Dragon’s Dogma 2 Creator Reveals How Real-World Locations Inspired the Game’s Huge Map

gamerant.com:

Dragon's Dogma 2's creator and director, Hideaki Itsuno, shared some of the inspirations behind the upcoming game's vast open-world map. A sequel to one of Capcom's most acclaimed titles, Dragon's Dogma 2 is one of the most highly anticipated games of 2024, with it aiming to be an experience that surpasses the first game. This can be seen with things like the size of its open world, which is going to be much bigger than the original.

In a past video showcase by Capcom, it was stated that Dragon's Dogma 2's map size is four times larger when compared to the first game. This map size was a struggle according to Itsuno, as he and the development team originally aimed for a map that was 1.5 to 2 times bigger instead. Some of the inspirations for its size and nature of adventuring in it were taken from the real world.

In an interview with IGN, Itsuno recalled how the team wanted to give players a real sense of «danger» of being in a high place while exploring in Dragon's Dogma 2 through environmental design, as opposed to simple in-game messages. In order to do so, the developers did a lot of location scouting, visiting famous high-altitude landmarks like the Osaka Castle and Abeno Harukas skyscraper, along with taking mountain climbing trips.

Another thing that Itsuno wanted to portray was the realistic feeling of climbing a mountain in Dragon's Dogma 2, instead of having the player be able to simply scale its slope. This was inspired by their mountain climbing trips, finding that although the fastest route to the summit of a mountain was often a straight line, that path was rarely taken. Instead, people climbing usually take paths that circle around the mountains, with Itsuno's team translating that feeling into offering players a semblance of choice that was balanced with its danger. «Instead of creating a map that lets you go anywhere you want, placing areas that players won't want to visit on it will let us decide where we want to focus on while not making the map feel