"Capcom has always structured ourselves so that we aren't absolutely reliant on a single person or a single creator."
So when Capcom announced Dragon’s Dogma 2 was getting a new update – a huge expansion called Dark Arisen, the exact same name as the first game’s expansion – I was a little curious: did Itsuno’s shadow remain hanging over the remaining developers attached to the game? Will this expansion feel markedly different when he’s not around to impart his vision?
“We have a great deal of respect for Mr. Itsuno, and as you mentioned, he left the company in 2024,” says Dragon’s Dogma 2 producer, Naoto Oyama, when I asked about working on the series without Itsuno present, “but Capcom has always structured ourselves so that we aren’t absolutely reliant on a single person or a single creator without whom a series or a title falls apart, and can’t continue to exist. For example, the director of this game, [Kenta] Kinoshita, he has been not only the director of Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen (2013) but he was a main planner on the first Dragon’s Dogma, and on Dragon’s Dogma 2 – as well as the Japan-only Dragon’s Dogma Online. He has worked on all four of those titles to date, and I think that as a team we’ve developed a lot of know-how and understanding of what it is that makes Dragon’s Dogma a unique series. So as we come up with the launch of this new expansion, we’re confident that we still know what it takes to make a great Dragon’s Dogma game.”
Nodding, Kinoshita adds: “Speaking as the director personally, as well: I’ve seen the whole series through to date. It’s a series which is beloved for being a little bit different compared to other open-world RPGs – and having a bit of uniqueness to it – but I’ve been with it from the start. So I’d like to believe that I have what it takes to continue the series’ legacy into this expansion.”
It’s refreshing to hear that, and from what we’ve seen of Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen so far, I can believe what Kinoshita is saying – in another article based on this same interview, Kinoshita explained how he and Oyama are ensuring quality-of-life changes to the game don’t impact its hardcore nature too much.
Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen launches on 9th October, alongside a new Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game.
