PSA: Saving in Dragon’s Dogma 2 Doesn’t Work Like You Expect – Here’s What You Need to Know

The world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 can be a harsh place, filled with disgusting goblins, nefarious creatures of the night, and an autosave system that can leave you stuck in dangerous situations a little too often. Whether you’re taking your first steps beyond the Borderwatch Outpost, or preparing to face the harsh deserts of Battahl, you won’t want to completely rely on the autosave system to create the best checkpoints for you. Want to save yourself some trouble in the future? Read on to learn the quirks of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s save system and how best to use it.

One Save Slot, Three Save Types

Losing any amount of progress can be a major headache, and so Dragon’s Dogma 2’s quirky save system is best understood early before any tears are shed. Let’s start with the basics – you have one save slot, and that slot is constantly overwritten by three types of saves: manual saves, autosaves, and inn saves.

Manual saves can be made at any point via the System tab on the pause menu, either by hitting ‘Save and Continue’ or ‘Save and Return to Title Screen’.

Autosaves are what the name suggests. The game automatically saves progress before and after an enemy encounter, when speaking to certain characters, or, well… when anything eventful occurs in-game! This is all standard stuff, but that very same autosave can act as a blessing and as a curse.

Because Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t allow for multiple save slots, autosaves replace your manual save. That means, aside from making a save just before quitting, you’re basically at the whim of the autosave function. As such, you could be left in an awkward tactical position when loading back in if that save was just as a really powerful enemy appeared. Worse, you could potentially lose hours and hours of progress if the save becomes bugged.

For example, in my playthrough, I unknowingly climbed up into an out-of-bounds area that was substantially higher than anywhere else I’ve previously been to. After dropping off a ledge, the game autosaved, and I hit an invisible wall. With no option to climb back up, or safely climb down, my character was effectively stuck forever.

Rest Regularly at Inns

So, how did you get around a situation like this? That’s where the third type of save comes in: inn saves. These are semi-permanent saves that are created when you rest at an inn. They can only be overwritten by another inn save, which means there’s always an alternative to your autosave. An inn save is loaded from its own section of the main menu, and so is always kept safely isolated.

Going back to my ‘stuck out of bounds’ scenario, my only option was to bite the bullet and reload from my last inn rest. This sadly cost me a couple of hours of progress because inns are only found in towns and villages, and so you can journey for hours in the wilderness without being able to make a save at an inn. But while fewer and farther between than an autosave, making a conscious decision to pay for a room and rest in a safe location can act as a playthrough saving choice if you’re left in a tough spot whilst adventuring. (Just make sure you’re resting at an inn – taverns are confusingly labelled as inns on the map, but buying a round of drinks will not act as a save point.)

This system may initially seem expensive, since a room can cost 2000 gold to rent, but I’d take that price any day of the week over having to start the entire game again because of a bug or a brutal combat encounter that proves inescapable. The good news, though, is that you’ll eventually be able to buy property, and any rests in houses you own will count as an inn save.

When reloading from your last inn rest, just be aware that the game will likely make an autosave soon after. As such, you should only load an inn save when you really need to revert back to that point. It’s best to think of them as your emergency back up more than your main save.

With this knowledge, you can keep your Arisen on the path to glory. But before you head off on your adventure, it’s worth knowing one more thing. When you hit the final credits, there’s no coming back: your saves will be erased and the only option available will be to start the game from scratch or in New Game Plus. There will be no way to reload an earlier save, so be sure to finish everything you want to do before embarking on the final quest.

For some advice on how to potentially circumvent the single save system, see our guide on How Save Files Work in Dragon’s Dogma 2, and don’t miss these important guides: 10 Things Dragon’s Dogma 2 Doesn’t Tell You and 15 Things to Do First in Dragon’s Dogma 2.