Dragon's Dogma 2 PS5 Performance

Dragon's Dogma 2 is an amazing open world RPG — we've said as much numerous times in our Dragon's Dogma 2 PS5 review. But there's also no getting around just how unoptimized the title is on a technical level. As stressed in our aforementioned review, the game's frame rate can be a problem. Most of the time, it's found hovering between 30 and 45 frames-per-second, which is fine, but it's certainly not the consistent 60fps that you want from a game that's so heavy on action.

What's more, the frame rate can really take a tumble in locations where there's a lot going on. It's a disappointing state of affairs, and the latest Digital Foundry analysis is very much in agreement.

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Let's start with the positives: Dragon's Dogma 2 runs at a checkerboarded 4K on PS5, and it generally looks fantastic. The report also praises the title's implementation of ray traced global illumination (RTGI), which allows the game to utilise some truly gorgeous lighting effects. In short, it can be a picturesque release.

However, with no graphical options available on PS5 — not even a performance mode, which we still find baffling — you're left at the mercy of the game's uncapped frame rate. Digital Foundry points out that this is a demanding title in terms of design. It's heavily dependent on CPU usage, with enemies and NPCs requiring a lot of processing power — especially in densely populated areas, like cities.

This is a big part of why the game's frame rate takes a noticeable hit when you're walking around town. On PS5 in particular, the title tries to alleviate some of the stress by greatly reducing the draw distance on NPCs — and the result is some jarring situations where townsfolk can just fade into existence mere feet away from where your character is standing.

Digital Foundry sums things up nicely: "Dragon's Dogma 2 is a great graphical achievement then, but unfortunately it's let down by some configuration issues on the consoles and heavily CPU-bound performance on all platforms."

Whether it's through the addition of graphical settings on PS5 or via better optimisation, the bottom line is that Capcom simply must improve the game's performance. It would be a crying shame for Dragon's Dogma 2 to be left in such a state.

What do you make of Dragon's Dogma 2's technical performance? Are you counting on Capcom making improvements? Light a fire in the comments section below.

[source eurogamer.net]