Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen Is Brutally Hard and Players Love It

Ever jumped into a game thinking you're overleveled, only to get absolutely destroyed? That's exactly what's happening to Dragon's Dogma 2 players right now with the new Dark Arisen expansion. And surprisingly, they're having a blast.

The expansion is out, and true to the developers' words, it's a lot harder than the original RPG. The lead dev said the friction is key, promising battles with "an even greater sense of tension and challenge than the main game." Capcom recommended level 20 for the new Lost Rites dungeons and level 40 for Forsaken Dominion, the main questline in the new region of Norgan.

But here's the thing: even players way above those levels are getting decimated. One player started at level 80 and got wrecked countless times. And it's not just them—the Dragon's Dogma 2 subreddit is full of Arisen getting battered. One post accuses returning director Kento Kinoshita of lying, saying, "Bro said something like level 50 is a good starting point for this DLC and i went in on my lvl275 character," adding, "Bro this shit is still hard I'm getting 4 shot by random mobs and the trailer dragon is currently fucking me up severely."

Elsewhere, meme posts and videos show the snowy tundra of Norgan beating players down mercilessly. Some share tales of hoarding relics only for a snow ogre to steal them all. But these aren't complaints—everyone seems super pleased to be getting their butts kicked after a two-and-a-half year wait.

One player says "the new DLC is everything I wanted," praising enemies that are much smarter and harder than before. It went down a treat with reviews, too, as Dark Arisen nabbed a higher score than the first game's DLC.

In other good news, a Dragon's Dogma 2 update finally gives the RPG the performance boost it desperately needed, and it's so good that it's even lowered the PC system requirements.

So, are you ready to get destroyed in Norgan? Or are you waiting for a nerf? Let us know in the comments!