A GTA 5-Style "Living World" Is A Goal For Dragon's Dogma 2

With over a decade separating Dragon's Dogma 2 from the original, director Hideaki Itsuno was asked about what games have inspired him during all this time. Most importantly, he wants to build off the first game in the RPG franchise. But if push came to shove, he namechecked one of the biggest games of all time: Grand Theft Auto V.

Speaking with VGC, Itsuno talked about his goals and inspirations for Dragon's Dogma 2. "We mostly just wanted to take things that we couldn't achieve in Dragon's Dogma at the time it came out [in 2012], whether it be from just lack of time or pushing the limits of the hardware that was around at the time," the director said.

Though if Itsuno "had to pick one other game," he pointed to GTA V. "I kind of admired how they were able to create a world in which it really felt like the NPCs were going about their lives independently of the player," he said. "All kinds of interesting emergent behavior could happen whenever you were exploring the city and all kinds of weird accidents felt like it would happen whether you were there or not."

As such, Itsuno says he and his team are aiming for Dragon's Dogma 2 to feature the "feeling of a living world" that's reminiscent of GTA V. At the Tokyo Game Show last week, Capcom highlighted the RPG's kingdom of Vermund as well as the four starting classes: fighter, archer, mage, and thief. In addition, like the original, a day/night cycle will serve as a focal point for the title, with stronger enemies appearing in the dark.

Dragon's Dogma 2 was originally announced in June 2022 during a 10-year celebration for the original game. Like many other Capcom titles, the sequel will run on the RE Engine. Dragon's Dogma 2 has no release date yet but is planned for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.