My first playthrough of Elden Ring remains the undisputed best experience of my 15 years of active gaming, and only Dragon's Dogma 2 comes close to it…
Is Dragon's Dogma 2 better than Ring of Fire? – Dragon's Dogma 2 vs Ring of Fire Comparison
Dragon's Dogma 2 is everything I expected it to be and more. The game brought back the childlike excitement I felt exploring the open world with just a few plays. Many of the recent open world games had forgotten the meaning of exploration and hand held players through every nook and cranny of the map. When I started to question my interest in open world games, Elden Ring came as a breath of fresh air, making me realize that the problem wasn't with me, but with the poorly designed games.
I'll never forget the moment I discovered the Siofra River Well Elevator, which took two whole minutes to reach underground, where I found a huge unexplored area with new enemies and bosses.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is the only other game that reached those heights, in terms of exploration for me. With the Elden Ring DLC scheduled for release in June, I'm lucky enough to have Dragon's Dogma 2 with me until then. DD2 is the perfect balance of combat and exploration and easily fills the crater-sized RPG hole that I had wanted to fill before the Elden Rings DLC.
