It’s been 11 years since the release of Capcom’s fantasy action-role playing game Dragon’s Dogma, with fans readily anticipating the March 22 release of its long-awaited sequel, Dragon’s Dogma 2.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes everything that made the original a cult classic and builds upon that foundation. There are new vocations, more monsters to take on, more ways to defeat them, more places to venture to, and above all, more life in the world of the Arisen.

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I got the chance to go hands-on with Dragon’s Dogma 2 and speak with its director, Hideaki Itsuno. Here’s some of the standout features from my experience with Dragon’s Dogma 2, along with some quotes provided by the director.

A connected world

The first thing I noticed on my adventure in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is how real the world feels. Thanks to the PlayStation 5 SSD, there were no loading times when traveling from land to land, making the adventure feel that much more captivating. I went straight from the starting village to monster-filled outskirts without even noticing how far I traveled due to the world’s interconnected feel.

This interconnection applies to the monsters as well. After a losing battle with a dragon and attempting to escape, I was horrified to see the scaly fiend still chasing me as I made my way back to what I thought was the safety of the village.

Of course, Itsuno was delighted to hear about my reaction to this, as it was one of his main goals to make the game feel that much more lively on current-gen hardware.

“Back on the PlayStation 3 with the original we were limited and thus, creatures would eventually load out after you got far away enough. We wanted to use the innovations to make these creatures feel alive, so now when you try to run away you’ll look back and see it won’t be as easy as before.”

More ways to battle

I didn’t run from every battle, however. Once I was accustomed to the enemies of this world I realized the additions to the battle system and new vocations take Dragon’s Dogma 2 to new heights.

One vocation that stands out is the Mystic Spearhand, which gives access to magick arts and physical attacks using a dual-ended spear. Using this class against the many fiends sprawling this world I was able to not only defend with physical resistant buffs, but also take on the hordes with simple spear swings, dash attacks, and telekinetic attacks that allowed me to pick up and throw monsters. To hit two birds with one stone, you can toss one monster at another.

This feels like a class made for all obstacles. I enjoyed the freedom granted by the dash attack to both get in quickly with a damaging stab and evade enemy attacks. And now that all vocations can preserve stamina while standing atop giant monsters, I felt ready to take on any challenge the game threw at me.

A land of endless adventure

The land of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a large one that I immediately was lost in, heading out into the wilderness to seek adventure, where the magic of this game lies. Itsuno detailed it as a true journey title, a game where players don’t necessarily have to follow preset rules and destinations, but can make their own story. 

Enhanced AI and Pawns

Upgrades in the AI department were also made. Pawns, which are your allies, are a lot more helpful and characteristically present throughout the adventure. The Pawn system is unchanged from the original. They still do the same things, such as grabbing items for you and helping in battle, but now they do it all more efficiently. They were always nearby when I needed them and it felt more than necessary to keep them alive to aid me in battle. They also lead the way to objectives whenever you find yourself lost in the vast world.

My favorite addition to these companions comes in the personality department. Pawns will speak to you and one another, making them feel like actual characters you can feel for, even though you may trade them off for another Pawn down the road.

Immersive PlayStation 5 features

The PlayStation 5 SSD isn’t the only feature the console highlights in Dragon’s Dogma 2. The game adds even more interactivity in battle, with the DualSense wireless controller’s haptics taking center stage. Both when you attack and get struck in turn, you’ll feel the ferocity of each blow through the DualSense controller.

You can get this experience and more when Dragon’s Dogma 2 releases March 22 on PlayStation 5.

It’s been 11 years since the release of Capcom’s fantasy action-role playing game Dragon’s Dogma, with fans readily anticipating the March 22 release of its long-awaited sequel, Dragon’s Dogma 2.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes everything that made the original a cult classic and builds upon that foundation. There are new vocations, more monsters to take on, more ways to defeat them, more places to venture to, and above all, more life in the world of the Arisen.

Play Video

I got the chance to go hands-on with Dragon’s Dogma 2 and speak with its director, Hideaki Itsuno. Here’s some of the standout features from my experience with Dragon’s Dogma 2, along with some quotes provided by the director.

A connected world

The first thing I noticed on my adventure in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is how real the world feels. Thanks to the PlayStation 5 SSD, there were no loading times when traveling from land to land, making the adventure feel that much more captivating. I went straight from the starting village to monster-filled outskirts without even noticing how far I traveled due to the world’s interconnected feel.

This interconnection applies to the monsters as well. After a losing battle with a dragon and attempting to escape, I was horrified to see the scaly fiend still chasing me as I made my way back to what I thought was the safety of the village.

Of course, Itsuno was delighted to hear about my reaction to this, as it was one of his main goals to make the game feel that much more lively on current-gen hardware.

