscaling, and as low as 360p handheld, with a somewhat soft image. Nintendo Life notes longer loads than on PS5 Pro and occasional chop, mostly docked. Pure Nintendo saw no real performance issues. Digital Foundry’s technical analysis is harsher: the 30fps mode has uneven frame pacing and frame generation adds around 130ms of latency. There is no cross-save with other platforms, which Nintendo Life regrets.

What divides critics

All three outlets find the story weak or secondary: the fun comes from combat and emergent moments while exploring. Pure Nintendo also criticises the camera in tight spaces, the weight-based inventory, some unclear quests and repetitive regular fights (goblins, wolves). Nintendo World Report warns the game can feel overwhelming at first.

Price and platforms

As of 11 November 2026, Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen costs €49.99 on the Nintendo eShop (Switch 2), Steam, the French PlayStation Store and the French Xbox Store. On PC, PlayStation and Xbox this price is for the bundle containing the base game, the expansion and two small extras. Owners of the base game can buy the expansion alone, which is not listed here as it is add-on content. Resellers and physical editions were not checked.

Who is it for?

Fans of demanding action RPGs who like exploring and experimenting with classes and companions. Players after a big story or perfectly smooth performance on Switch 2 may be disappointed.