Dragon’s Dogma 2 features a sly method of ensuring even the most unemployable pawns get hired and thus don’t deprive the player of valuable resources.
As reported by Eurogamer, Reddit user MrFoxer noticed the existence of “fake players” who hire pawns no one else will.
Pawns, non-player characters which join the player on their adventures, will keep themselves busy by picking up work from other players while their own is resting at an inn or house. This earns the pawn (and thus the main player) valuable resources like Rift Crystals, which are used to upgrade the NPCs or summon new, more powerful ones.
Only a close inspection reveals how employable a pawn actually is though, as players’ only indication their sidekick was hired by a ghost comes in the Travelogue. If a pawn was hired by a real person, this menu lets players check out their in-world name and profile. If it was hired by a fake player, this section will be greyed out completely.
There is seemingly little difference between the two modes of hiring, as even fake players can give the pawn a rating, send gifts, and complete the pawns’ quests.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 arrived more than a decade after its predecessor on March 22, 2024 and proved a monster hit for publisher Capcom despite being seeped in controversy, selling 2.5 million units in 11 days amid microtransaction and performance complaints.
These haven’t stopped the community finding wild and wacky interactions in the game though, such as working catapults that open up secret areas and a mysterious plague that turns pawns murderous.
In our 8/10 review, IGN said: “More of a redo than a sequel, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a strange and wonderful action-RPG that bolsters the original’s strengths without addressing its weaknesses.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.