Everyone who owns Dragon’s Dogma 2 on Xbox Series X|S is getting Hard Mode for nothing, with no requirement to buy the Dark Arisen expansion. Capcom’s update notice lists “Added Hard Mode.” for PS5 Pro, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Steam, as part of a free title update tied to the expansion’s launch.
The update and the expansion arrive together, and Capcom’s own pages give two dates for that. Its Steam announcement says the Dark Arisen launch “draws near on October 9th”, and the store page for the expansion gives October 8.
What the Dragon’s Dogma 2 Hard Mode update adds on Xbox Series X|S
Alongside Hard Mode, the notice adds support for the Dark Arisen DLC and a way to carry current saved data over and start the game again from the beginning. Pawns gain one new specialization, Orienteer.
Rift crystals from a forgotten riftstone go from 30 to 90. Capcom says anyone who interacted with those riftstones before the update receives the difference the next time they start the game.
Some armor gains thermal properties. The bug fixes are mostly pawn behavior: pawns fighting barehanded with a weapon equipped, pawns sometimes not climbing or descending ladders, and gift items that stayed in the inventory after a support pawn was dismissed.
One quest fix is aimed at a mid-playthrough trap. Capcom says progressing “‘Ware the Corrupted Beasts” between the in-game hours of 3:00 a.m. and dawn could leave the quest uncompletable.
Three more fixes are button-mapping work, including one where buttons assigned to vocation actions could also be assigned to weapon skills bound to two buttons.
Capcom’s announcement says October 9, the store page says October 8
The announcement Capcom posted on October 6 names October 9 and says further updates to the main game are on the way, “including the introduction of Hard Mode”.
The Steam listing for the expansion is still marked coming soon and gives October 8 as its release date, read on October 6. Both come from Capcom.
Dark Arisen costs $29.99 in the US on the Steam store
Capcom is listed as both developer and publisher on the expansion, at $29.99 in the US. Capcom has not published an Xbox price for it.
Capcom’s own description of the expansion stays vague, promising that it “enriches the classic fantasy world and expansive adventures of Dragon’s Dogma 2 with unforgettable new tales and thrilling encounters”.
The platform-specific additions go elsewhere. On Steam the notice adds FSR 3 Frame Generation to the graphics options, moves DLSS Super Resolution to version 4.5, adds multi-frame generation, and makes frame generation usable even when Super Resolution is switched off. PS5 Pro gets official support for Enhanced PSSR.
Hard Mode, the save-carryover restart, the Orienteer specialization and the pawn and quest fixes are the parts that reach all four platforms. Capcom lists them under one platform line covering PS5 Pro, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Steam.
Capcom has added difficulty settings to a game after launch before, as Capcom Vancouver did for Dead Rising 4 in 2017. Dragon’s Dogma 2 itself launched on March 21, 2024.
