As shared on Twitter by Benji Sales (opens in new tab), SteamDB (opens in new tab)has Dragon’s Dogma’s peak player concurrent count at 6,582 over the weekend, which is the highest it’s been in over six years. The reveal of Dragon’s Dogma 2 has undoubtedly put the original back on the brains of many, though it’s also worth mentioning that the long-standing RPG is on sale right now (opens in new tab), being available for £3.83 / $5.00 at the time of writing. 

Dragon’s Dogma has some way to go before it smashes its own concurrent player record on Steam, which currently sits at 27,368 as of seven years ago, as per SteamDB. Regardless, it’s nice to see people returning to a classic to ease the wait for the sequel. 

Director Hideaki Itsuno revealed the big news during a special Dragon’s Dogma steam last week, though details remain thin on the ground. We know that the upcoming RPG is being put together using the RE Engine, the same engine used for the Resident Evil 4 remake and Street Fighter 6.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” Itsuno said at the time. “Dragon’s Dogma 2 is currently in development. Everyone in the development team is hard at work creating a game that we hope you will enjoy. Please look forward to it!” 

Fans had an inkling that Dragon’s Dogma 2 was getting a reveal long before it happened. The game’s existence seemed ever more likely last year after leaks from a Capcom tipster and Nvidia GeForce Now. Hopes were more recently sparked, though, by an anniversary website promising a “momentous celebration”. 

Can’t wait? Here are the best RPGs to keep you occupied in the meantime. 

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Dragon’s Dogma will grow even more dogmatic next year with Dark Arisen, an expansion announced today. Capcom revealed a trailer and sprinkling of info for the expansion as well as details on two upcoming downloadable modes for its open-world adventure game.

Details on Dark Arisen are scarce, and Capcom left no word of what it will add to the game or even its delivery format. The company has a history of releasing new versions of games at a discounted price to retailers (such as Super Street Fighter IV and Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3), so that is one possibility.

Capcom was much more loose-lipped about Dragon Dogma’s upcoming Speedrun and Hard modes. These free modes offer additional challenge in exchange for new equipment, and are scheduled to arrive before the end of the year.

Dragon’s Dogma had middling sales in the west, but performed well in Japan, moving more than a million copies worldwide. Capcom has stated that it considers the franchise one of its established series, with more entries planned down the road.

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Dragon’s Dogma is an attempt to breed the open world exploration of Skyrim with the fierce combat of Capcom staples like Devil May Cry and Monster Hunter. You play as the Arisen, a hero chosen by fate to rid the world of an evil dragon that stole his heart. No, we don’t mean he fell in love with the dragon. That evil nuisance clawed his heart right out of his chest in the game’s opening cinematic.

While Dragon’s Dogma gets off to an awkward start, we recommend you power through it, since the good stuff isn’t far off. The choices you make during the hurried opening are not permanent, and once you reach the capital city of Gran Soren, you’ll soon be able to respec yourself and your primary Pawn, or select new classes entirely. This was lucky for us, since we found our initial pairing of Fighter and Striker to be ineffective. More importantly, being able to swap vocations easily is a boon, because each of Dragon’s Dogma’s specializations plays in a spectacularly different manner.

Fighter, Striker and Mage all serve as your basic warrior, rogue and magic-user set-up. Leveling different classes allows you to choose new skills that you map to the X, Y and B buttons. Upgrading an ability gives it a faster execution, wider area of effect, or some other perk more immediate than the typical “+1 to fire spells” of most RPG’s. Choosing new skills will let you design your own combos, rather than working a stat sheet.

There are also fantastic hybrid classes, which you’ll want to check out immediately. The Magic Archer’s enchanted bow lets him highlight multiple targets and unleash a flurry of homing arrows. The Mystic Knight can enchant his shield, allowing him to damage enemies while blocking. He can also summon a “magic cannon,” a sphere of energy he strikes with a melee weapon, flinging projectiles at his foes.

Making sure that you and your primary Pawn complement each other is essential to winning battles. Combat is built around the relationship between you and your AI team. It replicates the standard tank, healer and DPS structure of any MMO, but Dogma’s slick, real time combat gives it an immediacy other games lack.

The primary Pawn you design will be your lifetime sidekick, but you can adjust their class, behavior and equipment. The other two Pawns in your party can be swapped to suit your changing needs. Just visit a Rift Stone in any town to select new Pawns for your party. You can even use another player’s custom Pawn, which adds a great bonus. Dragon’s Dogma has an online feature that we used to select Pawns other gamers had designed. Our own Pawn was loaned out as well, but we were never without them. Other players simply used a copy of them, which synced with our own whenever we rested at an inn. Our Pawn would often come back with knowledge of a quest we hadn’t tried yet, eager to offer advice that was sometimes actually helpful. It’s an excellent feature.

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Due April 24 (April 25 in the UK), the demo will consist of two quests; one pitting Fighters against a Chimera in an underground location, and the other challenging Striders to make quick work of a Griffin in the fields of Gransys. The test run will also give players an opportunity to play with Dragon’s Dogma’s character customization system and craft a hero which they can later import into the full game.

Dragon’s Dogma seeks to blend RPG, action, and survival-horror elements in an open-world fantasy setting. It is due for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 22 in North America, and May 25 in the UK. See more from Capcom’s action-RPG-survival-sandbox project in our 20-minute hands-on look, Dragon’s Dogma video preview – creating a stubby elf-dwarf.

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