Game-changing update – Dragon’s Dogma’s 3.2 update has arrived
Dragon’s Dogma 3.2 update has arrived, and it is game-changing
When Dragon’s Dogma 2 launched on PC, it was a mess (see our initial review). The game was incredibly CPU-limited on PC and consoles, and while updates eased these concerns, it never ran particularly well on any platform.
Two years after the game’s launch, Capcom announced the game’s Dark Arisen DLC and plans for a Switch 2 version, promising major game engine upgrades and optimisations. Now, these optimisations have arrived with update 3.2, and that means it’s time to retest Dragon’s Dogma 2’s PC version.
As with our prior PC tests for Dragon’s Dogma 2, we will be testing the CPU-heavy city of Vernworth. At launch, this area was so taxing that it was practically unplayable on all but the highest-end PCs. Now, this area runs much smoother.
In this article, we will not go into the gameplay ramifications of update 3.2, just its impact on game performance. If you want full patch notes, you can find them here.
Maxed VS Maxed – New Graphical settings make comparative testing difficult
Last time we tested Dragon’s Dogma 2, we used the game’s maximum settings at 1080p with a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and an Intel i9-13900K CPU. With update 3.2, Dragon’s Dogma 2 has been enhanced with new graphical options on PC. These include a new foliage density setting, Terrain Quality, Ray Tracing GI Quality, Ray Tracing GI Shading Quality, and Swaying Grass Quality. Additionally, a “CPU Saving Mode” and “NPC Culling” options were added. The “CPU Saving Mode” limits the number of CPU cores that Dragon’s Dogma can use, and NPC Culling can free up performance by culling NPCs when required.
Below, we used the new maximum PC settings for Dragon’s Dogma 2, which are higher settings than the game’s original maximum PC settings. We set NPU culling and CPU Saving Mode to off for this test. Despite the higher overall PC settings, Dragon’s Dogma 2 still performed better on our PC setup with update 3.2, with 1st percentile framerates over 60 FPS for the first time.
Note that for our September 2026 test, we were GPU-limited 57% of the time. For our older September 2024 test, we were GPU-limited 16% of the time. Clearly, the maximum settings of Dragon’s Dogma 2 are more demanding than they used to be. This makes sense, given the addition of new PC graphical settings and higher options. Our old benchmarks pretty much entirely CPU-limited, but that isn’t the case with update 3.2.
CPU gains are much larger than expected
So what happens if we make the game less GPU-limited? What happens when we enable DLSS? With DLSS in “Performance Mode”, Dragon’s Dogma 2 becomes much more CPU-limited, but average framerates rise to over 100 FPS, with the 1st percentile framerate going over 80 FPS when NPC culling is enabled. That’s a huge improvement over prior versions of Dragon’s Dogma 2.
With DLSS enabled, we can see that NPC culling has a minor but positive impact on game performance when CPU-limited. When the game isn’t CPU-limited, there is no real performance difference, as we can see when DLSS is not enabled.
Compared to the game’s Day-1 version, Dragon’s Dogma has been transformed from a game that could barely run above 60 FPS in Vernworth (with major stutters) to a game that can average 100 FPS in the same area on the same hardware without any stutters.
While our benchmarks are at 1080p, this is only to highlight performance differences in CPU-limited areas of Dragon’s Dogma 2. Using our GeForce RTX 4070 Ti at 4K with DLSS in Performance Mode, it is relatively easy to get the game running at over 60+ FPS with a few settings tweaks. PC gamers can now have a much better experience playing Dragon’s Dogma 2, especially if they own a lower-end CPU.
Conclusion – Dragon’s Dogma 2 has finally been fixed!
Dragon’s Dogma 2 has been transformed. Capcom has redeemed itself. Dragon’s Dogma 2 had one of the worst PC versions of 2024. Performance marred what was otherwise a good RPG, and even the game’s console versions didn’t run well. Now, the game is much better optimised and should run better on all platforms. Given the game’s improvements on PC, I’d expect it to run much better on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Capcom’s efforts optimising Dragon’s Dogma 2 for Switch 2 have clearly paid off. Not only is the game playable on Nintendo’s handheld, but the game now runs much better on its original platforms.
Update 3.2 has given performance-conscious PC gamers a reason to play Dragon’s Dogma 2. Yes, it’s over two years after launch, but the game now has stronger gameplay and performance thanks to its post-launch updates. Furthermore, the game’s Dark Arisen expansion launches next month, adding even more content to this RPG.
Capcom has righted a wrong here. PC gamers can now cross out an entry in the Great Book of PC Gaming Grudges. It took a while, but Dragon’s Dogma 2’s PC version has finally been fixed.
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