Capcom has removed Denuvo from Dragon's Dogma 2, taking the digital rights management software out of the action RPG a month before its Dark Arisen expansion arrives. PCGamesN reported the change on September 2, citing SteamDB changelogs that record the removal on the same date.
What replaces it, if anything, is not settled. PCGamesN said it is unclear whether Capcom has swapped in another anti-piracy system, and noted reports that a different DRM, Enigma, had been added in Denuvo's place. That claim was unconfirmed at the time of the report.
Denuvo has long drawn complaints from PC players, and PCGamesN, which calls the software oft-derided, reported that players were treating its removal as a win. In an earlier explainer on what it termed the potential pitfalls of Denuvo, the outlet put the crux of the issue as the software's "perceived impact on frame rates and loading times within games." It added that the problem is generally attributed to how the software is implemented in a given game rather than to the DRM itself, even though the effect players describe is often the same either way.
The removal came alongside a large patch for Dragon's Dogma 2, which PCGamesN said the game had received recently. Its interface received what PCGamesN described as a mini-overhaul, adding equipment filters, favorites and an icon that indicates when an enemy can be grabbed, among a longer set of quality-of-life additions.
The patch also reaches the game's vocations, with adjustments across each job; Tricksters gained the ability to float. Enemies were revised as well, with the Chopper among those receiving animation improvements and changes to their attack patterns. Capcom also fixed several quests that were not behaving as intended. PCGamesN linked to the full patch notes and described the interface and vocation entries as the leading edge of a much longer set of changes.
The Dark Arisen expansion for Dragon's Dogma 2 is scheduled for October 9.