Dragon's Dogma 2 director Hideaki Itsuno says that newcomers to the series won't be missing out by not playing the original game, all thanks to a staple narrative tool: Amnesia.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ as part of our Big in 2024 series, Itsuno noted that while Dragon's Dogma 2 is pulling from ideas that were present in the first game - most notably its setting and the AI 'Pawns' that accompany you on your journey - familiarity with the original is only "useful," not a necessary feat to enjoy the sequel.
"The game starts off with a main character who has lost their memory," Itsuno says. That means that the developers were able "to have characters around you explain things to get you up to speed. So even if this is your first time playing Dragon's Dogma, you can safely dive in."
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Amnesia might not be the most original of storytelling tropes, but it certainly seems like it's a handy tool to rely on when creating a sequel to a cult classic from 12 years ago. I'd suggest that there's a lot more interest in Dragon's Dogma 2 than I've seen for the original game in the intervening decade, and while that's not to say that Dragon's Dogma doesn't deserve its flowers, it does mean that plenty of newcomers are likely arriving in its world for the first time. With that in mind, something of a narrative blank slate seems pretty useful.
