When first booting up Dragon’s Dogma, the title screen begins with a lovely piano motif, slow and steady, playing in the background. The motif has a somber mood to it at first, before picking up after a few seconds into a more, fuller score. But, after a minute, the piano is replaced with an electric guitar, and that same motif serves as the base of a J-rock song that could be found at the front of most anime shows.

The change was jarring, one that I did not expect when I first heard it. But after playing Dragon’s Dogma in depth, and reflecting on the game as a whole, it became apparent that this sudden musical change was a precursor to the game ahead. Taking ideas from its contemporaries, from Demon Souls to Monster Hunter, this Frankenstein monster of features makes Dragon’s Dogma a misshapen, shambling figure, one that apes several sources but never truly meshes together.

Dragons Dogmas has you star as the “Arisen”. Like every other unlikely chosen one, the Arisen starts out as a fresh faced innocent in a small fishing village, until a Dragon Swoops down, plucks your heart from your chest, and eats it, while you stare down the beast eyes-wide by the sight of it devouring your organ.

And yes, that is not our WTF moment.

I am pretty sure this is not how open-heart surgery works…

After the dragon dines on your inner man meat, you awaken as the Arisen, a character that must now go on a journey to kill the dragon before the world ends. This plot doesn’t really go places until the last act, where a surprising twist changes the game for the better, in my opinion. But those looking for a deep, or even coherent story line will be highly disappointed.

At its core, Dragon’s Dogma is all about the gameplay. Many of the games elements are fairly similar to other games in the action RPG genre. Take Monster Hunter, for example. One of the most vital actions you can do in Dragons Dogma is to horde items found out in the field, stocking up on tons of herbs, oil flasks, mushrooms and cyclops tusks to combine and create new, more powerful items. So right off the bat, preparation is as vital, if not more important, than finding a higher level weapon or piece of armor.

Combat is also a mix between Demon Souls and Monster Hunter. You have a light and heavy attack you can button mash to death with enemies, and you can customize your primary and secondary abilities based on your class. The aptly named striders, for example, can plunge a hail of arrows from a distance and then get close with a pair of daggers, while a mage can shoot off magic missiles or take the time to conjure up a massive whip of lightning.

Combat is easily the best aspect of the game. Despite the mix of flavors bringing things together, Dragon’s Dogma has just enough customization to make combat varied, allowing a fair degree of flexibility on your preferred play style, especially as you move on to the advanced or hybrid classes. Whether it is up close and personal or from afar, Dragon’s Dogma compensates each class to make them fun to play in the thick of the fight.

Goblins, the runts of the fantasy world. I bet these guys are easy to kill… sometimes.

And topping all of this off is the crown jewel of Dragon’s Dogma, the boss battles. Be it a roaming Chimera in a thin woodland, or a scripted boss battle against a Hydra, Dragons Dogma pulls out all the stops in making the boss fights as dynamic as Shadow of the Colossus. Each creature you fight has a strength and weakness, and using various tricks and abilities becomes the key to exploiting them to your benefit, making these boss fights feel even more epic than taking down a dragon in Skyrim.

Of course, you will not be alone in your quest to slay the dragon. Accompanying you are Pawns, described in game as otherworldly sojourners who only follow the orders of the Arisen. In game, the Pawns are used to create a balanced party of four, and the only way to create that balanced party is to borrow pawns from friends and strangers online. Working like the hint system in Demon Souls, Dragons Dogma attempts to emulate the system by creating active, custom made avatars for the player to use, adding a degree of connectivity with friends online while playing a single player game.