Dragon's Dogma 2 "black screen" error on PS5: Possible fixes, reasons, and more

If you experience Dragon's Dogma 2’s “black screen” error on PS5, don’t worry - you aren’t alone. It’s a fairly common issue that can pop up depending on what sort of setup you’re running the game on. Thankfully, there’s also a very easy fix for it that will likely work for you. Hopefully, it’s something that Capcom recognizes and has a fix for shortly after launch, but if not, we have experienced and found a fix that works for us.

The “black screen” error on the PS5 edition of Dragon's Dogma 2 is certainly interesting, though. It only pops up at certain times and can be scary if you don’t know what’s going on. Let’s dive into this issue and see what you can do to fix it.

NOTE: The fix mentioned in this article may not work for everyone. However, it is worth a shot until the developers produce an official patch.

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What is the Dragon's Dogma 2’s “black screen” error on PS5?

If you press the home button, you can temporarily fix this. (Image via Capcom)

You’ll know quickly that the “black screen” error has hit you on Dragon's Dogma 2 for the PS5. The starting screen will pop up as normal, but as soon as you try to leave it, the screen will turn immediately black. This can be jarring and unsettling for players who aren’t experienced with this kind of bug.

If this happens on your first time playing the game, it will likely trigger before you even make your character and choose your Dragon Dogma 2 vocation. It will likely not trigger until you’re actually in the game itself, though, post-character creation.

What’s interesting about this “black screen” error is that if you press the “home” button on your controller, you can see the game again. Once you cancel that, you’ll return to darkness.

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How to fix the Dragon's Dogma 2 “black screen” error on PS5

Here's a simple fix for PS5 users. (Image via Sony)

The likely cause of Dragon's Dogma 2 error is the VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) settings on your PS5. The PlayStation 5's VRR works on the software level, so it's not always reliable. When this happened to me during the review period, we thought it was the HDR settings, but that wasn’t the case. Thankfully, this is a very easy fix:

• Press the “Home” button on your controller to get out of the black screen and return to the main menu.
• Enter your PlayStation 5 settings menu.
• Select Screen and Video.
• Select Video Output.
• Scroll down to “VRR”, and make sure it’s set to “Off” instead of “Automatic”.
• Return to the game.

Interestingly enough, this doesn’t happen if you’re viewing the game in OBS. The “black screen” error didn’t appear for me until I switched my 4K monitor to my PS5.

If this is still occurring for you, it is recommended that you select the “Options” button on your main menu for this game and check for an update. However, the above fix worked for us and allowed us to return to replicating iconic characters in Dragon's Dogma 2's character creation suite.

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Dragon's Dogma 2 launches on March 22, 2024, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PCs.