“Back on the PlayStation 3 with the original we were limited and thus, creatures would eventually load out after you got far away enough. We wanted to use the innovations to make these creatures feel alive, so now when you try to run away you’ll look back and see it won’t be as easy as before.”

More ways to battle

I didn’t run from every battle, however. Once I was accustomed to the enemies of this world I realized the additions to the battle system and new vocations take Dragon’s Dogma 2 to new heights.

One vocation that stands out is the Mystic Spearhand, which gives access to magick arts and physical attacks using a dual-ended spear. Using this class against the many fiends sprawling this world I was able to not only defend with physical resistant buffs, but also take on the hordes with simple spear swings, dash attacks, and telekinetic attacks that allowed me to pick up and throw monsters. To hit two birds with one stone, you can toss one monster at another.

This feels like a class made for all obstacles. I enjoyed the freedom granted by the dash attack to both get in quickly with a damaging stab and evade enemy attacks. And now that all vocations can preserve stamina while standing atop giant monsters, I felt ready to take on any challenge the game threw at me.

A land of endless adventure

The land of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a large one that I immediately was lost in, heading out into the wilderness to seek adventure, where the magic of this game lies. Itsuno detailed it as a true journey title, a game where players don’t necessarily have to follow preset rules and destinations, but can make their own story. 

Enhanced AI and Pawns

Upgrades in the AI department were also made. Pawns, which are your allies, are a lot more helpful and characteristically present throughout the adventure. The Pawn system is unchanged from the original. They still do the same things, such as grabbing items for you and helping in battle, but now they do it all more efficiently. They were always nearby when I needed them and it felt more than necessary to keep them alive to aid me in battle. They also lead the way to objectives whenever you find yourself lost in the vast world.

My favorite addition to these companions comes in the personality department. Pawns will speak to you and one another, making them feel like actual characters you can feel for, even though you may trade them off for another Pawn down the road.

Immersive PlayStation 5 features

The PlayStation 5 SSD isn’t the only feature the console highlights in Dragon’s Dogma 2. The game adds even more interactivity in battle, with the DualSense wireless controller’s haptics taking center stage. Both when you attack and get struck in turn, you’ll feel the ferocity of each blow through the DualSense controller.

You can get this experience and more when Dragon’s Dogma 2 releases March 22 on PlayStation 5.

Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth are two masterfully made retellings of the classic PlayStation RPG from 1997. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second entry in the Remake project and continues where the previous title left off, hopefully bringing answers to questions posed with it. Not only is this new sequel a nostalgic experience for veterans of the 90s original, but Square Enix has crafted it to be another perfect spot for newcomers to join Cloud and the gang. 

Regardless, the Remake project is bursting with intriguing stories, colorful characters, and rich lore. Here, we’ll reflect on the story so far, how Final Fantasy VII Remake differs from the original, and some of the mysteries it left us with.

Spoiler warning for Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Where we left off

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Final Fantasy VII Remake took us down memory lane, beginning with Cloud’s first mission alongside the eco-terrorist group Avalanche and ending with the team leaving the steel skies of Midgar. But throughout this story, things happen differently from the original 1997 FFVII, following the constant theme of the antagonist Sephiroth’s proposed defiance of fate. 

This is further showcased by characters facing off against Whispers, ghost-like creatures that fight the characters to ensure they don’t deviate from the initial timeline. However, the Whispers fail at many points of the story, resulting in certain characters being depicted in a different way than the original game. One of those characters is Cloud’s brother-in-arms, Zack Fair.

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Who is Zack Fair?

He’s standing equal to Cloud in the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth game art, but who is this mystery man? Zack is one of the most essential characters in the series mythos, being the hero who kickstarts the legend of the title’s headlining character, Cloud Strife, before the events of the actual game. In the prequel game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and the original 1997 game, Zack Fair acts as a big brother and inspirational figure to Cloud. This fellow Soldier stood as a pillar to a girl with whom he had a fateful encounter, Aerith Gainsborough, and witnessed Sephiroth’s fall from grace.

In the original  Final Fantasy VII, Zack meets an untimely end protecting an incapacitated Cloud from a barrage of Shinra troops. The ending of Final Fantasy VII Remake showcases an opposite fate for the fallen Soldier, depicting him carrying an injured Cloud to Midgar after successfully defeating these Shinra troops, shrouding the diverging timelines of the Remake project in even more mystery.

An intermission between remakes

Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode Intermission is an extra DLC episode for Final Fantasy VII Remake. This title takes place between Remake and Rebirth, serving as an introduction to one of Rebirth’s new party members, Yuffie Kisaragi. Fellow Wutain ninja, Sonon Kusakabe, accompanies her as they infiltrate Shinra to steal the ultimate materia and restore glory to Wutai.

