Dragon's Dogma Remake In Unreal Engine 5
A fan remake of Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen in Unreal Engine 5, rebuilt faithfully and then expanded. Documented one devlog at a time.
- Unreal Engine 5.8
- C++
- Faithful First, Then Expanded
- No Deadline
Why Remake Dragon's Dogma
I have been playing Dragon's Dogma since I was 8 years old (I am 21 now, as of September 2026). I have probably spent thousands of hours replaying it over and over, and I bought it three times: on PS3, then Xbox 360, then PC when I finally got one.
No other game has made me feel what Dragon's Dogma does. Grabbing onto a Cyclops and climbing up to its eye. A pawn warning you about a weakness it learned in someone else's world. Leaving Gran Soren too late and realising the lantern oil will not last the night. Thirteen years later I am still finding new ways to play it.
When I was grounded as a teen, my love for game development and for this game had me filling sketchbooks with how I would fix it: what I would add, what I did not like, what I loved and would never touch. Most of what is on this page started in those sketches.
The Dragon's Dogma 2 trailer got me excited. It looked promising, but for me the game does not rival the first one. That is when I decided it had been enough waiting.
So I opened Unreal Engine and started building. Thousands of hours in Gransys are my reference for getting the feel exactly right: how far a sprint takes you before you are gasping, how long a combo window stays open, how heavy a pawn's hand feels when it pulls you off a ledge.
The rule is faithful first. The combat, stamina, weight, vocations, pawns and the climb all have to feel like Dark Arisen before anything new gets built. After that come the systems from those old sketches, all designed to talk to each other: a Gransys where the law remembers you, your honor changes how people treat you, and the sea, rivers and wilds are yours to cross.
It is a hobby with no deadline, built in C++ on Unreal Engine 5.8. Every phase has to end with something playable, it has to run on modest hardware, and everything gets written down here as it happens.
What Stays From Dark Arisen
The heart of the original, rebuilt faithfully before anything new is added.
Physical Combat
Light, heavy and charged attacks, combos and skills. Hits land by knockdown power against stability, so enemies flinch, stagger, get knocked down or launched. Weak points, elements and debilitations all matter.
Grab And Climb
Grab and pin small enemies so your pawns can pile on. Climb large monsters like the Cyclops, Chimera and Griffin while they try to shake you off, and strike their weak points. The hardest system in the project, so it is prototyped early.
Vocations
Fighter, Strider and Mage. Warrior, Ranger and Sorcerer. Mystic Knight, Assassin and Magick Archer. Each with its own weapons, skills, stat growth and augments that carry across vocations.
Pawns
A main pawn you create that levels with you, plus two hired pawns. Inclinations shape how they fight, and they learn enemy weaknesses and quest routes by living through them. Go, Come, Wait and Help.
Scary Nights
A real day and night cycle. Nights are pitch dark with stronger enemies, the lantern burns oil, and leaving town late is a decision you live with. Portcrystals and Ferrystones for when the walk is not worth it.
Stamina And Weight
Every item has weight and your load sets your encumbrance class. Sprinting, climbing and grabbing drain stamina; run dry and you stop, doubled over, until you catch your breath. Stagnant health only comes back at an inn.
What I Am Adding
The ideas from those old sketchbooks. Every one of them plugs into the others, so a crime, a storm or a favor ripples through the whole world.
Stealth And Sneaking
Sneak past guards, slip through Gransys at night and pull up a hood or a disguise so fewer people recognise you. Darkness and fog cut how far anyone can see, and a witness silenced before they reach a guard means the crime never happened.
Law And Wanted Levels
Crimes only count if someone sees or hears them. Heat builds per region from Suspected to Outlaw: guards try to arrest you, gates close, shops refuse you, and knight squads with formations come hunting.
Honor
Mercy, honesty and cruelty move your honor and your standing with factions. It changes prices, how lenient guards are, which quests open up, and how fast your pawns trust your commands.
Bounties
Town boards list named bandit leaders, rogue knights and monsters. Bring them in dead or alive, alive pays more. Break the law yourself and your own name ends up on the same board.
Swimming And Diving
The original drowns you in deep water. Here you swim, dive with a breath meter and find treasure below. Heavy armor sinks you, so weight still matters.
Ships And The Cassardis Harbor
Cassardis becomes a working fishing village with boats on a schedule. Ferry routes first, then your own ship, storms, sea serpents you can climb and pirates boarding your deck.
Horses And Taming
Ride, gallop and fight from the saddle. Bond with your horse so it does not bolt from monsters. Tame wolves as companions and, much later, the creatures you once only fought.
Fishing
Cast from docks, rivers and boats. Bites depend on bait, time of day and weather, and fish have weight and rot like any other food in Gransys.
Dynamic Weather
Rain drenches everyone, weakens fire and strengthens lightning. Fog hides you from witnesses. Storms close the harbor and spook horses. Wind drifts arrows and fills sails.
