In the beginning of Dragon’s Dogma, you are immediately confronted by a dragon that rips out your still-beating heart and flies away. Your quest is to track down the dragon and discover why he stole your heart and why you can still hear his voice echoing in your head.
At PlayStation’s E3 livestream, Product Manager Mike Schmitt gave a live demo of our E3 build of Dragon’s Dogma. The dragon rears its head, breathes a spout of fire and flies off, paving the way for an intense battle with Orcs and Harpies. It also introduces the Chimera, a monstrosity that combines the attributes of a serpent, goat, and lion. The E3 demo introduces the gameplay concept of “pawns,” or computer-controlled companions that aid you in the fight.
Dragon’s Dogma is not an RPG. The development team has previously masterminded the Devil May Cry games, Resident Evil 4, Killer 7, and many more. This team likes action, and that fact shines in Dragon’s Dogma — a game with fast, stylized combat in an open world filled with massive beasts. This is Capcom’s first open-world game and is powered by the powerful in-house engine MTFramework, responsible for other PS3 games including Resident Evil 5 and Lost Planet 2. That allows us to have an open world without sacrificing the graphical quality you expect from Capcom games.
Aside from the fast action, we’re also introducing new mechanic that adds an extra dose of mayhem. At any time in the game, you can grab enemies, large or small, and interact with them. If it’s an Orc, you can grab him and slay him. Once he’s dead, you can pick him up and use him as bait to lure a soaring Griffin to the ground. When the Griffin lands, you’re able to tackle the beast and start stabbing. When it takes off, hold on for dear life. Eventually, you’ll set fire to the Griffin’s wings, sending you and the beast crashing to the ground.
Check out gameplay videos of the Chimera and the Griffin on Capcom-Unity.com, and look forward to more information soon! Dragon’s Dogma releases for the PS3 in early 2012.
