Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen was Capcom's attempt at the "ultimate" Action RPG fantasy game and they were able to craft a wonderfully unique game that not only offers an interesting world to explore but a very versatile combat system. The game comes with the base game Dragons Dogma and it's expansion, Dark Arisen, that was released for PS4 and Xbox one.

Dogma's Pawn system
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Dragon's Dogma is very comparable to an offline MMORPG. There is a partner system where you can create a party of up to 4. You have your main character, a side partner that you create, called a Pawn in this game, and two other Pawns from other players that you can summon into this world. Pawns are very unique in a way that they learn from observing not only your actions but other pawns as well. An example of the Pawn learning would be if a Pawn that specializes in magic sees another Pawn using lightning onto a Cyclopes, they see that lightning is very effective against cyclopes enemy types so they will stop using other elemental spells and only use lightning spells against this specific enemy type. The Pawns are not your average AI, they are very sophisticated and along your long journey in Dogma, they will learn from observation and also do fun callouts during battle. Your Pawns can also be summoned onto other player's worlds where they collect items and other goods for you when they return from their adventure. This system is by far Dogma's biggest differentiator when you compare it to other games in its class such as the Elder Scrolls and Dark Souls series. Ofcourse you can also play the game completely solo, but its recommended to play with Pawns for the best experience.

Classes and Combat
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Dogma's combat is very engaging. First, there are a total of 9 classes, called Vocations in this game, that are all very fun to use. You have your regular warrior who specializes in melee, but you also have the Strider class that specializes in bows and quick attacks and a Mage that specializes in healing/aid magic. These are the 3 basic Vocations. Dogma introduces advanced Vocations and Hybrid Vocations after the beginning portion of the game. Advanced Vocations offer a more stronger version of the basic 3 and the Hybrid Vocations are a combination of 2 Vocations. I personally thought that the Hybrid Vocations offer the most interesting combat style in Dogma since you get to use both magic and melee for the most part if you chose to be a hybrid.
Vocations that are melee oriented can climb onto enemies to attack weak points, such as climbing onto a Cyclops and slashing away at its Eyes. Magic Vocations, can aid your party with buffs and debuffs to your enemies, or if you take on the Advanced Sorcerer Vocation, you can summon giant Tornadoes and call upon fiery meteors from the sky. The magic in this game is quite impressive and you never get tired of seeing you or your Pawns using high level magic that completely fills the entire screen with spells. You can always switch up your Vocations so you never have to be stuck with one, as long as you have enough Discipline points you accumulate in the game to do so and Dogma for the most part is generous with giving you the points required to unlock new moves/changing Vocations. The combat is a definite highlight of this game.
There are 2 types of quests in this game, the main quest line which progresses the story and side quests. The side quests can be something simple such as, kill x amount of enemies, gather x materials, or they can be something that can add to the main story such as a certain quests that branch out as character arcs that explores certain characters that are not in the main story as much. You can take on as many side quests as you want so accepting them all as you come across them is the best idea. Main stories will advance the story by introducing new enemies, progressing characters, and even slightly changing what enemies spawn in the overworld. The overworld is big, but not so big to the point where you won't be able to explore every place on the map before the credits roll like many open world adventure games, you will go to all places within the overworld atleast once during your adventure. The story and side quests are all fun and I did most side quests and clocked in at 40 hours at the end.

Story and music
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Where Dogma excels in combat, the story can be a little wanting. I personally liked the story, however, the game did not do a good job explaining itself especially towards the climax where it did start to confuse me in what was going on. A second play through made me take in the story and fill in the missing blanks that I had on my first play through. It does start off basic with a dragon destroying the world and you have to rise against it as a hero and for the most part it is a pretty straight forward story. It does pick up towards the end and has a nice conclusion, but don't go into this expecting something spectacular, Dogma shines best in gameplay. Music was very fitting and there are some strong scores, particularly on boss battles and there are many of them. Which leads me to the next section.

Enemy types
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Dogma offers many enemy types with a hierarchy in each type of enemies. For example, the most basic enemy type in Dogma, the goblin, has several types of goblins such as Hobgoblins, Goblin Shamans, Grimgoblin, etc. Most enemies in Dogma will have a basic version of that enemy type and many superior versions that it introduces as the game progresses. Besides the regular enemies, there are boss enemies scattered throughout the world as well. There is a great amount of variety here with each enemy having their strengths and weaknesses. As you play through the game, small details such as your Pawn passively learning and adapting accordingly to each enemy type makes progression very fun and encounters very rewarding.

Dark Arisen
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Dark Arisen is an add on that came after the game launched. This portion of the game is post game content, as it has the most challenging enemies and is the most difficult location in the game. It is highly recommend that you finish the game first before starting the Dark Arisen portion or you will easily be defeated by the enemies here. Dark Arisen is basically a giant dungeon that gets harder and harder the deeper you go. In my opinion the game shines best and the most fun can be had in the location Dark Arisen takes place, the Bitterblack Isle. Not only is the difficulty cranked way up from the main story, it places several bosses together in one room in many instances to create scenarios where it is very chaotic and action packed. Bitterblack Isle introduces new enemy types and more superior versions of existing enemies, it also introduces a unique looting system not found on the main game. For every enemy you kill on the Bitterblack Isle, there is a chance of them dropping Gear that is ranged from Lv 1 to 3. This gear can be either a weapon, armour, or a new skill. You can spend your rift points you gather throughout the game to unlock the Gear and receive your loot. It is a very fun system but also grindy if you want to collect everything. Its always exciting to see that rare Lv 3 gear drop that you can unlock to see what you receive. Lv 3 gear in Bitterblack Isle is also the strongest weapon/armour in the game. Bitterblack Isle is also a loop, so you can play through the dungeon any number of times.

Conclusion
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I went into Dogma not expecting anything and was positively surprised at the amount of content in the game. Not only is it very unique with the pawn system, but the freedom in the combat and the many Vocations the game offers makes Dogma rarely have a dull moment, even if you decide to grind a certain boss to upgrade your gear. With the anime out now on Netflix hopefully there is enough interest for a sequel. Strongly recommended for any fans of fantasy Action RPGs.