In 2012, a medieval fantasy game hit the market that still resonates in the memories of those who played it:
Dragon's Dogma
. The work of the Japanese company Capcom, it was a remarkable game, which proposed a dark world and a very hostile environment, but whose ambitions surpassed the technical power available at that time. Furthermore, it was overshadowed by the
Souls
saga
, which capitalized on dark fantasy throughout the decade.
Last week the sequel to the game hit the market, although it seems more like a
remake
, now technically enhanced to, with the new graphical power, fulfill the goals of its predecessor. It is a violent game, which shows no mercy towards the player, with a simple story but with a very deep forest of mechanics, which allows each player to personalize how to face their adventure to a very high degree.
The way deaths, inventory moving, and combat are handled make the danger the player feels real, making it an incredibly challenging game in a landscape of games that always tend to make things easy. In addition, it achieves something wonderful: being accompanied throughout the adventure by allies controlled by the machine makes it possible, in a single-player game like this, to fully experience a sense of camaraderie when defeating a gigantic enemy that Until now it was only possible to feel in
online
multiplayer
. The latter is, without a doubt, the jewel in the crown of
Dragon's Dogma 2
.
It is not a perfect game, but it cannot be denied that it is very clear about what it wants and what it does not want, which gives it a very marked personality that will polarize the audience but that, if it resonates at the same frequency as the player, it will become in an unrepeatable experience. It's a great game, you don't have to give it much more thought.
And that's it for the, let's say, objective criticism of the game. Because it's time to talk about a topic, if possible, even more interesting: creative merits and demerits aside, the game has been peppered by a controversy that is at the center of the digital sector.
One of the battles in the game.
When the game was presented, when the copies were delivered to the press, a detail was overlooked (a minor detail, the company would think) that has nevertheless modified the gaming experience in recent days: micropayments. That is, once the professional notes were released and the game was rated between notable high and outstanding, a microtransaction policy was applied that, although legitimate on the part of the company, the truth is that it has imposed a recontextualization of the game itself.
Even if you want to abstract yourself from it and simply embrace the gaming experience, questions inevitably arise. Let's give an example that summarizes the situation well. In
Dragon's Dogma 2,
moving around the map is much more difficult than in other similar games: the terrain is difficult to overcome, the distances are long, enemies attack almost at every step. Is this a creative decision of a game that wants to be demanding, or does it respond to the intention that players buy teleporting stones with real money (very difficult to acquire organically in the game itself) to facilitate the adventure? The design of the game makes doubts arise everywhere. Changing your character's hairstyle, in in-game currencies, is more expensive than good armor. Isn't the point of this decision that the player speeds up this mechanic by paying a few cents with real money to customize the hair or beard of his avatar?
In any corner of the world a child can download free games on a mobile phone. Expensive games, sometimes blockbusters, that are often financed through microtransactions. It means that there is excessive panic among players regarding micropayments. And that any way of financing a game is legitimate if it is legal. But another thing is that it is ethically decent. If they are so proud of this form of monetization, why hide it until after the notes come out?
Of course,
Dragon's Dogma II
does not reach the limits of some games, whose stated goal is to hook the player with neural strategies that practically turn them into slot machines. But doubts, suspicions that creative decisions have been intervened, or modified, by business decisions, are growing. And that should not happen in a game that is destined to be one of the best of 2024. It is a blur that not only dirtyes the gaming experience, but legitimizes the suspicions of many of those who take the part for the whole to criticize to the most important cultural sector in the world. Also in the digital world, must Caesar's wife appear honest? Yes. But, above all, she must be.
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