Capcom announces Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen for Switch

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Straight to the point: in January 2019, Capcom announced Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen for the Nintendo Switch, set for release on April 23, 2019 in the West and April 25 in Japan. That way the action RPG directed by Hideaki Itsuno got the chance to go in your backpack. Check out the announcement trailer:

For those who don’t know it: Dragon’s Dogma came out in 2012 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and mixes Western and Japanese RPG mechanics in an open world called Gransys. Your character, the Arisen, sets out after the dragon Grigori. The big differentiator is the Pawns, three AI-controlled companions who follow your orders. And there’s more: you can climb and cling to giant monsters in the middle of a fight.

The Dark Arisen version came out in 2013 and is the complete edition: it brings Bitterblack Isle, an extra endgame dungeon with tough enemies and exclusive equipment, created from community feedback. Then came the PC version, in January 2016, and the PS4 and Xbox One versions, in October 2017. The Switch was the missing piece.

What came next

The port came out on the promised date and received 78 on Metacritic. As of March 31, 2026, the Switch version had sold 1.30 million units, according to Capcom. The series got an anime on Netflix in 2020 and, finally, the sequel Dragon’s Dogma 2 in 2024. For those who like RPGs with real combat, it is one of those classics still worth a visit.