Dragon’s Dogma 2 Dark Arisen: How to Open Beam-Barred Gates and the Lorade Portcullis

Norgan’s caves and ruins have two-leaf iron gates held shut by a thick wooden beam resting in brackets, and none of them show an “Open” prompt. The portcullis in Lorade Castletown is a different thing: nothing opens it from the street, and you go over it instead.

Quick answer: With your weapon drawn, attack the wooden crosspiece spanning the gate; it breaks only from the side where it is positioned. To get past the Lorade Castletown portcullis, go through the low archway in the wall to its left and climb the ladder at the far wall inside.

How to tell a beam-barred gate from a portcullis

A beam-barred gate has two iron leaves in a stone doorway, meeting at the center and reinforced by diagonal braces. A light-colored wooden crosspiece spans both leaves around waist level, supported by a bracket at either end. Do not mistake the leaves’ own wooden rail for it: that rail is fixed to the leaves and carries an iron ring pull on each leaf, while the locking beam is a loose, pale timber with no rings, lying in brackets in front of the bars. Standing beside it brings up only the normal combat prompts—there is no “Open”, “Examine” or “Push” option.

A two-leaf iron gate in a carved stone doorway with a pale wooden beam lying across both leaves at waist height — The beam on the near side: a loose pale timber across both leaves.

A portcullis is a square grid that moves vertically inside its frame. Since it has no wooden crosspiece, attacks against it accomplish nothing. A lever operates it, or the story prevents it from opening; handle it as a different kind of obstacle and save your attacks.

How to break the wooden beam

Approach the gate and check the crosspiece’s position. You can use this method only if the beam faces you, sitting on your side of the bars.

Draw your weapon and hit the beam with a standard attack; with the weapon sheathed, the first press only draws it. A Fighter can use the sword move labeled Onslaught on the HUD; no special skill is required, and the beam breaks quickly.

The wooden beam on an iron gate bursting into splinters as the Arisen strikes it with a sword — A sword blow on the beam breaks it into splinters.

The beam bursts into splinters and the two leaves swing away from you. They remain open afterward, letting you pass through again in either direction.

Both leaves of the iron gate standing open after the beam is broken — With the beam gone both leaves stand open.

A Fighter with a one-handed sword can break the beam this way.

When the beam is on the far side

Brinerot Grotto has the opposite case. Climb the steps from the first chamber to find an iron gate blocking the corridor; its wooden beam is on the far side of the bars, beyond your reach. A pawn confirms that this side offers no way to break it. A gate in the Snowfall Valley Derelict Passage is the same case: the only wood facing the corridor is the leaves’ own rail with its ring pulls, and the beam sits behind the bars. Attacking the bars won’t help.

An iron gate seen from the side without the beam: a wooden rail with iron ring pulls is fixed to the leaves and no loose beam lies in front of the bars — Barred from the far side: only the leaves’ own rail with ring pulls faces you.

Go back down the steps and exit the chamber along the alternate passage. Use the beam’s position as your guide: strike it if it faces you; if the bars lie between you and the beam, find another route and approach the gate from behind.

A log gate in the palisade of the Abandoned Village, east of the Norgandian Settlement, works a third way. Stand inside the village at the post on the gate’s right side, where the prompt “Examine” appears (F on PC). Use it and the whole gate swings up and stays open.

Where to find beam-barred gates in Norgan

The listed gates with the beam on your side can be opened by attacking it. This is not a complete list of gates in Norgan.

Location	Gate
Lakeside Grotto	Just inside the entrance, past the first chest; a second gate deeper in opens the same way
Mountain Stronghold, reached from Snowfall Valley Derelict Passage	At the upper end of the long stone stairs, where the banner changes; a second gate farther up leads to the rampart courtyard
Mordria Temple	A gate beneath a stone lintel along the descent through the icy cavern

In Lakeside Grotto, the cave near Norgandian Settlement, break the first beam to enter the tunnels, then open the second gate the same way on your way out. At the first gate in Mountain Stronghold, the banner changes to “Mountain Stronghold”; breaking the beam reveals a room packed with crates before the snowy outdoor steps. The gate in Mordria Temple leads into a masonry hallway.

How to get past the Lorade Castletown portcullis

This happens during the main quest Soul Searching. Nothing opens the portcullis here from the street; you go over it instead, by way of the stonework beside it.

After the gate by the sealed study is blown open, the quest reads “You destroyed the gate.” and the objective becomes “Explore the castletown and rejoin the soldiers.” Climb the long snow-covered stone stairs ahead, and the banner “Lorade Castletown” appears on the way up.

At the top, a snowy terrace ends at a curtain wall with a heavy portcullis set in an arch. There’s no beam or prompt, and although daylight is visible beyond, you can’t get through. Don’t attack it.

A snowy terrace in Lorade Castletown at dusk with a barred portcullis in the curtain wall on the right and a low dark archway further left — The portcullis on the right and the low archway to its left.

Look to the left of the portcullis for a low archway in the same curtain wall. Go through it and switch on your lantern (Ctrl + R on PC): the space behind the wall has no roof, but it is dark enough to need the light.

Keep on about 25 metres to the far wall, where a wooden ladder stands against the masonry with fallen blocks at its foot. Climb it (F at the foot on PC, then hold forward). It reaches a bright opening overhead.

The Arisen with a lit lantern at the foot of a wooden ladder standing against a masonry wall, fallen blocks on the floor — The wooden ladder against the far wall, lit by the lantern.

Pass through the opening to reach the stone bridge ramparts, on the opposite side of the portcullis. A long bridge blanketed in snow stretches ahead toward another gatehouse carved into the cliff; a statue stands on either side of its gate, and soldiers wait on the bridge. Stepping onto the bridge triggers a sequence of scenes featuring Wash and the soldiers. Afterward, a camp occupies the inside of the far gatehouse, and the objective updates to “Search for the demonic pit.”

The Arisen at the top of the wooden ladder, stepping through an opening onto the snow-covered wall top — The top of the ladder opens onto the wall top.

How to get down from the bridge afterwards

The gatehouse containing the camp has no way through, so continue on foot to reach the route onward.

Return to the bridge and head toward the round stone tower at its far end.

Near the tower, step off the side of the bridge onto the wooden planking built against the wall, then onto the snow-covered top of the broken wall.

Drop down ledge by ledge over the snowy rocks and ruined masonry until you reach open snowy ground below the bridge. Expect enemies down there.

Continue through the ruins and enter the arched stone doorway. The “Castle Barracks Ruins” banner appears as you go in.