Highlights
- Dragonsplague is a terrifying mechanic in Dragon’s Dogma 2 that can turn friendly Pawns into horrible shadow monsters.
- Pawns infected with Dragonsplague may slaughter townsfolk, including key NPCs, if not cured or passed on to another Pawn.
- Some players are resorting to killing off healthy Pawns out of fear of Dragonsplague, adding a dark twist to the game.
Dragonsplague has got to be one of the most terrifying mechanics introduced to a game in recent years, especially if you’re the type of player who grows close with their traveling companions. Dragon’s Dogma 2 is centered around a party system in which you, as The Arisen, can summon Pawns to serve you in battle. These Pawns don’t just act as your battle companions, but they’ll also guide you to things that their old masters have found, and they’re just generally friendly and helpful characters, which can lead to a real sense of connection with them.
But Dragonsplague changes all of that, and it’s so scary that it’s got some players acting irrationally violent towards their favorite little helpers.
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What Is It, And Why Is It So Scary?
What makes Dragon’splague so terrifying is that it’s an infectious disease that can afflict any Pawn, even the Main Pawn that you created yourself. As you level up, you’ll probably be refreshing the other two slots in your party with Pawns created by other players or Capcom itself, but every time you do this, you could be inviting the disease into your game. (And it seems they may also pick it up from fighting dragons and drakes.)
Dragonsplage has two big drawbacks to it. The first is pretty simple — your Pawns will simply stop following your commands. Well and good; everyone goes through those rebellious teenage years. But if the plague has progressed far enough, using a bed in a city or town will result in your Pawn transforming into a shadow monster and slaughtering townsfolk, which can include named NPCs that are vital to quests. Of course, you can always go to the morgue and revive them with a wakestone, but those things don’t exactly grow on trees.
There are only two ways for a Pawn to get rid of Dragonsplague: pass it on to another pawn or die. Of course, if your main Pawn dies, they can be resummoned almost immediately, but that tactic is leading to some unfortunate circumstances for Pawns.
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The Curative Tentacle Beast Of Doom
It seems like some players are taking the easy way out and killing off Pawns themselves. The easiest way to go about this is to chuck them into any deep pool of water. There’s no swimming in Dragon’s Dogma 2, as entering deep water results in horrible red tentacles known as The Brine springing up. Once caught by The Brine, the Arisen will recover immediately and reappear on shore, but Pawns will be killed, and you’ll need to resummon them to get them back.
What’s more, Dragonsplague seems to have so many players on edge that they’re killing off perfectly healthy Pawns. There’s a video going around now (shown below) that features a player mistaking general fatigue in one of their pawns for Dragonsplague. While one Pawn seems to be afflicted, a second was causing suspicious by siting down when commanded to stop, which is apparently just what Pawns do in the field when they’re ready to make camp.
“Ok, well they all had a nice bath, better be safe than sorry, haha,” the person who made the video later reported. While it’s simply an easy way to dismiss them — Pawns are never really dead permanently — it’s still a bit of a garish way to dispose of such helpful parrrty members, but for most players, it seems they’d rather be safe than sorry.
