Does Dragon's Dogma 2 have co-op?

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an epic fantasy RPG and some new players might wonder whether it’s got co-op. Furthermore, some players might be curious about what online functionality it does have, and whether there is any form of interaction between you and your friends.

Does Dragon’s Dogma 2 have co-op?

Dragon’s Dogma 2 does not have co-op. This is a single player game and no other human-controlled player will be joining you on your journey. The only people aiding you will be the Pawns in your party: your main Pawn that you create at the start of the game and two spare spots for you to hire Pawns you encounter.

You can take other player's pawns along with you on your adventure and send them back with materious and knowledge.
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In saying this, Dragon’s Dogma 2 does have online functionality that lets you indirectly affect another player’s experience and vice versa. By playing online, you can hire someone else’s main Pawn and have that AI-controlled character join your squad. Similarly, another online player can hire your main Pawn and have them in their squad. You will still keep your main Pawn in your squad, they won’t leave, just think of it like them being in two places at once.

The advantage of playing online and having your main Pawn hired is that they will learn new things about the world. They might learn the location of a hidden cave or chest or even how to kill some tough monsters, and they will willingly share this information with you. For example, if your main Pawn is an Archer and they get hired by another player that is using the Archer Vocation, your Pawn will pick up tricks on how to be a better Archer.

Set a Pawn Quest for your Main Pawn so that they can acquire items and gear you need.
Source: Shacknews

In addition to this, any Pawns you hire will have a Pawn Quest. Completing this quest will reward you with some valuable materials like Wakestone Shards. This is essentially a way to trade with other players, as you can set the Pawn Quest to be collecting some sort of resource and if the other player completes this quest, your Pawn will return with said resource.

So while Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t have co-op or multiplayer in the traditional sense, it does feature some multiplayer-adjacent functionality. You can work together with your friends to improve one another’s Pawns or even use them to trade goods back and forth (though they won’t gain XP or level up). Take a look at our Dragon’s Dogma 2 page for more help understanding the various mechanics and systems at play.