The first three hours of Dragon’s Dogma 2

Three hours is a tiny drop in the ocean of such a vast RPG, but it’s more than enough to realise how special this game is.

You might be aware that things are changing here at Gamer Network. As well as a certain looming sale that became public knowledge a few weeks back, we’re also shuffling things around to unify our video teams from across all the brands, making a sort of videography supergroup that encompasses everyone from Dicebreaker to Eurogamer.

That may not really be important to you folks, but it means I get to work more often with our friends across the network, which includes showing up for Eurogamer’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 livestream with Ian Higton, whose work I’ve long been a fan of.

On Thursday, we teamed up to take a look at the opening hours of Dragon’s Dogma 2, including pawn creation, early side quests, and making that precarious initial journey to the capital city. Having already started my own playthrough about a week earlier, it was fascinating to see just how much of the early-game content I’d missed, and how much I’d stumbled upon that Ian hadn’t. There are many forks in the road in Dragon’s Dogma 2, as ever.

It’s a fascinating, hugely compelling game that I’m convinced we’ll be talking about for decades to come: a true modern classic. And yes, despite all the endless flak we copped from angry Twitter people over Alex’s hands-on preview in which he stated that three hours was long enough for him to know that DD2 is a solid GOTY contender, I can confirm he was right. It’s almost like VG247’s long-time assistant editor, who also owns and runs RPG Site, knows what the hell he’s talking about!

Anyway, check out the opening of the game in the video above, with commentary from yours truly and Eurogamer’s Ian Higton, who only made one joke about getting “tossed off by a dragon” in the whole three hours, which I think shows a good amount of moral fibre.

Dragon’s Dogma 2

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

Wishlisted - Our 10 Best Steam Next Fest Demos

Another Next Fest kicks off soon, but we’ve already done the digging for you.

Welcome to Wishlisted, a showcase of our favourite demos from Steam Next Fest: June 2024. Check the video above or watch on YouTube .

Finding the Best NextFest Demos is all about the joy of discovery, but with so many Steam Next Fest demos getting released in such a short amount of time, it can be bewildering. So we’ve decided to show you our ten Best Steam Next Fest games which we think deserve your attention. These are all upcoming Steam Next Fest games that we’re genuinely excited for, and that we think should play nicely on PC handhelds too!

This is just the start of our Next Fest coverage. This week we’ll be previewing loads of upcoming demos across the entire network - right here on VG247, of course, but also over on our sister sites Eurogamer and Rock Paper Shotgun. Bookmark our Wishlisted Steam Fest hub to stay in the loop. And this is well before Next Fest actually starts, so you, dear reader, get to bask for a solid fortnight celebrating all the wonderful new games that are just around the corner. Enjoy!