Dragon’s Dogma 2 PC Features: What Do We Expect?

Dragon's Dogma 2 is currently slated to launch on PC on March 22, 2024, and you can find out everything you need to know about it in our dedicated technical article, from a few months back! There, we've gone through virtually everything Capcom has revealed about Dragon's Dogma 2 to present the facts as they were, allowing you to draw your own conclusions.

Today, however, we're interested in something else entirely: the state of exclusive Dragon's Dogma 2 PC features on day one of the game's release. To get to the bottom of that, we'll consider several different things. From DD2's own official hardware spec requirements to the developer/publisher's previous track records, there's a lot of ground to cover. So, let's get to it!

READ MORE: Why You Should Replay Dragon's Dogma Before the Sequel Comes Out

Dragon's Dogma 2 PC Features & Expectations

While Capcom hasn't officially gone into significant detail on what PC-exclusive features may or may not be coming to Dragon's Dogma 2, we're in luck. Notably, a recent Nvidia blog post details some of the most notable and important visual functionality a modern PC game could have: AI-based resolution upscaling and frame generation, and ray-traced visual enhancements.

Indeed, Dragon's Dogma 2 is going to have both DLSS and DLFG on day one, which means it's practically guaranteed to have the open-source FSR upscaler available as well (for those who do not have an Nvidia GPU).

Further, Dragon's Dogma 2 is also embracing ray-tracing. According to Nvidia, the game will support both ray-traced reflections and global illumination systems. Obviously, this means DD2 will look phenomenal, but it comes with the unfortunate implication of steep system requirements.

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Official System Requirements

And, indeed, that's precisely what's happening here. Dragon's Dogma 2 is not going to be low-spec friendly, from the look of things. Capcom has already provided a full suite of hardware spec targets for DD2, and not only are they remarkably high, but the performance targets are also disappointingly low.

Indeed, both the minimum and the recommended hardware specs are gunning for a mere 30 FPS cap, which is sure to disappoint some. Let's take a look at the full system requirements, before discussing any further!

Minimum Specs @1080p

Recommended Specs @2160i

Some very important things to note here. Firstly, yes, the RTX 2080 is the recommended graphics card to play Dragon's Dogma 2 at high settings. Yes, it will only - according to Capcom - net you 30 FPS at 4K. But wait, note that the spec notes we're looking at denote 2160i, which means interlaced. Worse, Capcom says that "framerate might drop in graphics-intensive scenes," on Steam.

The obvious conclusion, then, is that Dragon's Dogma 2 is even more spec-hungry than the official requirements might first imply. With that in mind, it's not all bad.

What other games use the Dragon's Dogma 2 Engine?

Notably, Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't using an all-new, never-before-seen engine at all. No, quite the opposite, in fact, as the game runs on Capcom's in-house RE Engine instead. Indeed, the same engine that runs virtually all the modern Resident Evil games, Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter and other Capcom flagships.

One of the things all these games have in common, then, is that they work really well on a huge range of PCs. The gamut runs from low-spec handhelds like the Steam Deck all the way to super-high-end RTX 4090 machines, and RE Engine does it all. This gives us hope!

Will low-spec PCs run Dragon's Dogma 2?

Indeed, we're hoping that Dragon's Dogma 2 ends up being a bit of a pushover in this regard. The game looks positively phenomenal, and we're hoping that as many people get to play it on PC as humanly possible. Certainly, it's to be expected that low-spec mods will eventually be made, but early on, we expect that Capcom is on the right track concerning its performance expectations for DD2.

With that in mind, if you're unsure if your rig can run Dragon's Dogma 2 at an acceptable framerate, we recommend you stay tuned for our post-launch coverage, as we aim to detail what's going on in this respect.

Capcom's PC Feature Track Record

Further, it's no secret at all that some of Capcom's recent games have needed a patch or two before they've been fully polished up. Resident Evil 4, for example, had some image quality and performance problems, and its raytracing left something to be desired on day one.

The difference this time around, then, could lie in Nvidia's involvement. If Nvidia stands behind Dragon's Dogma 2's PC graphics settings, we could be looking at a sound port with minimum visual bugs. That, however, is just one more thing we'll have to test ourselves on day one, so do stay tuned!

Setting the Right Expectations is Key

Judging by everything we've seen about Dragon's Dogma 2 so far, the game won't make its way onto our list of low-spec games. Instead, we may be looking at a new push forward in regard to minimum and recommended system specs, with reasonably high-end GPUs being pushed a whole grade below what might've been expected.

Still, Dragon's Dogma 2 is also poised to push some graphical boundaries for Capcom, so it really could go either way, when you think about it.

Expect a comprehensive overview of Dragon's Dogma 2 performance and graphics settings as soon as possible here at 2Game, then. We're very excited to test what Capcom's been cooking all this time, and with RE Engine being pushed to its limits, there's much for us to look forward to.

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 is currently slated to launch on PC on March 22, 2024, and you can find out everything you need to know about it in our dedicated technical article, from a few months back! There, we’ve gone through virtually everything Capcom has revealed about Dragon’s Dogma 2 to present the facts as they […]