Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen ▶ Trailer
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen screenshot 1Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen screenshot 2
ActionAdventureRPGOpen WorldCharacter CustomizationFantasyAction RPGSingleplayer

430 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 755

Peak in the last 7 days: 894

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen Steam store

Game description

Set in a huge open world, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen presents a rewarding action combat experience.

Basic info

DeveloperCapcom
PublisherCapcom
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateJan 15, 2016
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows Vista or newer (32 or 64 bit)
ProcessorIntel Core i5 660 CPU or equivalent
Memory4 GB
GraphicsRadeon HD 5870 or equivalent
Storage20 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 442 reviews from the past 1 year

80.7/ 100
Top 50%

Steam rating: Very Positive (88%)

Metacritic: 81 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 22, 2026)

Pawn companions and vocation based combat make Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen stand out, and it scores 80.7 across 442 analyzed reviews.

👍 Strengths

100 reviews say it is worth playing and fun despite clunky controls, and some call it timeless. 88 praise the combat depth, with distinct vocations, a pawn system and hidden mechanics that reward experimenting. 29 admire the world, with an atmosphere of loneliness and hope and an endgame dungeon that some call legendary. Gameplay ranks 379th of 1396, and Multiplayer ranks 294th of 642.

👎 Where it falls short

43 reviews call it repetitive, with spongy enemies, generic missions and the same foes in the same spots. 38 find the main story thin and the quests poorly connected. 29 say it explains too little, so players need a guide to understand quests, systems and pawn commands. Story & World ranks 948th of 1096, Content Volume ranks 698th of 1351, and Visuals & Sound ranks 1097th of 1249.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“worth playing despite clunky controls” · 100 reviews
“unique combat and multiple fun playstyles with hidden mechanics” · 88 reviews
“so much love and creativity, legendary endgame dungeon” · 29 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 73% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Strategy +3.39 · Depth of builds, tactics, and meaningful choices
Positive “unique combat and multiple fun playstyles with hidden mechanics” · 88 reviews
Negative “mandatory to hire pawns if playing single damage type class” · 3 reviews

Progression 14% · Difficulty 23% · Onboarding 14% · Freedom 25% · Controls & feel 29%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 52% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

World +2.50 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “so much love and creativity, legendary endgame dungeon” · 29 reviews
Negative “world design is inconsistent, excellent in some areas but mediocre elsewhere” · 2 reviews

Story 36% · Characters 12%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 40% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Variety -1.69 · Fresh content and situations versus repetition
Negative “overly repetitive gameplay with everything being huge hp sponges” · 43 reviews
Positive “great mix of old-school style with climbing and crafting mechanics, entertaining gameplay” · 5 reviews

Volume 17% · Replayability 12%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 25% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Audio +2.85 · Music, sound effects, and voice acting
Positive “beautiful music and soundtrack that stands out” · 8 reviews

Visuals 20%

Playing with others, the community and servers
Mentioned in 18% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

Playing together +1.95 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals
Negative “pawn AI is too dumb and needs better player commands” · 6 reviews

Community 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 11% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.19 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “some vocations much weaker, Warrior vocation trivializes final boss” · 13 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 3% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 14% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Stability -0.27 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs
Negative “autosave system lost 3 hours of progress” · 21 reviews

Performance 5% · Developer support 3%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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