Dragon's Dogma 2 is a great RPG, but as you may have noticed in our performance analysis, it is by no means a smooth production; the CPU load is so high that no matter how powerful your rig is, you cannot escape performance issues. Capcom is aware of this, but it seems unlikely that it will be resolved by the time of release.

When contacted by IGN, a Capcom representative explained that each character is assigned a large amount of CPU usage, which dynamically calculates the impact of the character's physical presence in different environments. In certain situations where a large number of characters are present at the same time, CPU utilization can be very high, which can affect the frame rate," he explained.

Thus, as Nick pointed out in his performance analysis, "in areas where there are a lot of buildings and NPCs," the CPU is put under a lot of strain and "overall performance drops significantly." This is most noticeable in Varnworth, the capital of Vermund, which is encountered early in the game. It is the most densely populated settlement, with many NPCs hanging around at all hours.

Given that I was reviewing Dragon's Dogma 2 on a high-end setup, I knew I would have no problems: RTX 4090, Intel i9-13900k, 32GB RAM. And for the majority of the game the frame rate is perfectly fine. When I'm adventuring in the wilderness with ray tracing turned on, it's about 80-100 fps, sometimes even higher. But whenever I'm hanging out in Varnworth, I rarely get above 60 fps, and often drop below 40 fps.

Tinkering with graphics settings has little effect. This is something Capcom acknowledges, but we are working on a solution." We recognize that under these circumstances, the effectiveness of settings that reduce GPU load may be limited under current conditions."

NPCs in Dragon's Dogma 2 are not brain-dead mannequins and follow specific routines, but few of them seem essential. Aside from those related to quests, most of them end up serving as set dressings that bring places like Varnworth to life. I doubt that Capcom will take the solution of reducing the number of NPCs, but even if they do, the loss will be minimal.

The performance issues did not significantly detract from my enjoyment of this outstanding RPG, but most players will not be playing this title on a PC of my specs. Given the amount of time I spend in Varnworth, the problems are absolutely glaring, even when they don't get in the way too much.

Dragon's Dogma 2 launches tonight in the US and at midnight in the UK. To find out when it will be available in your area, see the Dragon's Dogma 2 release schedule.