Dragon's Dogma

The player starts as one of the common townspeople and can define their general appearance. However, they are killed by the dragon, which rips out their heart to eat it. Instead of dying, the character awakens as the new Arisen. At this point, a vocation can be chosen, determining basic attributes, equipment, and skills. The choice includes Fighter, Strider, or Mage, which can be developed into advanced versions and eventually hybrid classes.

The player can freely explore the environment and gather quests from NPCs. The combat is fast-paced with a combination of blocking and different attacks in a hack-and-slash style. Large enemies often need to be grabbed or climbed on smaller variations of them to reach and defeat weaker parts. The character's abilities are further defined through various items, weapons, and clothing found as loot, bought, or earned. The player can assemble a party with up to three computer-controlled characters called pawns.

The pawns can be issued basic orders and will hold enemies for the main character to finish them off. One pawn can be fully developed by the player, while the other two are hired hands that do not gain experience or level up. They can be hired from the Rift through riftstones and chosen based on their skills and vocation as needed. The game also features dynamic battles with roaming creatures, large cities where citizens have schedules, and a love interest who is always a woman.

Despite the pawn-party system, there is no multiplayer option. However, the game contains asynchronous cooperative gameplay, where damage done to the Ur Dragon becomes permanent and shared across all versions of the game logged in. The player who deals the last hit gets the largest reward, but everyone who participated shares a portion of it.