Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen brings big changes to the 2024 RPG

Jul 13, 2026 - 19:14

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Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen brings big changes to the 2024 RPG

Published Jul 13, 2026, 11:01 AM EDT

Amid fast-travel buffs and Dragonsplague nerfs, a hard mode is also in the works

More than two years after Capcom released Dragon’s Dogma 2, major updates are coming to the action-adventure role-playing game, including a new expansion, Dark Arisen. Before that add-on comes to Dragon’s Dogma 2 in October, the team is releasing game-changing updates that impact fast-travel and the game’s infamous Dragonsplague system.

A pair of free updates for Dragon’s Dogma 2 will change some controversial elements of the base game. One of those updates has already been released, and it added the option to use unlimited fast-travel, thanks to the addition of the Eternal Ferrystone item. The developers also added more Portcrystals to the game, letting players fast travel to additional locations.

For impatient gamers, the Eternal Ferrystone is a huge, time-saving boon. But its addition also diminished the on-foot exploration that was inherent to the Dragon’s Dogma 2 experience, for better or worse.

In August, Capcom will make two other major changes to Dragon’s Dogma 2, adding multiple save slots and changing the Dragonsplague illness that could lead to either hilarious moments or a game-ruining calamity.

Ahead of Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen’s release, and in-between the game’s major updates, Polygon spoke with game director Kento Kinoshita and producer Naoto Oyama about what’s changing and why.

Gameplay friction and Ferrystones

Getting around Dragon’s Dogma 2’s vast kingdoms of Vermund and Battahl is work. You’re either hoofing it on foot, taking risky public transportation, or using the game’s limited fast travel option. At least, that’s how it was in the original game. With this summer’s game updates and the Dark Arisen expansion, Capcom is making it much easier to explore Dragon’s Dogma 2.

“We understand that some people like the friction, but some people will take it as kind of an inconvenience,” producer Naoto Oyama told me. “When we launched the base game, we focused on delivering a realistic adventure experience — and we also consider that as a major appeal of the game as well, but we’re also considering the kind of modern standard for adventure game or RPG games.”

Oyama said that the addition of the Eternal Ferrystone — which was added in the original Dragon’s Dogma’s own Dark Arisen expansion — was the result of feedback from players who wanted to play the game more casually.

“But this is just added as an option,” Oyama said. “We’re not rebalancing the whole game. You can also choose to walk around without using a Ferrystone if you want to. Ultimately, we just added it as an option. The appeal of the base game is still intact.”

Capcom already added some concessions for casual players back in 2024, but the game’s latest changes take that approach a little further.

Dragonsplague changes

Dragon’s Dogma 2’s Dragonsplague sickness could spread among the hirable pawns in the game and ultimately wreak havoc on the world. Infected pawns show signs of sickness, become aggressive and disobedient, and their eyes glow red. Eventually, when the player rests at an inn, the pawn transforms into a shadowy dragon that can wipe out whole towns full of merchants and quest-givers.

The effect was dramatic and, as long as it didn’t happen to you, fascinating and sometimes funny to watch play out. Dragonsplague also seemed like a net negative for most players, but with a new update, Capcom is hoping to better present the positive aspects of the illness, Kinoshita said.

“Players could tell [their pawns were infected] if they were really careful in observing them and kind of preventing devastating outcomes,” Kinoshita said. “It was true that it was unclear whether the pawns had caught Dragonsplague or not. It lacked positive ways to cure the Dragonsplague — you had to lose your pawns.”

With the game’s August update, players will be able to instantly cure Dragonsplague using an in-game item — they won’t have to, say, throw a sick pawn into a river and drown it. The game will also communicate the advantages of Dragonsplague, which makes pawns stronger, and be explicitly clear when an infection is about to result in a game-changing calamity.

“So players can now enjoy a kind of risk/reward dynamic in a much clearer way, deciding whether to leave an afflicted pawn as is to prioritize combat advantage or determine the best timing to heal them.”

Despite these changes, Kinoshita said, the developers do not feel like they are “sanding off the edges” of Dragon’s Dogma 2.

“We want to clarify that we’re not easing the penalty [of Dragonsplague] at all. We just made it more clear that your pawn is afflicted by Dragonsplague, and we made the advantages clearer. When we released the base game, the disadvantage just stood out so much.”

The harder side of Dragon’s Dogma 2

There’s little doubt that Capcom has softened the difficulty and inconvenience of Dragon’s Dogma 2 since launch, which may be for the best as players now face new challenges in Dark Arisen. Players will also have multiple save slots, so the new conveniences will make second or third playthroughs much more enjoyable.

But what about a hard mode, something players have been requesting for two years now? The Dragon’s Dogma 2 dev team says they’re considering it.

“We are aware of feedback from users that they want hard mode in the game,” Oyama said. “We are currently considering the addition of the hard mode right now, but as for details, including when we can release it and what kind of mode it will become, that kind of update will be shared down the road. We hope that people will stay tuned for more information.”

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is currently available on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen expansion arrives on Oct. 9, which will also mark the arrival of a Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game.