Of course, nothing is that simple. Sonon meets his end, sacrificing himself to save Yuffie during the mission. The young Wutain is left to leave Midgar on a Chocobo to find allies to help her on her new mission to take down Shinra. She doesn’t know that she’s on a direct course to cross paths with our main heroes of Cloud and company.

This new addition doesn’t just add a new character but also the new Synergy Ability mechanic featured in Rebirth. Characters can now Synergize, which lets them team up to attack an enemy simultaneously with team attacks to stylishly rack up extra damage.

How the story continues in Rebirth

In Rebirth, our party goes from freedom fighting against Shinra to pursuing Sephiroth who seeks power that would doom the world. Not only have the stakes evolved, but the gameplay has, too. Rebirth introduces a much larger world outside Midgar to the Remake’s universe, giving players a much more non-linear adventure.

There are tons of quests, side content, and other World Intel objectives to tackle in various open, explorable regions. Characters can ride atop unique Chocobo types that excel in different biomes to quickly travel from place to place. Along with these additions, new playable characters join the party, like Yuffie, Red XIII, and Cait Sith, which means FFVII Rebirth is bursting with content to discover.

The iconic story continues in a big way with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Enter a larger reimagined Final Fantasy world on PlayStation 5 today.

Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth are two masterfully made retellings of the classic PlayStation RPG from 1997. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second entry in the Remake project and continues where the previous title left off, hopefully bringing answers to questions posed with it. Not only is this new sequel a nostalgic experience for veterans of the 90s original, but Square Enix has crafted it to be another perfect spot for newcomers to join Cloud and the gang. 

Regardless, the Remake project is bursting with intriguing stories, colorful characters, and rich lore. Here, we’ll reflect on the story so far, how Final Fantasy VII Remake differs from the original, and some of the mysteries it left us with.

Spoiler warning for Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Where we left off

Play Video

Final Fantasy VII Remake took us down memory lane, beginning with Cloud’s first mission alongside the eco-terrorist group Avalanche and ending with the team leaving the steel skies of Midgar. But throughout this story, things happen differently from the original 1997 FFVII, following the constant theme of the antagonist Sephiroth’s proposed defiance of fate. 

This is further showcased by characters facing off against Whispers, ghost-like creatures that fight the characters to ensure they don’t deviate from the initial timeline. However, the Whispers fail at many points of the story, resulting in certain characters being depicted in a different way than the original game. One of those characters is Cloud’s brother-in-arms, Zack Fair.

View and download image

Download the image

Close

Download this image

Who is Zack Fair?

He’s standing equal to Cloud in the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth game art, but who is this mystery man? Zack is one of the most essential characters in the series mythos, being the hero who kickstarts the legend of the title’s headlining character, Cloud Strife, before the events of the actual game. In the prequel game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and the original 1997 game, Zack Fair acts as a big brother and inspirational figure to Cloud. This fellow Soldier stood as a pillar to a girl with whom he had a fateful encounter, Aerith Gainsborough, and witnessed Sephiroth’s fall from grace.

In the original  Final Fantasy VII, Zack meets an untimely end protecting an incapacitated Cloud from a barrage of Shinra troops. The ending of Final Fantasy VII Remake showcases an opposite fate for the fallen Soldier, depicting him carrying an injured Cloud to Midgar after successfully defeating these Shinra troops, shrouding the diverging timelines of the Remake project in even more mystery.

An intermission between remakes

Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode Intermission is an extra DLC episode for Final Fantasy VII Remake. This title takes place between Remake and Rebirth, serving as an introduction to one of Rebirth’s new party members, Yuffie Kisaragi. Fellow Wutain ninja, Sonon Kusakabe, accompanies her as they infiltrate Shinra to steal the ultimate materia and restore glory to Wutai.

Of course, nothing is that simple. Sonon meets his end, sacrificing himself to save Yuffie during the mission. The young Wutain is left to leave Midgar on a Chocobo to find allies to help her on her new mission to take down Shinra. She doesn’t know that she’s on a direct course to cross paths with our main heroes of Cloud and company.

This new addition doesn’t just add a new character but also the new Synergy Ability mechanic featured in Rebirth. Characters can now Synergize, which lets them team up to attack an enemy simultaneously with team attacks to stylishly rack up extra damage.

How the story continues in Rebirth

In Rebirth, our party goes from freedom fighting against Shinra to pursuing Sephiroth who seeks power that would doom the world. Not only have the stakes evolved, but the gameplay has, too. Rebirth introduces a much larger world outside Midgar to the Remake’s universe, giving players a much more non-linear adventure.

There are tons of quests, side content, and other World Intel objectives to tackle in various open, explorable regions. Characters can ride atop unique Chocobo types that excel in different biomes to quickly travel from place to place. Along with these additions, new playable characters join the party, like Yuffie, Red XIII, and Cait Sith, which means FFVII Rebirth is bursting with content to discover.

The iconic story continues in a big way with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Enter a larger reimagined Final Fantasy world on PlayStation 5 today.

