How to survive the night in Dragon's Dogma 2
What dangers lurk in the dark...
A wise woman once said, 'The night is long and full of terrors,' which leads me to believe that she, too, has played Dragon's Dogma 2 and been absolutely obliterated by a raging minotaur during a nightly trek.
Like its predecessor, Dragon's Dogma 2 has a day and night cycle. The beautiful, verdant greens of a forest and the rushing river may feel almost whimsical in the day, but come night, the trees and foliage feel like an oppressive shadow, and the river, once a wonderful distraction, now shines bright with the light of ghostly phantoms hungry for your blood.
With all that lovely imagery in mind: night time in Dragon's Dogma 2 is no walk in the park and should be taken seriously.
So, without further ado, here's our guide detailing how to face the hazards of night in Dragon's Dogma 2, and what sort of encounters you can expect.
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How to survive the night in Dragon's Dogma 2
Exploring the wild world of Dragon's Dogma 2 will have players venturing through a lot of uncharted territory, and thanks to the map being pretty massive, sooner or later, you and your party are going to find themselves traveling at night.
Night time isn't just the world around you getting darker, though. There are a few encounters that won't happen anywhere else but in the dark.
Still, if you're looking for ways to fight and/or hold out against the ever-encroaching darkness, there are more than a few ways to help.
Using an oil lantern
If there's one thing we can recommend, it's using an oil lantern. When it starts to get a little dark, you'll want to press L1 and right on the d-pad (for the PS5, anyway) to turn your lantern on, and make seeing the road actually possible.
That said, be wary of how much you use your lantern. While Dragon's Dogma 2 is much more lenient with how much oil your lantern needs, it's still good to keep stocked on lantern oil (either through crafting, or purchasing it via main cities like Vernmouth and Bettahl) so you don't end up stumbling around in the dark and accidentally walking into a pack of wolves skulking on the edge of the woods.
Camping at night
Campsites are scattered throughout the world of Dragon's Dogma 2 and marked on your map and mini-map as campfires. You'll be able to spot them during the day and night, but they'll stand out mostly in the dark thanks to their orange hue and the white smoke that drifts off into the distance.
Camping at night does come with its fair share of risks, however. Enemies like the undead are much more active at night and seemingly traverse beyond their usual surroundings. So, if you do decide to camp at night and sleep until morning, it's best to scout and clear the area beforehand so you can sleep through undisturbed and not risk the chance of your campsite being destroyed.
Follow the roads
It may sound obvious, but staying alert and keeping to the long and winding roads will make traversing the darkness, oil lantern in hand, so much easier. Not only will the roads eventually lead you to some sort of settlement, but most of the enemies you'll find on the road range from simple undead, like zombies, to reanimated skeletons.
The roads are also a great option because, if you're lucky, you may find an oxcart. Though, be warned, if an oxcart in the dark has blue lights surrounding it instead of the orange hue of lanterns, you may find yourself running head-first into a phantom ambush.
Heading into the city
If you really, really, really want to avoid traveling at night time in Dragon's Dogma 2, the best way is to head into a city and/or town settlement. Outside the rare occasion of a few wolves attacking the entrance, most of these locations are well-protected by guards, and you won't have anything to worry about by simply hanging around inside the city walls.
The city also has inns, where you can sleep until morning. That said, sleeping at an inn can cost money that you otherwise may want to save. Thankfully, there are also benches that you can sit at and doze off. Dozing off will progress time to the morning, where you'll be able to continue your journey in the blessed daylight.
Why You Should Travel At Night in Dragon's Dogma 2
The night is inevitable in Dragon's Dogma 2, so even if you're not a big fan of the dark, you'll find yourself venturing through it eventually. But that doesn't have to be a terrifying experience, and in fact there are plenty of reasons why you should travel at night.
For one thing, you'll encounter different bosses at night than you would in the day. For example, a skeleton sorcerer that throws lightning and cold down at you will only ever appear at night. The same goes for the various undead, skeletons, phantoms, and the terrifying dullahan that prowls throughout the forest in the dark.
Not only are these enemies a little different from the usual fare that you encounter during the day, but they also drop loot that can be sold for a reasonable amount of gold. Their most essential use, though, is crafting materials for enhancing weapons and armour, which only gets harder as you continue to improve yours and your Main Pawn's build, so you'll want to keep the materials in mind.
Some materials, such as Miasimite dropped by phantoms, are essential for questlines too. So it's always important to have some materials deposited in your storage at the inn.
That's it for how to survive the night in Dragon's Dogma 2. If you're still in the early-game of Capcom's latest, why not check out our Vocations guide to help decide which class you want to play, or how best to earn RC and purchase the best Pawns.