Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen Is Out at $29.99 With Up to 88 on Metacritic. An Easy Yes for Fans

Here is a sentence I didn't expect to write a year ago: the Dragon's Dogma 2 expansion is out today, and its reviews are already ahead of the ones the original Dark Arisen earned. Yahoo's tech desk points out that the 2013 add-on to the first game sits at 81 on Metacritic, while this one opened at 84 on PlayStation 5 and 88 on PC and Switch 2. The one fans still talk about like a legend has been outscored before launch day is over.

I haven't played it, and I'd rather say so now than hide it. What I did is read the reviews, including the ones that disagree with each other, work out the price and the hours, and dig into the Switch 2 port, since that's the question I keep seeing. Everything below is my read of that pile. I'll tell you where I think the critics are right and where I'm not convinced.

My short version: fans get an easy yes. For everyone who bounced off the base game, the reviews can't agree on whether Dark Arisen fixes things, and I think that split is the most interesting part of the whole launch.

• 83 to 88Metacritic by platformPS5 83-84 · PC 88 · Switch 2 88
• $29.99The expansion on its own$49.99 with the base game
• 15-20 hNew Norgan story, per CapcomPlus 12 Lost Rites dungeons
• 4Platforms, same dayPS5 · Xbox Series X|S · PC · Switch 2

What Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen is, in plain English

It's an expansion, not a new game. Your Arisen travels to Norgan, a snow-covered region in the far north of Vermund that was abandoned long ago, and teams up with a character named Eir to unravel the secrets of the undying Fallen Dragon. The loop Capcom is selling is simple: dig up forgotten relics, then have them appraised in Norgan's open world to unlock stronger weapons and new skills.

Around that sit twelve Lost Rites dungeon challenges that hand out rare equipment once held by earlier Arisen, plus new hairstyles and tattoos in the character creator. The name is a deliberate echo. The first Dragon's Dogma got its own Dark Arisen in 2013, and Capcom clearly wants you to feel that history.

When you can play it and what you need

• Date: October 9, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2, all on the same day, according to Capcom's announcements.
• Steam unlock: the store page lists Thursday, October 8 at 5 p.m. Pacific, which is 8 p.m. Eastern. I couldn't find a published unlock time for the console versions.
• Base game required: on PS5, Xbox and PC the expansion can't run without Dragon's Dogma 2, and Steam asks you to update to the latest patch first.
• Switch 2: the base game arrives there for the first time, sold only as the $49.99 bundle that includes the expansion.
• Pre-order bonus: the Norgan Fashion Set, a cosmetic outfit called Northern Attire, delivered when the expansion goes live.

The review scoreboard: who loved Dark Arisen and who didn't

Metacritic's numbers moved around during launch week. I saw the PlayStation 5 version at 84 on one snapshot and 83 on another, with no negative reviews either time, while the PC and Switch 2 versions both sat at 88 (based on 12 and 5 reviews, per EGW.News). OpenCritic showed a top critic average of 86 with 91% of critics recommending it.

Numbers like that hide the shape of the disagreement, so I pulled the 15 individual scores I could verify, converted everything to a 100-point scale and sorted them. Here's the ladder.

• DualShockers100
• The Big Lead100
• Vice100
• Push Square90
• The Outerhaven90
• Gamer Social Club90
• Nintendo World Report85
• COGconnected85
• Gamers Heroes85
• PSX Brasil85
• IGN80
• CGMagazine80
• TechRaptor80
• RPGamer70
• Screen Rant70

Scores as reported by EGW.News, VGTimes and Metacritic's PlayStation 5 page, with 10-point and 5-point scores converted to 100. The average and median are my own math on this hand-collected group, not an official number.

What jumps out at me is the floor. The two lowest scores are 70s, and the words attached to them are "slog" and "pacing," not "broken." Screen Rant, the harshest voice, said the fighting turned into button mashing over time. RPGamer called Dark Arisen the definitive version of the game but said its repetitive enemies and pacing issues remain. In a launch week that can turn nasty, that's a pretty comfortable bottom.

What critics praise and what they keep complaining about

Read enough of these reviews and the same points show up again and again. This is how I'd sort them.

Where do I land? On the vocations complaint, I think it's fair but a little unfair to Capcom. The 2013 expansion's own pitch, in the press coverage back then, was a new tier of skills for each class and over 100 pieces of new equipment, not new classes. This one gives you new skills and weapons through relics. That's the same tradition, even if it won't satisfy people who wanted a brand-new class to play with.

The Spoils complaint is the one I'd watch most closely once players get their hands on it. A bad loot loop can sour 20 good hours, and it's the part of the game that reviewers can't fully judge in a pre-launch window.