We’ve all wondered why no one gets in a car and drives away from the terror in scary movies and games. Pacific Drive by Ironwood Studios lets us live out that scenario. This upcoming first-person survival adventure drives a customizable station wagon into the genre.

Ahead of the February 22 launch date, we spoke with the game’s director, Alexander Dracott, about the inspiration behind this genre-twisting game and its development journey.

PlayStation Blog: What was the inspiration behind Pacific Drive?

Alexander Dracott: The initial idea goes back to some of my hobbies and growing up driving station wagons to go camping and out into the woods of the Pacific Northwest. The seed came from the things I saw driving alone in the woods, fog, and rain, seeing things like mining towns that haven’t seen the light of day. The game started as simple test car in the woods, and as we started inserting more mechanics, we decided you should be able to turn the car off and on. It should have gas like you should have to refuel your car. It became apparent that there’s this overlap between the maintenance of a car you would expect and the item juggling you want from a survival game. What we ended up doing is taking the pressure that is always on the player in a lot of survival games and pushed it onto the car, and it clicked. You’re forming this relationship with this car that becomes your protector.

Where did the idea of the Olympic Exclusion Zone come from, and how does it contribute to the game’s mechanics?

I’ve always been a big fan of zoned stories and players being isolated, but in a space filled with interesting mechanics. For example, a lot of the enemy anomalies aren’t zombies that you just shoot. They’re more interesting and unique, and discovering what they are is part of the experience. The idea behind the Exclusion Zone, something that the government has walled off, instantly clicked because it gave us the freedom to both tell an interesting story and build this world while also filling it with things like those anomalies that people are going to have to learn and discover through the game’s mechanics.

Why did the team decide on this smaller-scale gameplay loop versus a free-roam open-world title?

Initially, we were considering something that was a little bit more like a traditional survival game on a relatively large map. Our maps are big because you have a car and go quick. We found that while all of our survival mechanics were working, we wanted those rest stops. We wanted those breaks like looting and fixing up your car. With that came the birth of the garage as a permanent place that you could go to and fix up your car, take the time, and engage with the different systems that are in the game. That cemented into this idea of, “Okay, I’ve got my garage, but now I can go out and take these trips to other parts of the game world.”

Was it difficult to build so many mechanics around a car?

Pacific Drive is a big game full of systems that interact with each other, so there’s a general complexity behind it that’s always going to be hard to manage. On one hand, you want to be figuring things out, but on the other, these systems all need to be built up on their own. You don’t get a good picture until many are present and exchanging with themselves individually. And with car physics, unlike a lot of other car games where a lot of the focus on those titles is, “let’s take one engine that we’re building our game in and have 300 cars that feel distinct and unique.” For us, it’s the opposite. We’re going to have one car, but that car has to be able to get customized in different ways as players express themselves. How does the car still feel like the car between two players that have built it out completely differently? We build dedicated tools around that and figure out the right way to do it.

Are there any additions that didn’t quite make it into the final version of Pacific Drive you wish could make it in?

It’s a bit of a cop-out answer, but the answer is always just “more.” Whatever number of items that we were going to have, we pulled it back to a more reasonable number. That’s the case across our game, which is still absolutely packed with different items. Because there are tools you can use, resources you can grab, things you can interact with throughout the world, special things to bring back to your garage, and tons of car parts because so much of the car is customizable. We were always planning more of those, but we ended up pulling back to a reasonable number.

What’s your favorite feature in Pacific Drive?

As the guy helping to form the original idea, I’m biased by the atmosphere. The moments where the gameplay complements the atmosphere are absolutely incredible—those moments where this world absorbs me due to weather, visuals, and general vibe. What we were aiming for is a very unique field for the zone and its isolated beauty. You’re alone out there, but you still have those elements of gameplay that are present. You might see a dreary building in the fog and think, “Yeah, it’s a cool piece of set dressing, but maybe there’s stuff over there. See if there’s anything I can grab for my car.” Those moments stand out strongly for me.

What unique PlayStation 5 features can players expect from Pacific Drive?

The big one is the DualSense controller, for sure. We had something special once we started tuning the haptics, especially for the [adaptive] triggers, and how they interacted with the suspension, and what the car is doing. We figured out a very clever way to translate the change of the change of the suspension differences that the car is handling as it drives along and map that out into our rumble. You might drive over a bump and feel like the controller reacts appropriately. If something pops the wheel off your car, it will drop, and you’ll feel it drop. We also added noise into the simulation to help make it feel correct when driving on off-road surfaces. We’re really pleased with how the game feels on this controller.

Pacific Drive takes everything about the survival genre and throws a car into the mix, with tons of relevant atmosphere, obstacles, and pleasantries. When the game launches on February 22, 2024, you can tune up your car and hit the lonely roads.