A Dragon's Dogma 2 demo may be on the way, if the prophecy foretold by SteamDB proves true
But how long will it drag-on?
Dragon's Dogma 2 is scheduled to swoop down onto Steam in just over a month, wreaking fiery havoc upon fantasy fans' free time. But you may be able to get a taste of Capcom's RPG sequel sooner than that, as recent changes to the game on Steam, as registered by SteamDB, hint that a demo might be approaching over the horizon.
These changes were spotted by Reddit user CannedBeansofDeath, who posted a screenshot of SteamDB's changelist for Dragon's Dogma 2 on the r/DragonsDogma board. Alongside various statistics, SteamDB tracks updates to all applications registered on Steam, regardless of whether they're released or not. In this instance, the site registered an update to the Dragon's Dogma 2 app on February 16th, which added a new 'package' (i.e. game files) to the app listed under the billing type 'Free on Demand'.
Given Dragon's Dogma 2 is currently listed on Steam at an RRP of £53.98 / $69.99, it's unlikely that Capcom has suddenly decided to make it a free-to-play title. Hence, a demo is the logical conclusion for adding a free on demand package to the Dragon's Dogma 2 app.
If a demo is coming, it wouldn't be hugely surprising. Capcom tends to drop demos of its games shortly before release. Both Street Fighter 6 and the Resident Evil 4 remake received demos shortly before the game's release, although PC players had to wait a week for the former as PlayStation owners got first dibs.
It'll also be interesting to see what form a Dragon's Dogma 2 demo might take. Capcom's demos tend to be tightly controlled affairs, but fantasy RPGs generally require more time to bed in than fighting games or survival horrors. Since Dragon's Dogma 2 is apparently four times larger than the original (which wasn't exactly short) I'm curious to discover how much of the game Capcom will let players explore before requiring them to loosen their coin-purses.
Whether it's another timed demo or something more substantial, I'm keen to get hands-on with Dragon's Dogma 2. I loved the original's offbeat take on high fantasy, and as Robin noted in his preview, the sequel looks set to enhance and expand upon everything great about the original. "This is still a series that plays by no one's logic but its own," he wrote in September last year, adding that its unique identity shines through "in every road walked, every goblin hurled, and every troll triumphantly exploded."