Dragon’s Dogma 2 Previews Are Looking Good, But Console Performance Isn’t

Dragons Dogma 2

The first batch of previews for Capcom’s upcoming action RPG, Dragon’s Dogma 2, are highly positive. We may have another Game of the Year contender here, but there is one department where the game seemingly fails to deliver - performance.

Capcom has been reticent about the game’s performance targets, with all marketing footage hinting towards a 30fps cap. Now though, it looks like the game will have an uncapped frame rate, but it’ll target 30fps. A quick performance capture from IGN’s recent preview video shows that Dragon’s Dogma 2 might have an extremely dodgy frame rate on consoles.

The preview session was held with a PS5 build of the game, where the frame rate would fluctuate around 30fps depending on the scene. During intense moments of combat, the frame rate would dip to the mid-20s, while free-roaming sections would see it hover around the mid-30s.

If performance is similar on the Xbox version, then at least there’s the option of VRR for those with compatible displays to negate the issue. On PS5, however, VRR only kicks in when played in a 120Hz container, which Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t have a toggle for.

Game director Hideaki Itsuno had previously announced that Dragon’s Dogma 2 would be released with an uncapped frame rate, but there were assumptions that it would target 60fps on consoles. Given that it is targeting 30fps, a better choice would have been to lock it to that limit. As of right now, the game’s frame pacing, which determines the perceived smoothness of motion, is all over the place, leading to a stuttering experience.

Of course, PC players can circumvent this issue with high-end components, although it is unclear what kind of hardware will be the minimum requirement to hit 60fps. Capcom’s official system requirement specifications are built to deliver 30fps. The developer suggests an Nvidia Geforce RTX 2080 paired with a 6-core Ryzen 5 3600X to hit 30fps at 4K, and that’s before considering the ray tracing features.

Whether the game runs well or not, it's clear that Capcom may have a big winner on its hands with how outlets are gushing about the game.

Related: Dragon’s Dogma 2: Everything We Learned In Capcom’s Latest Showcase

Dragon’s Dogma 2 releases on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on March 22, 2024.