Can you beat Dragon's Dogma 2 using only your fists? One unfortunate soul decided to find out

Dragon's Dogma 2 shares a few elements with immersive sims, in that you’re given a lot of freedom in how to tackle quests, and the opportunity to come up with clever solutions to problems.

But what if the problem is that you don’t want to use any weapons to fight off the game’s many monsters?

Obviously, that’s not a problem Dragon’s Dogma 2 gives the player, this is more of the self-imposed kind. That was the case for YouTube channel Biscuit Sticks, at least, who decided to see if they could beat the game without relying on weapons. In other words, they’re going to see if they can overcome every challenge by… punching their way through it.

The rules are quite simple. They’re not allowed to equip any weapons, and they’re going to be journeying alone, meaning no Pawns to help them. This actually creates a major obstacle, because the game is designed around party play. Flying enemies, for instance, are almost impossible to deal with if no one in your party can deal damage at range.

The only (slight) advantage they’ve given themselves is not shying away from throwing rocks and other objects at enemies. Interestingly, the game has a few bespoke animations when not having a weapon equipped. You still get access to light/heavy attacks, and there’s even a finisher when you stagger enemies, just like when using a weapon.

While the original Dragon’s Dogma had a ring - the Bloody Knuckle - that boosted barehanded damage, the sequel does not. Dragon’s Dogma 2, however, does have its own stat and damage-boosting equipment, such as the Ring of Aggression, which boosts Strength by 30. Damage, of course, scales with the Strength stat. The Fighter and Warrior vocations get an even bigger bonus, so they needed to pick one as their main.

THE VIDEO CONTAINS SPOILERS.

The journey is quite fascinating, especially as it is not their first playthrough. Because they know where to go and what do, they were able to be strategic about their choice of quests, which locations to visit first, target armour that would offer major benefits to offset their clear lack of damage, and, well, rely on a bit of some clever environmental trapping to trick enemies into falling to their own deaths.

Biscuit Sticks actually attempted the same thing with the original Dragon’s Dogma, and the channel has a few other silly challenge runs, such as this one for beating Baldur’s Gate 3 using only cats.

We recently updated our ever-expanding Dragon’s Dogma 2 guides list with this one to help you solve the Sphinx's riddles, but you should probably bookmark the one for the Sphinx Mountain Shrine riddles, as that’s likely where you're going to encounter it first.