As noted previously, I’ve played Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen on every platform save Xbox One and can’t wait to see how it translates to the Switch next month. If the frame rate is smooth and performance is solid in either docked or handheld modes, I can see this game becoming even more of a go-to action/RPG than even Capcom is anticipating.

That $29.99 price point is also definitely going to be a huge key to the game’s success, as you’re not only getting the original game’s content, but that lengthy and supremely challenging Dark Arisen expansion that features the deadly as hell Bitterblack Island that will haunt you with its incredible level of challenge (as in don’t make it your first stop once the game proper begins… or else.

Better hope that spell gets cast before that Cyclops starts swingin’ that club, pal…

The hardest part for a DDDA veteran like me will be finding the time to play this one. I know I’ll go the Mystik Archer route for the first play because its way too much fun to send a volley of homing shots down a twisty corridor and hear the sounds of monsters expiring before they’re seen, but I may totally flip a coin and choose a different class, as all are fun to play and rewarding when all is said and done. I guess it’s time to get in some sort of shape so I can log a ton more hours across the lovely but oh-so deadly island of Gransys and those intricately detailed dungeons packed to the gills with assorted dangers. If you’ve got a Switch, go put this one on your wish list, I say.

-GW