Dragon’s Dogma 2 runs on a day-night cycle and there’s no clock on screen either, so everything is measured in “morning,” “night,” and “the next day.” When someone only appears at night, or an oxcart won’t leave until the early morning, you need a way to move the hours along. You have several, and only some of them let you choose which end of the day you wake up at.
Quick answer: Speak to an innkeeper, pick Rest, then choose Rest till Nightfall or Rest till Morning.
Pack a lantern before you push into night
Before you deliberately skip to nightfall, carry a lantern. After dark you can see no further than the ground at your feet, and the onset of darkness summons fearsome monsters not seen by day. If you’re waiting until night to travel somewhere, be sure you have a lantern in your pack.
Time also changes the things you’re carrying. Gathered items ripen, age, and go off as time passes.
Rest at an inn to choose morning or night
Staying at an inn does three things: your party’s Health and Stamina are fully restored, the loss gauge, the reduction in your Health that builds up as you take damage, is recovered, and you choose whether to wake in the morning or at night.
Three inns and what their Rest row reads:
| Inn | Keeper | Rest cost |
|---|---|---|
| Melve inn | Tristan | 500 G |
| Shakir’s Inn, Vernworth | Shakir | 0 G during Chilling Tidings |
| Norgandian Inn, Norgan | Dwayne | 500 G |
Shakir’s Inn sits up the stairs from the tavern in Vernworth. During the quest Chilling Tidings the room is paid for you, so the menu reads “Rest 0 G.” The Norgandian Inn in Norgan is run by Dwayne, and its menu also carries Vocation Guild and Trade Norgan Ducats options; the two rest choices are the same.
Pass the time at a tavern for free
If you just need the clock to move and don’t want to pay for a room, a tavern keeper can do it. At the Stardrop Inn in Vernworth, the tavern where Captain Brant sits at night, keeper Glenna’s menu offers “Buy a round 2000 G,” “Pass the time,” “Talk,” and “Never mind.” Choosing Pass the time costs nothing on the menu.
Captain Brant is at the Stardrop Inn only at night; the quest line reads “Speak with Captain Brant in the tavern anight.”
Wait at an oxcart station until the next departure
Most oxcarts set out in the early morning. A driver who is not leaving yet turns you down; wait at the station for the next cart.
Look for the rope-and-bell post at the station. It carries the prompt Await Oxcart (Hold). Hold it and the screen fades to the next morning, when the cart is ready to board.
Camp in the wild when there’s no inn nearby
Out on the road, a camping kit lets you rest at a campfire site. The tent menu gives you the same two options as an inn, Rest till Morning and Rest till Nightfall, so you still choose which end of the day you wake at.
In the Norgan region you need the Arctic Camping Kit to make camp.
Use the outdoor seats in set locations
The game’s own tutorial, “The Passage of Time,” names one more way: “To pass the time, you can either stay at an inn, or make use of one of the special seats found outdoors in set locations.”
Let a quest move the clock for you
Some quests skip time on their own. In Flight in the Night, choosing Wait for nightfall. makes the game skip to that night. The other option is Decline.
In Village Defense, the game moves to evening once you tell Dorin you’re ready.
Mistakes that cost you gold or time
- Pressing Esc in a rest menu only moves the cursor to Cancel. Hit down and confirm after it and you’ll pick Rest till Nightfall and pay for a rest you didn’t want.
- Tapping the talk key only hails the innkeeper. Hold it to open the service menu.
- Standing still does pass time, but nothing on screen tells you the hour.
