How to pass time in Dragon’s Dogma 2

Passing time is a crucial aspect of mastering Dragon’s Dogma 2. The game is notably different whether it’s day or night. But it’s not really convenient to wait around for 20 IRL minutes while the sun sets. In other words, you’ll want to change the time of day from time to time.

Our Dragon’s Dogma 2 guide will show you how to pass time in two ways — dozing off for a few hours or sleeping for longer — and where you’ll have to be to do each.

How long is a day in Dragon’s Dogma 2?

Image: Capcom

Dragon’s Dogma 2 has a roughly 48-minute day-night cycle, according to our testing. Some quests only take place a certain times of day, different enemies appear at different times, and some resources can only be collected at night.

You can tell what time of day it is by looking at the border of the stylized map in the pause menu:

Image: Capcom via Polygon

Confusingly, the ring spins counterclockwise, so it’s better to think of it like a map (or a sundial) than as a clock. The picture of the sun “rises” in the east and then rotates counterclockwise around to “set” in the west.

In the above image, for instance, the sun’s positioning indicates it’s a bit past mid-morning.

Some quests — timed quests — are also impacted by the passage of time, where if you wait too long to complete an accepted quest, you’ll either end up with a “bad” ending or just fail the quest.

Meanwhile, items in your inventory can change as time passes: An apple, for instance, becomes a ripened apple (that heals more) and then a rotten apple (that poisons) over the course of a few days.

How to pass time at an inn or camp

Image: Capcom via Polygon

When you’re in the wild, you’ll periodically find campsites. At these campfires, you can use a camping kit to make camp. If you’re in a settlement, you might find an inn — buildings with a blue fireplace sign out front.

Image: Capcom via Polygon

In a camp, interacting with your bedroll lets you choose to sleep until the next morning or evening. At an inn, you’ll have to pay for a bed. The price is pretty steep, and will usually cost you about 1,500 to 2,000 gold per night.

Wherever you sleep, you’ll get the option to rest till morning or rest till nightfall. Either option fast-forwards time to the next day or night. If you sleep at an inn, you also create a save you can return to with the load last inn save option — just be aware that doing so overwrites your last autosave.

How to pass time at a bench

Image: Capcom via Polygon

In cities and settlements, you’ll see benches around that you can interact with. You can only interact with the ones that have red fabric on the seat — the others are just decoration. You can track down which benches allow you to pass time by checking your minimap for a bench-shaped icon.

A couple seconds after you sit on a bench, you’ll get the option to doze off (just like you do in an oxcart while fast traveling).

While sleeping in camp or at an inn fast-forwards time all the way to the next day or night, dozing off takes you about halfway there. If you want to go all the way from day to night, you might have to doze off twice in a row.

For more Dragon’s Dogma 2 guides, check out our beginners guides to combat and the pawn system, or peruse our list of all vocations. We also have explainers on how to change your vocation, how to change your appearance, how to increase your inventory size, and how to fast travel.