Even with the Dragonsplague, Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't as mean as its predecessor—but I love how faithful it is to the series' strange and unique identity

The first Dragon's Dogma was a true cult classic. Weird, idiosyncratic, in some ways a huge pain in the ass, yet deeply compelling. Since 2012 it's built an audience of people who love it for its strangeness, warts and all—myself included. When a big, modern sequel was announced, I was excited… but also a little anxious.

You usually hope a sequel will sand down some of the first game's rough edges, but in the case of Dragon's Dogma it's hard to separate what needed "fixing" and what was part of the game's unique feel.