Conversations And Relationships
Talk to almost anyone, with choices that remember what you said. Friendships, rivalries, favors and romance, and your Beloved is chosen from the relationships you actually built.
Co-op And Duels
A friend joins your world with their own Arisen and main pawn. Challenge each other to duels, one on one or with pawns, with honor on the line for fighting fair.
Smarter AI
Goblins flank, bandits set ambushes with archers, wolves circle. Losing enemies flee or surrender. Pawns heal on time and climb to the weak point you are already hitting, and townsfolk keep daily routines.
New Bosses
New climbable giants like a sea serpent, a Behemoth-class beast and an elder griffin you can tame after beating it. Multi-phase fights with collapsing bridges and rising water, each built around a new system.
Combat Feel And Effects
Hitstop and camera shake tuned to weapon weight, parries, counters, finishers on pinned enemies and environmental kills. Every spell rebuilt with new effects, breakable props and impacts that sound like the weapon and the surface.
Built To Run On Real Hardware
Built to run well, not just look good: 1080p at 60 FPS on an RTX 2060 is the official minimum, and a GTX 1080 still runs it on Low. DX12, DX11 and a Performance mode are all selectable.
The Plan
Every phase ends with something playable. The faithful remake comes first; the new systems are designed now and built after.
Foundation
A clean Unreal Engine 5.8 C++ project that is safe to build on.
- Git and LFS repository
- Gameplay Ability System
- Editor automation
- Rendering modes and scalability
The Arisen Moves And Fights
A character that feels like Dragon's Dogma in a gray-box map.
- Stamina, tired jog and exhaustion
- Unarmed combat, combos and skills
- Stagger and knockdown
- Animations on the character
- Lock on, guard and enemy health bars
Grab And Climb
Climb the Cyclops and stab its eye. The riskiest system, so it comes early.
- Grab and pin small enemies
- Climb a giant
- Weak point damage
Pawns
A party of three fighting the Cyclops together.
- Main pawn and commands
- Pawn combat AI
- Pawns learn enemy weaknesses
Cassardis Vertical Slice
A 45 minute session from the opening to the Encampment road.
- Cassardis and the coast
- Day, night and the lantern
- Inventory, shop, inn and saves
- Fighter, Strider and Mage
Core Dragon's Dogma
The main story completable, rough edges allowed.
- Gran Soren and the Encampment
- Advanced and hybrid vocations
- The big bosses
- Through to the Dragon
The Living Law
Crime, pursuit by knights, bounties and honor in one session.
- Wanted levels and witnesses
- Honor and reputation
- Bounty board
- Dialogue, favors and romance
Journeys
Ride to the coast, fish, swim to a wreck, sail to an island.
- Swimming and diving
- Horses and mounted combat
- Taming
- Ships and the Cassardis harbor
Depth Pass
Better AI, new skills and bosses, weather and effects.
- Smarter enemies and townsfolk
- New vocation and bosses
- Endgame dungeon
- Dynamic weather
Co-op And Duels
A friend joins with their Arisen and main pawn.
- Listen server co-op
- Duels with main pawns
To Do List
Straight from the project's task board, updated as work moves.
Working On Now
- Enemy health bars above their heads
- Lock on to enemies with the middle mouse button (toggle)
- Playtest the new combat keybinds, including two player sessions
Up Next
- Guard on Left Alt (unarmed for now, shield guard comes with the Fighter)
- Identify the remaining clips, including the real Blink Strike and Burst Strike
- Replace the placeholder body with my own MakeHuman character model
- Rendering mode settings menu (DX12, DX11, Performance)
- Status effect icons on the HUD
Recently Done
- Get animations playing on the Arisen in the test scene
- Fix knee and elbow data in converted animations
- Native C++ locomotion blend with foot sync and attack montages
- Fighter light combo, heavy, charged heavy, Blink Strike and Burst Strike
- Damage, stagger, knockdown, death and a training dummy
- Health, stamina and round minimap HUD
- Sprint, tired jog and exhaustion with Dragon's Dogma rules
- Gameplay Ability System with replicated attributes
- Unreal Engine 5.8 C++ project with Git, LFS and GitHub backup
Latest From The Devlog
What got built, what broke, and how it got fixed.
September 13, 2026 4 min read
Animations, A Knee Bug And A C++ Blend Tree
The Arisen now walks, runs, sprints, tires and catches breath. Getting there meant fixing folded knees in the animation data, a sign bug in the elbows, and writing a blend tree entirely in C++.
Read PostSeptember 13, 2026 3 min read
Starting The Dragon's Dogma Remake In Unreal Engine 5
Day one of a long hobby project: a Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen remake in Unreal Engine 5.8 and C++. What got built in the first sessions, from stamina and exhaustion to Fighter combat and the first HUD.
Read PostFollow The Journey
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