How long is Dark Arisen? I did the hour math

Capcom producer Naoto Oyama gave Automaton the numbers: about 15 to 20 hours for the new Norgan story, and roughly 30 minutes to an hour for each of the twelve dungeons. I multiplied it out.

One more detail from PlayDay's review: finishing the expansion took the reviewer from level 47 to level 124. That tells you this isn't a side trip. It's a second endgame. And none of those hours include the open-ended gear chase after the credits, which I haven't tried to count.

My opinion: a dollar-ish per hour for something people already love is hard to argue with. I'd call it generous.

Dragon's Dogma 2 on Switch 2: how it runs

This is the question I see most, and it's the most interesting launch story for Nintendo owners. Capcom is bringing the whole game to Switch 2 for the first time, with the expansion included, and Metacritic had the Switch 2 version at 88 on five reviews.

RPG Site's reviewer, who spent nearly 20 hours with it docked and in handheld mode, says the port ships with the same optional 30 fps cap as the other versions, plus a frame generation toggle. By default it runs uncapped with frame generation on. That reviewer preferred turning frame generation off, capped the frame rate to 30 docked and used the uncapped mode in handheld. The verdict was that the port isn't perfect but is good enough that the reviewer kept booting it up just to explore on the go.

Notebookcheck reported that a Tokyo Game Show demo showed FSR 3.1 frame generation aiming for a 60 fps look, with an option to turn it off. A German deal site reports Nintendo lists the download at about 49.6 GB, so clear space before launch.

My opinion: if the Switch 2 is the only console you own, I think this is a reasonable way in, and playing an RPG this big in handheld mode is a real perk. If you also have a PS5 or a decent PC, I'd play there first, because that's where the 83 to 88 reviews come from.

Should you buy it? My buy-confidence meter

These aren't review scores. They're how confident I am that each kind of player will be glad they spent the money, built from the reviews, the price and the base game's history.

• You own Dragon's Dogma 2 and love it
  9/10

  This is the audience the expansion is made for. The Big Lead called it everything fans were hoping for, and $29.99 is a low price for 20-plus hours.

• You own it but bounced off it
  5/10

  The Big Lead says some of the biggest points of friction have been eased, while RPGamer says people who struggled may not find enough to change their minds. I can't break that tie from here.

• New to the game, on PS5, Xbox or PC
  7/10

  The $49.99 bundle is a lot of game, and critics say the expansion tightens things up. But the base game is still rated Mixed on Steam, so your patience for its quirks decides this one.

• New to the game, on Switch 2
  6/10

  It's bundle-only, the download is large, and the frame rate depends on a toggle. Good handheld RPG, with homework.

Before you head north: a prep checklist

Capcom has given players a few concrete numbers to plan around, so here's a short list built from them.

• Update the game first. Steam's store page asks players to install the latest patch before starting the expansion.
• Check your level. Director Kento Kinoshita said the new dungeons are open from around level 20, and he recommends level 40 before Norgan.
• Skip the wait if you're deep in. Kinoshita noted players who have put many hours into the main story may already be past 40 and can start Norgan right away.
• Use Lost Rites as a ramp. According to Kinoshita, the dungeons level you up quickly and drop gear that's stronger than usual.
• Pick the right version. Own the base game? Expansion for $29.99. Don't? Bundle for $49.99, because that's the cheaper way in.

How we got here: from a messy launch to a second chance

To understand why this expansion feels like a bigger deal than most DLC, you have to remember what the base game went through.

• March 2024Dragon's Dogma 2 launches and peaks at 228,585 concurrent players on Steam, per SteamDB figures reported by GameRant, a first for a Capcom game. At the same time it's review-bombed by Steam users over microtransactions and poor PC performance.
• March 31, 2026Capcom's Dragon's Dogma series passes 14 million copies sold, according to Playnews.
• June 2026Dark Arisen is revealed during a Nintendo Direct, along with the Switch 2 version. Capcom also announces a patch adding a reusable Eternal Ferrystone and an end-of-August update promising better frame rates and more save slots.
• Late June 2026Pre-orders open, and Capcom permanently cuts the base game's price. Multiplayer.it reported the new European price as 39.99 euros.
• Oct. 7, 2026Review embargo lifts. Scores land between 70 and 100.
• Oct. 9, 2026Dark Arisen launches on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch 2.

The shadow of 2024 hasn't fully lifted. Steambase still lists the base game as Mixed, across roughly 118,000 Steam reviews. That's the mountain this expansion is trying to move, and it's why I find the whole project more interesting than a standard DLC drop. GamingBolt called October the last month of big releases before Grand Theft Auto 6, and Capcom picked it anyway to give a flawed game a proper second act.

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