Now that the release of Dragon's Dogma 2 has been unleashed and the reviews are pouring in, I'd like to say this. I'm ready to enter an era where I'm regularly told by friends that they've been pleasantly sidetracked and questing with a bunch of out-of-company pawns in Alicen's latest title. If "Dragon's Dogma 2" has a cult following after its predecessor, it's going to be an even bigger cult. Fraser Brown, who enjoyed 100 hours of adventure with his hand-carved goblin sidekick, leads his review of "Dragon's Dogma 2" with a bold declaration: "I guarantee this is a game that will be talked about for a long time." Well, critics are already off to a strong start on the subject. Currently earning a respectable 87 on Metacritic, "Dragon's Dogma 2" looks to be the follow-up to "Baldur's Gate 3" as a groundbreaking fantasy RPG.

Eurogamer: 5/5 I mentioned Dragon's Dogma's sick man above, but Eurogamer's Lewis Parker is a sick man among sick men, and after playing the introductory version of Dragon's Dogma 2, "I realized that trying to be fair might no longer be possible. Parker began by escorting a merchant, who was mortally wounded by an ogre, who was killed by a griffin, who was then killed by a galloping ox cart (which also collided with Parker and his friends), and the driver of the ox cart, who carried Parker to the nearest village under dragon attack, then died in battle He would give his life in battle. Excellent. No annotations.

IGN: 8/10 IGN's Jarrett Green cites Dragon's Dogma 2's "unrivaled action design and a vague but robust and engaging world" as its greatest strengths, but he adds that its strengths include "a high level of junk; all systems are precariously put together accompanied by "the fragility of a well pruned Jenga tower". Ultimately, rising above the atrocities that "Dragon's Dogma 2" throws at you seems more rewarding than the technical stumbles and mechanical clunkiness.

Game Informer: 9/10 Like Eurogamer and IGN, Game Informer's Jesse Vitelli writes that Dragon's Dogma 2 "always surprises, big and small, even after 50 hours of play. Dragon's Dogma 2 captures the spirit of adventure at its core; Vitelli enjoys the preparation and experimentation required to succeed outside the safe settlements of Dragon's Dogma 2, and "it was a risk I was willing to take, and even if my party died trying, the reward was always high enough I felt that it was a good idea."

Digital Trends: 3.5/5 In a mostly critical review, Tomas Franzese described Dragon's Dogma 2 as "a sprawling, brutal open-world RPG" and praised the potential for a shareable story, including the breadth of exploration and combat options. However, he also does not shy away from highlighting frustrations such as its unforgiving save system and poor performance, comparing it to Baldur's Gate 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdoms, and saying that Dragon's Dogma 2 is "more a matter of occasional bad jokes than pure enjoyment." If not plagued by "problems that sometimes make it more of a bad joke than a purely enjoyable experience," he writes, "it comes close to matching these titles. "Franzese's overall assessment: "When the various dynamic aspects of Dragon's Dogma 2 come together in harmony, it's a thing of beauty. "

Kotaku: Uncensored Cole Kronman writes a mesmerizing review of Dragon's Dogma 2 as a platonic ideal and a game that delivers: "My impression after finishing Dragon's Dogma 2 is that for the past decade, triple-A and shocking releases, Itsuino was holed up in a bunker somewhere, painstakingly taking notes on Dragon's Dogma, not on the games of the same era. Cronman relishes the thematic tension between the player, Arisen, and his troupe of minions, before praising the open world's willingness to resist or rebel against your heroism. The drama of the game comes from deciphering these roles and the political and cosmic hierarchies of power that separate them." Also worth noting: the cronman's pawn's name is Skroat. Quite nice.