Twenty-two numeric critic scores for Capcom's new expansion average to an NGC Rating of 87 — higher than Metacritic's early PS5 Metascore of 83, and right around OpenCritic's Top Critic Average of 85. Scores and quotes below were verified Oct 9, 2026, at 11:15 a.m. PT from outlet pages and Metacritic critic listings that attribute a number to each review.
Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen launched today across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and — for the first time — Nintendo Switch 2. Owners who already have the base game on PS5, Xbox, or Steam pay $29.99 for the expansion; Switch 2 and newcomers buy the $49.99 full package. Our morning piece covered which edition to buy. This roundup is about what the reviews actually say.
NGC Rating: 87 from 22 scores
| Outlet | Score | Normalized | Platform | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DualShockers | 10/10 | 100 | PC | Review |
| Vice | 100 | 100 | PS5 | Review |
| The Big Lead | 100 | 100 | PS5 | Review |
| RPGFan | 95 | 95 | PC | Review |
| Push Square | 9/10 | 90 | PS5 | Review |
| Nintendo Life | 9/10 | 90 | Switch 2 | Review |
| Gfinity | 9/10 | 90 | PS5 | Review |
| The Outerhaven | 4.5/5 | 90 | PS5 | Review |
| Hey Poor Player | 90 | 90 | PS5 | Review |
| covergeek | 90 | 90 | PS5 | Review |
| TierraGamer | 89 | 89 | PS5 | Review |
| Wccftech | 8.5/10 | 85 | PC | Review |
| COGconnected | 85 | 85 | PS5 | Review |
| Nintendo World Report | 8.5/10 | 85 | Switch 2 | Review |
| Gamers Heroes | 85 | 85 | PS5 | Review |
| Loot Level Chill | 85 | 85 | PS5 | Review |
| IGN | 8/10 | 80 | Multi | Review |
| TechRaptor | 8/10 | 80 | PC | Review |
| But Why Tho? | 8/10 | 80 | Multi | Review |
| CGMagazine | 80 | 80 | PS5 | Review |
| Screen Rant | 7/10 | 70 | PS5 | Review |
| RPGamer | 3.5/5 | 70 | Multi | Review |
NGC Rating is the average of those normalized 0–100 scores, rounded to the nearest whole number. Aggregator pages move as more reviews land; this figure is locked to the 22 linked reviews above.
What critics agree on
Norgan is the star. IGN's Jarrett Green spent "dozens of hours" in the frozen north and called the campaign a roughly 20-hour main quest with denser vertical exploration than the base map. Push Square's Robert Ramsey went further — about 50 hours of story and side work — and labeled the add-on "transformative." DualShockers and Vice both went perfect, with Vice calling it one of Capcom's best games in years. RPGFan's 95 framed it as the definitive sequel: the heart the 2024 release was missing.
Lost Rites — twelve dungeon challenges back in Vermund and Battahl — get near-universal praise for inventiveness. Several outlets note vocation or loadout restrictions that force you out of comfort builds. New monsters (yetis with gaping maws, lesser demons, Beorcans) show up in almost every positive write-up.
Where the scores split: Spoils and the grind
The new Spoils loot loop is the clearest break in the room. Push Square and DualShockers treat randomized appraisal gear as part of the fun. IGN compares it to a slot machine and says it makes the endgame gear hunt feel lifeless. Screen Rant's Kyle Gratton (7/10) goes harder: relic appraisal, unlimited ferrystones, and a flood of Portcrystals turn the expansion into a slog of warp-appraise-fight, and the review argues those changes sand off the friction that made Dragon's Dogma distinct. RPGamer's 3.5/5 lands in the same neighborhood for players who never clicked with the base game.
If you loved the original's deliberate travel and scarce fast travel, read Screen Rant and IGN's Spoils sections before you buy. If you wanted more map, more bosses, and a reason to boot an NG+ save, the 90s and up are talking to you.
Switch 2 is a separate story
Keep handheld and docked findings apart from PS5/PC praise. Nintendo Life's Scott McCrae (9/10) played on both Switch 2 and PS5 Pro: the Capcom port is strong in a vacuum — "one of the better platforms" for the adventure — but it is not the Pro version. He flags longer loads into pawn rifts and cutscenes, occasional chop (more so docked), a clear visual step down, and mixed results from the FSR 3 frame-generation toggle. He preferred an unlocked frame rate over a locked 30 with frame gen.
Nintendo World Report's John Rairdin and Neal Ronaghan (8.5/10) call it a stellar Capcom Switch 2 port overall, with a soft handheld image (underlying resolution as low as ~360p before upscaling, often higher) and FSR 3 frame gen that worked better docked than handheld. Metacritic's Switch 2 Metascore sat at 88 from a thin early set when we checked; that number is not in our NGC average, which only uses the individual scores in the table.
Cross-save with other platforms is still missing — Nintendo Life notes it as a disappointment for returning players, not a score killer.
Playtime, price, and who should jump
| Situation | Price | Review signal |
|---|---|---|
| Own DD2 on PS5 / Xbox / Steam | $29.99 expansion | Strong yes if you liked the base game; Spoils skeptics may wait for a sale |
| New on PS5 / Xbox / Steam | $49.99 bundle | Bundle undercuts buying base + DLC separately; several critics say this is the best time to start |
| Switch 2 (only SKU) | $49.99 full package | Buy for the port + expansion together; expect longer loads and softer handheld than PS5 Pro |
Title Update 4.0 ships free alongside the paid expansion (Hard Mode, PS5 Pro PSSR work, PC upscaling options, Official Pawns). That patch is not what these scores measure — they score Dark Arisen's paid content and the game as reviewed on each platform.
For the edition math and store links, see our which edition to buy guide. For the vibe check: if Norgan's snow and Lost Rites sound like your kind of friction, the mid-to-high 80s consensus is doing the talking. If randomized Spoils and easier fast travel sound like they break the fantasy, the 70s are the reviews to open first.