I’ll never climb a 20-foot ogre in real life. That’s something I’ve had to contend with for a while but now, in Dragon’s Dogma 2, I can do just that. It’s a thrill not limited to ogres but a whole host of mythical monsters found inside Capcom’s latest. Griffins, golems, chimeras… I’ve scaled the lot. Each one I ascended really got me thinking that more games should let you climb giant creatures. It’s a feature that’s not only an incredibly tangible way of conveying that feeling of taking down a fearsome beast, but also cleverly transforms towering threats into walking puzzles that require dexterity, smarts, and of course, brute strength to take down. It really is something other action games should look to replicate.
Of course, Dragon’s Dogma 2 isn’t the first of its kind in this regard. Some of my formative video game memories were created when clambering up the skyscraper-like giants at the centre of Team Ico’s Shadow of the Colossus. To say that taking down these colossi was enjoyable would perhaps be a stretch given the mournful tone that weaves through its world like the swirling black souls that leave their bodies, but it was a sense of pure spectacle I hadn’t seen before, and arguably haven’t since – until one late game encounter in Dragon’s Dogma 2, which has you scale a colossus of its own.
Fumito Ueda’s PS2 classic conjures images of the films I grew up on, ranging from the wonderfully sculpted creations of Ray Harryhausen in Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans, to scenes from more modern masterpieces like Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, such as when Legolas slides down the trunk of a hulking Oliphaunt. Scale can be used to stunning effect in cinema to place our heroes in danger, but games can take this one step further, by actually placing you on the furry backs of your foes and tasking you with their demise.
It’s a sensation Shadow of the Colossus captured perfectly, with each mammoth encounter being its own puzzle across multiple stages – working out how to get onto the beast, and then locating its weak points to deal a devastating, plunging stab. Dragon’s Dogma 2 is certainly more of an action-focused game than Team Ico’s and so allows for much more flexibility in the way you deal with its world’s threats. DD2’s creatures’ weak spots are less heavily signposted than Colossus’ glowing sigils, but make just as much logical sense. The single searching eye of a Cyclops will endure critical pain from any arrow or spell that strikes it, just as slicing off one of a Chimera’s three heads will leave it without some of its elemental attacks and a chunk of its health bar.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 isn’t the first game to let you hack pieces of monsters off, though, and it isn’t even the first Capcom has produced. Aside from the original Dragon’s Dogma, Monster Hunter is the standard-bearer for such action – a series centered on taking beasts apart limb by limb. I spent numerous hours leaping onto my prey in Monster Hunter World, trying to cling onto them in a deathly rodeo ride before finding a window of opportunity to deal damage in. It’s an engaging gameplay loop that actually makes it feel like, well, monster hunting, as you physically grapple with monsters many times your size and wear them down over time. The ability to jump up and climb all over them only emphasises this struggle as the David and Goliath parable plays out before your eyes. It’s a tale as old as time, but only one that video games have truly illustrated a handful of times.
Ripping creatures apart piece by piece is a concept that modern Western games have also taken a shine to, perhaps most prevalently seen in Horizon’s component shedding dino-mech combat or limbs flying off of charging Terminids in Helldivers 2. But just think how much more impactful it would be if developers like Guerrilla and Arrowhead took things one step further and allowed us to actually scale these enemies. Nothing would reiterate the mammoth task on Aloy’s shoulders like clambering up a Thunderjaw and hacking away at its turrets, or gliding onto a Tremortusk before crawling up its back to take out its metal teeth. Just think of the fun that could be had jump-packing up onto a Bile Titan’s back in Helldivers 2 before bringing it down to fully live out that Starship Troopers fantasy of opening up a giant bug and hurling a grenade inside it.
For all of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s complex RPG systems, the fundamental basics of its combat are extremely fun. Its melee action mixed with spell-slinging makes every fight a joy, but it's those marquee matchups against mythological creatures that take it to the next level. Being able to jump up and conquer them, working out how best to approach the fight, and emphasising the mountainous task at hand equals a thrill I’ve rarely felt since first playing Shadow of the Colossus. Climbing up the back of Medusa’s scaly neck to avoid her stone-cold gaze is the sort of action that transports me back in time to watching her face-off with Perseus in Clash of the Titans – a battle traditionally consigned to legend that I can now take part in myself thanks to Dragon’s Dogma 2, and it’s something I’d love to see more of in action games of the future.
Simon Cardy urges you to use Ham, his sorcerer pawn in Dragon's Dogma 2. Follow him on Twitter at @CardySimon.
