Capcom just shipped Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, and following its release, a new Nintendo Switch 2 vs. PS5 graphics comparison has emerged.
Looking at resolution first, the Nintendo Switch 2 version targets 1080p in handheld mode and 1440p when docked. In comparison, the PS5 version is 4K. Frame rate is where things get more interesting. As previously heard, Capcom has included an option to enable frame generation on Nintendo Switch 2. This technically allows the game to reach 60 frames per second. When the option is off, the action seems to stick more closely to the 40s. Capcom made some subtle graphical changes to get Dragon’s Dogma 2 running on Nintendo Switch 2. These relate to textures, draw distance, and more. Still, it’s impressive to see the title here in its entirety with the visuals only being scaled down a bit.
The first Dark Arisen expansion for the original Dragon’s Dogma has a well-lauded place in video game history as the expansion that fixed the base game, sanding down the rough technical edges and tweaking things to make the notoriously obtuse RPG more approachable. It also added hours of new content, spiraling an already heady story directly into the heavens on the back of dragon wings. Dark Arisen 2 isn’t as transformational as the first one was, primarily because many of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s biggest issues have been fixed through incremental patching since it came out in 2024. But the new content here definitely flies in the same ambitious skies as its predecessor, pushing the story and world design to new heights, even if some of the new progression options get left behind.
As with Dragon’s Dogma 2’s base campaign, Dark Arisen 2’s story remixes themes from the first game without being a simple retelling. Like in the first, another Arisen has been rumored to exist, something that shouldn’t be possible and demands your immediate attention. This takes you north to the frozen mountains of Norgan, a place that is largely abandoned save for the single settlement at its border (and the steady stream of visitors coming from other lands to investigate what’s been lost under all that ice besides you). The expansion’s story also meanders in similar ways to the base game, with plot points getting sidetracked by little tasks or other happenings, but it didn’t feel as distracting since a lot of the help me and I’ll help you quests are relegated to side stories. As a whole, this roughly 20-hour main quest is solid, lacking in nuanced writing or ground breaking storytelling but bursting with a tangibly broody mood, big moments, and some genuinely interesting lore.
The frigid Norgan region is delightfully dense with things to find and see even if it’s smaller than most other regions in Dragon’s Dogma 2. What it lacks in square footage on a map, it gains in a sprawling sense of height that stretches from its jagged icy peaks down to winding underground caverns that spread wide and interconnect. Navigating up and down the rocks is a treacherous and daunting road at first, but climbing hooks can be used on specific poles scattered throughout to bridge elevations without the fuss. Combined with how dungeons and caves tended to loop back on themselves, revealing exits or opening doors that served as their own shortcuts into and out of zones, and Dark Arisen 2 felt almost like a Zelda or Metroid game in ways this series never has before. The abundance of portcrystals scattered around the map is another navigational relief. There are more in Norgan than there are in Vermund and Bathall combined, making travelling to different zones far more reasonable than it was in the base game.
Norgan’s wintry winds often pick up, turning snowfall into blinding whiteouts that threaten to freeze you to death if you aren’t protected by special winterized gear or new consumables designed to stave off these frost effects for a limited time. Norgan’s crumbling castles and snowcapped cliffs are a welcome change of pace from the rolling hills and dense hinterlands of Vermund and the craggy deserts of Bathall. It’s also not all snowy wastes. A festering poisonous swamp and crystal caves deep below the mountains subverted expectations for the region in a welcome way.
The bulk of what you’ll find hidden in the snow are Spoils, a new gear type that appears in generic shapes at first, but is revealed to be a usable piece of equipment when appraised by one of the new NPCs. Rolling the dice for new gear was not particularly exciting, and it further isolated players from having any real attachment to equipment in a game that already had an abundance of junk to constantly ignore. New skills and abilities for every vocation can be learned from obelisks that dot the ridges and tundra in Norgan. Each have multiple tiers of offerings, and while the first are available for purchase with rift points immediately, the rest need to be unlocked with offering flames, earned in Dark Arisen 2’s second big campaign: the repeatable 12 Lost Rites dungeons scattered across Vermund and Bathall.
Norgan’s new slate of monsters can be pretty gnarly early on. Some are just stronger versions of baddies you’ve seen in the past, like the barbarous beocarns who are essentially just bigger bandits. But the brand new foes, like that Baphomet-shaped lesser demons who sling spells and enhance their own physical attacks with elemental boons, can be pretty intense dance partners. Giant yetis with gaping mouths that stretch the length of their bodies might be some of the most grotesque and memorable enemies in the series.
Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen’s avalanche of new content is an icy salve for the burns left by a modern world full of incremental live-service updates. It’s not all divine, as the campaign spends far too much of its final moments driving on repetitive tasks and its new Spoils slot machine makes the endgame gear hunt more lifeless than the frozen wastes you scrounge them from. But the journey, full of new and interesting characters, vibrant and violent enemies, and the wonderful wreckage of a bygone civilization, is an engrossing adventure worth the investment.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 presented players with a deep, explorable fantasy world, challenging them to choose their own experience – from the appearance of their Arisen, their vocation, their party, how to approach different situations and more. With Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, that experience has been further enhanced through the addition of unforgettable new tales and thrilling encounters. Adventure forth to the long-abandoned region of Norgan and join forces with the enigmatic Eir, who seeks to unravel the secrets of the undying Fallen Dragon. Rare equipment once held by past Arisens lays dormant in the depths of freshly uncovered unique dungeons. New hairstyles and tattoos are also added to the character creator. The game is available now at retail or on the Nintendo eShop.
