Common Sense Media Review
By Marc Saltzman
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Mature role-playing adventure with action, blood, and gore.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 18+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Dragon's Dogma
What's It About?
An all-new franchise, Capcom's DRAGON'S DOGMA is an action-heavy role-playing game (RPG) set in a huge and expansive open world. The single-player adventure has you venture out to find and destroy an ancient dragon that has awakened, and along the way you will meet friends and foes, overcome obstacles, use might and magic to defeat baddies, and \"level up\" your character over time and experience. Unlike most other single-player RPGs, this game employs a \"pawn\" system, where you're adventuring with a party of three A.I. (artificial intelligence) characters, who fight independently of you, and they can be created by other players and downloaded to your console.
Is It Any Good?
While far from perfect, Dragon's Dogma is a compelling fusion between RPG and hack-and-slash action games. The stylized fighting is reminiscent of other third-person Capcom games, like Resident Evil and Devil May Cry games, but with a fantasy RPG backdrop, leveling up mechanic, and an interesting pawn system to help defeat enemies (including the option to download a friend's pawns). While the combat is quite fun, albeit very tough at times, three cornerstones of a good RPG -- story, characters, and dialogue -- are all lacking terribly in this game. All three are uninteresting, to say the least, so hopefully future versions of this game will make you care more about the world and its inhabitants (like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim or the Mass Effect franchise). But the open-ended world, intense action, and clever pawn system make this an interesting pick for fans of Japanese RPGs.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Capcom has added "pawns," or companions -- and the ability to upload and download ones from other characters -- to give this single-player role-playing game (RPG) a bit of what makes massively multiplayer online (MMO) RPGs so compelling. Does this system work? Is it a good idea?
Families can also discuss the impact of violence in media.
Game Details
- Platforms : PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360
- Subjects : Language & Reading : following directions , reading
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : applying information , problem solving , Responsibility & Ethics : following codes of conduct , learning from consequences , Collaboration : teamwork
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : Capcom
- Release date : May 22, 2012
- Genre : Role-Playing
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Adventures
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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