If you’ve been tuning into our weekly Friday Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen livestream series, “‘Tis Weak to Fridays,” then you know how much zany fun I’ve been having with my Mystic Knight Arisen on Bitterblack Isle.

Tune into Twitch again today at 4pm PT for the continuation. Read on for my sentiments on the experience to date. And yes–we will have another art book to give away!

The playthrough’s really been a great opportunity for me to get more deeply familiar with the tremendous amount of content newly added in Dark Arisen–a luxury unfortunately not afforded during the game’s relatively short and crowded launch campaign, much to my shame.

I’ve been having so much fun playing through this game with you guys, and on my own at home, that I’d like to begin regularly blogging about my experiences. Yep: Dragon’s Blogma is back.

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Dragon’s Blogma: Dragonforging

I guess the thing that’s surprised me the most about Bitterblack is how genuinely scary the place is. Weaned from a too-early age on the likes of Evil Dead, I’m not particularly easy to disturb. At no point during DDDA’s campaign did I suspect that a fantasy action game in which you are at all times accompanied by a crew of talkative and capable—let’s face it—superheroes, would prove to have some of the most unsettling moments I’d ever experienced in games. But it does! I may be all chuckles and one-liners during these livestreams, but during my lone, nightly sessions, I’m a nail-biting wreck! I’m down to the cuticles here.

Specifically it’s those Necrophagous Beasts. Unless you’re a biologist or super, super creepy (I kid, I kid), you’ve probably never heard the word necrophagous outside this game, but evidently it’s a synonym for “attracted to horrid carcass meat.” If you’re a fan of gefilte fish, I include you in this category.

In the context of Dark Arisen, though, Necrophagous Beasts are giant, deadly monsters like the Garm and the Cursed Dragon that appear at random, attracted to the rotting meat of other defeated monsters. It’s a new mechanic with a prominent role on Bitterblack Isle, and it effectively turns every ostensible victory on Bitterblack into a high-stakes dice roll. Thinking of celebrating after a hard-won battle with a Gore Cyclops? Think again. Now you’ve got a Cockatrice to deal with. You fool. They can turn man into stone.

The black-and-white-slow-motion-dreadful-sound thing that happens each time one of these guys appears really helps create a horrific and desperate atmosphere that takes me all the way back to the classic Resident Evil days.  

↑ Necrophagous Beasts variety showcase

When I’m not trembling in terror, though, the game has been downright delightful, and chock full of that emergent storytelling I love so well. I love all the little spontaneous moments of discovery and mayhem. 

First of all, the Mystic Knight Skill “Abyssal Anguish” is ridiculous. That thing could end World War III. 

↑ Abyssal combined with the Burst Strike skill managed to get this Prisoner Cyclops in a seemingly unbreakable damage loop. 

↑ The Dark Bishop will pass out for upwards of a minute if you knock out his pet dragon while he’s possessing it. This can completely turn the tides of battle, as we discovered in literally the last minute of this stream. 

Then there was this dramatic moment turned nutty. In the land of non-mystic knights, Mystic Knight is king. 

The above may look pretty silly, but ultimately I think it’s a great example of the freedom that lies at the core of Dragon’s Dogma. No rule in the game is so strict that you can’t try and find a way to personalize your experience. It’s silly to end a dramatic duel between two key characters by popping one of them into the air like a bottle rocket–but that’s what I wanted to do, and the game didn’t stand in my way. In these modern days of overly guided gaming experiences, that’s a pretty special thing. Think about it.

More DD fun to come!