Dragon’s Dogma 2 sees brutal early backlash over microtransactions, performance

Players had high expectations for Dragon’s Dogma 2, but just hours after launch the Capcom title has already slumped to Mostly Negative reviews on Steam, with players upset about ballooning performance issues and shock day-one microtransactions.

Performance has been a big topic leading up to Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s release, and once players got their hands on the game things went from bad to worse. While players have already not-so-jokingly mentioned they’d kill as many NPCs as possible to lower the game’s CPU usage, it may not be enough to tackle the issues players are already experiencing only a few hours into playing Dragon’s Dogma 2. And, from all the early reviews posted on Steam, players are not only dealing with these terrible performance issues but also what they’re dubbing “an EA-level scumbag move”: Day one microtransactions.

These microtransactions, which are listed on the Steam store, range from in-game features like changing your character’s appearance, camping gear, Portcrytals (warp location marker), Wakestones (brings the dead back to life), Ambivalent Rift Incense (changes Pawn’s Inclinations), and Makeshift Gaol Keys (used to scape Gaol).

You can get most of these items while playing, like the Wakestones. However, you cannot change anything about your character or Pawns without paying unless you’re hours into the title. Essentially, these transactions are about convenience and how much you’re willing to spend to skip content quickly. So, if you want to buy them, that’s up to you.

These microtransactions might not be the “microtransaction hell” we experience in live service games, some have said, but it is bad enough that some players who were once interested in buying Dragon’s Dogma 2 have now declared they won’t be buying it, and it even has other players worried about the future of Capcom’s upcoming games, including Monster Hunter Wilds.

If it was just the microtransactions some may be able to let it slide, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 has already been blindsided by various performance issues too, with many declaring it’s unacceptable for a $70 AAA game. Even worse, it’s all but unfixable, even with some killing NPCs and others twiddling settings—the optimization just sucks.

As Dragon’s Dogma 2 rolls out worldwide, these surprise microtransactions and performance issues will make fans think twice about buying the game until something is done, especially regarding its optimization and performance.

The whole day-one shemozzle hasn’t stopped some from simply grinding and “having a blast” but maybe hold off on dropping that $70 until things calm down a little.