Dragon’s Dogma 2, developed by Capcom, boasts impressive visuals and advanced lighting technology, particularly through detailed ray-traced global illumination (RTGI). Despite its visual splendor, the game’s launch version was marred by performance and visual issues, notably broken image reconstruction on Xbox Series machines and frame-rate problems in dense city areas. These issues persisted into the second patch, but Capcom recently released a seventh patch aimed at addressing these problems.
On the Xbox Series X, the latest patch doesn’t alter the basic visual settings significantly but maintains the beautiful RTGI presentation with ray tracing enabled. The checkerboarding artifacts that previously plagued Series X have been reduced, though the image quality still lags slightly behind the PS5.
The new patch introduces a “high” or “low” graphics quality toggle, which primarily affects ray tracing and motion blur, though the latter has minimal impact on frame rate.
Performance tweaks in the new patch show improvements, especially in CPU-bound areas like Vernworth, the game’s central city. The game runs more consistently, though it still struggles with frame-rate stability, oscillating between 30 and 60fps.
A 30fps cap option introduced in an earlier patch remains broken, with poor frame pacing persisting in the seventh patch. However, the performance in densely populated areas has seen substantial uplifts.
The new patch supports 120Hz output, allowing for frame rates above 60fps when GPU and CPU loads permit, improving overall performance on 120Hz displays with VRR (Variable Refresh Rate).
This setup helps smooth out frame times, making the game feel more consistent, particularly on the Series X. Despite these improvements, inconsistencies remain, especially in city areas where even VRR can’t fully stabilize performance.
On the PS5, the new patch brings similar visual settings improvements and fixes to ambient occlusion (AO), enhancing indirect shading. The PS5 version generally matches the Series X in visual quality but still exhibits superior image quality due to less noticeable checkerboarding artifacts.
Performance in CPU-limited areas has improved, though GPU-bound performance remains unchanged. The PS5 now supports 120Hz output, benefiting from LFC to maintain smooth frame delivery.
The Series S version sees improvements in ambient occlusion and reduced checkerboarding artifacts, although lighting quality remains inferior to the Series X and PS5 due to the lack of RTGI and lower-resolution shadows.
Performance is nearly identical to Series X in GPU-bound areas but slightly behind in CPU-limited scenarios. The 120Hz mode on Series S doesn’t significantly boost performance, and frame pacing issues persist across all consoles.
Capcom’s patching efforts have addressed several key issues since the second patch, including broken reconstruction on Xbox consoles, improved CPU-bound performance, and enabling proper 120Hz VRR output on PS5.
However, the 30fps frame-rate cap implementation and the absence of a true 60fps mode remain unresolved. The game has made notable progress, with fewer glaring flaws compared to its launch state.
Currently, the performance between PS5 and Series X is quite balanced, with both consoles offering a rich RTGI presentation and decent frame delivery when 120Hz and VRR are enabled. The Series X has minor reconstruction issues, making it slightly less sharp than the PS5.
The Series S offers a less refined visual experience but has seen improvements in ambient occlusion. Dragon’s Dogma 2 has significantly improved with patch 7, though some performance issues still need to be addressed.