Dragon's Dogma 2 is Getting Review-Bombed

There's no doubt in my mind that Capcom's massive RPG, Dragon's Dogma 2, is a brilliant title worth experiencing, offering a tonne of player choice and intricate systems I fell in love with during my review period. However, the game is getting review-bombed on Steam...and not without reason.

Take a seat, Arisen, as we explain why Dragon's Dogma 2 is getting review-bombed hard on Steam!

Dragon's Dogma Review-Bombed at Launch

So here's the situation: Players on Steam are dropping massively negative reviews by the thousands on Dragon's Dogma 2 just hours after the game's launch on 22 March 2024. It's currently at "Mostly Negative" after roughly 5000 user reviews.

There are two reasons for this huge negativity pointed towards Capcom's new open-world RPG. First, the performance is quite bad, with low FPS and stuttering in certain areas, especially when there are a lot of NPCs around.

The second reason, and definitely the most prominent in the negative reviews, is the game's microtransaction offers. There are dozens of VERY useful items you can purchase, alongside "A Boon for Adventurers - New Journey Pack" which packages a bunch of useful items into a bundle.

The image above is from Steam (South Africa store) I captured on 22 March 2024, showing a range of items up for sale as Dragon's Dogma 2 DLC. For those in the US, these items range from $1 to $5 in price. 

Dragon's Dogma 2 User Reviews Point Out Microtransactions

Below are some user review examples for Dragon's Dogma 2, noting microtransactions and poor performance:

Example 1:

Look how they massacred my boy turned him into a cash grab and murdered his soul should have let him rest but instead you dug him up and waved his corpse around with makeup on like the rats you are

Example 2:

Microtransactions in a single player game

Can't delete save data/ start a new game if you mess up your character during creation either.

Example 3:

Hey Capcom,

You can purchase a "good review DLC" for $1.99.

Example 4:

12 years have passed since Dragon's Dogma 1 released. It was genre defining, leaps and bounds ahead of it's time.

If theres anything Capcom has learned, it's how to become predatory, how to leach people for their worth.

$70 game, I could support to ensure fair pay for a good game, however, when you also attach bloatware "buy more crystals" and Pay to win gifts to a singleplayer game... I cannot, in good faith, support that.

Example 5:

Remove the micro transactions and fix the optimization, horrible frames even with a rig higher than the recommanded settings.

Keep in mind that Dragon's Dogma 2 already costs $70 for the Standard Edition. So do these gamers have a point? 

So here's an unpopular opinion: Dragon's Dogma 2's microtransactions do not affect you, the player, as this isn't a multiplayer game. In fact, during my review period, the ability to purchase these items was not available. Despite no way to purchase these admittedly useful items, I gave Dragon's Dogma 2 a 5/5 score, and many other outlets gave it a perfect score as well.

Even so, I understand how tempting it is to purchase some Wakestone Shards to revive your Arisen upon death, Portcrystals to fast-travel, or even the Art of Metamorphosis to change your character... While you CAN earn all these items in-game, they are quite difficult to get, especially in larger quantities.

Capcom definitely needs to give players a way to change their character for free or a way to create a new save game.

Read more: How To Change Appearance In Dragon's Dogma 2: Arisen & Pawn

While you can change your character and your main pawn later on in the game, it takes a lot of Rift Crystals to purchase an Art of Metamorphosis.