Dragon’s Dogma II Announced and In Development

As a fan of Dragon’s Dogma since I first played it nearly nine years ago, I’ve been patiently waiting to hear about another mainline entry for the series. It’s not as if there haven’t been any overall additions to the series, with both an MMORPG that was only available in Japan for a few years and an anime on Netflix back in 2020. After Capcom put up a 10th-anniversary website for the series and then announced the “10 Years of Dragon’s Dogma” digital event at the Capcom Showcase, it felt like the perfect time to show something new and it’s satisfying to say they finally announced Dragon’s Dogma II.

The event started with the series director Hideaki Itsuno talking about his beginnings at Capcom and how it all lead up to Dragon’s Dogma. As one of the oldest and more seasoned directors at Capcom, it is pretty fun to see the backstory for both him and the game. Hearing how games like Street Fighter and other action arcade games at the time inspired him to want to take a more action-oriented approach toward an RPG is pretty interesting. He even mentions how early concepts came around in the early 2000s at the same time as Monster Hunter did.

Dragon’s Dogma II will begin the cycle anew.
Join director Hideaki Itsuno as he reflects on how the world of Gransys came to be and shares the announcement of the upcoming sequel, in development using RE Engine:
🐉 https://t.co/Q2HSN1fCji pic.twitter.com/JPp117xuOX

— Dragon's Dogma (@DragonsDogma) June 16, 2022

These early concepts even included the pawn system that the game is known for, which allows the players to be in a party with AI companions in a single-player game. While he would be pulled on to finish Devil May Cry 2 and then direct the following two entries, he would begin working on the initial RPG concept he had after completing Devil May Cry 4. He and art director Daigo Ikeno came up with the idea of climbing enemies as so many RPGs involved giant creatures and only being able to attack their feet. They also touched upon the different inspirations for both the location and the various mythical creatures that serve as enemies.

All of this concluded with Hideaki Itsuno announcing that Dragon’s Dogma II is currently in development with a dramatic shirt reveal. Aside from a logo and a confirmation on Twitter (and the anniversary website) that the game will be developed using Capcom’s RE Engine, that’s all we know. There’s no telling when we’ll learn more about the game, but today marks an exciting day for fans of the series. The full 12-minute video can be seen below.