HomeNewsDragon’s Dogma 2
Critically acclaimed Dragon’s Dogma 2 hits “mostly negative” on Steam after players raze it for microtransactionsIt’s also struggling performance-wise
It’s also struggling performance-wise
Image credit:Capcom
Image credit:Capcom
Dragon’s Dogma 2arrives on PC and consoles today, but despite high critical acclaim whenreviewshit earlier this week, players on Steam have begun review-bombing Capcom’s high fantasyRPGafter the appearance of some sudden and confusing microtransactions. These weren’t present in the press build of the game, and players are so up in arms about them that the game is currently sitting on a fat red “Mostly Negative” Steam rating based on over 11,000 reviews and counting.
Capcom have since emphasised in amessageto Steam players that many of the DLC items “can be obtained in-game or as paid DLC items”, including that aforementioned character editor. They also list the Wakestones, Rift Crystals, Port Crystal, gaol key and more as items you can also obtain in-game, without handing over any real-world money.
I can see why players are angry about this. The presence of microtransactions has been poorly communicated ahead of the game coming out, and given how muchbacklashthere was when Capcom announced its base price of £60/$70, it’s understandable why the thought of potentially having to pay more for it all has got players' backs up.
Admittedly, most of the “Mostly Negative” Steam reviews seem to be reacting to the fact they exist at all, without considering whether they’re actually critical to your progress in the game or not (for clarity, they are not).
A more legitimate concern mentioned in other Steam reviews, however, is the game’s PC performance woes, which our hardware editor James hasalready reported on extensively. “Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes some serious hardware to maintain consistently smooth performance,” he wrote earlier this week, and don’t even think aboutplaying it on Steam Deckyet either.
In the same message to players, Capcom have acknowledged Dragon’s Dogma 2’s performance issues, saying they “sincerely apologize for any inconvenience”. They are “investigating/fixing critical problems such as crashes and freezing,” and are looking at ways to improve the game’s frame rate issues:
“A large amount of CPU usage is allocated to each character and calculating the impact of their physical presence in various areas. In certain situations where numerous characters appear simultaneously, the CPU usage can be very high and may affect the frame rate. We are aware that in such situations, settings that reduce GPU load may currently have a limited effect; however, we are looking into ways to improve performance in the future.”
