The next Dragon’s Dogma game won’t be a triple-A sequel like fans may have hoped for, but rather a free-to-play, downloadable 2D role-playing game. exclusive to Sony’s PS Vita called Dragon’s Dogma Quest. Dragon’s Dogma Quest, a PlayStation Vita exclusive, comes to Japan in fall 2013, as the latest issue of Japanese gaming mag Famitsu revealed (via Polygon).
Capcom’s Hideaki Itsuno and Masanori Komine describe the game as a scaled-down version of the original Dragon’s Dogma, with a similar structure but “more approachable” play. The player still controls the Arisen, protagonist of the console game, and still directs numerous pawns in battle.
Quest differs in that the Arisen doesn’t fight, instead issuing orders to his or her pawns in battle – four in all, with the potential for another four from a friend’s game – and managing their stat progression. The Arisen levels up as well, earning more health and action points for the party in the process. Like in the original game, everything you do leads up to an epic confrontation with a dragon.
Komine told Famitsu that the dev team arrived at this changed format because they wanted to make something accessible, but also challenging. As for the decision to go free-to-play, Itsuno said that was made early on: while Dragon’s Dogma Quest is “a serious, full-on RPG,” he said, some people may want to pay their way through it to make it easier.