Combat System

DokeV uses real-time, action-style combat that pairs the human protagonist's weapons and movement with summoned Dokebi who fight alongside them. Players are not spectating while creatures auto-battle, and they are not picking moves from a turn-based menu. Engagements unfold live, with the player aiming, dodging, and timing creature deployments while Dokebi contribute their own attacks.

One caveat frames everything below. The mechanics on this page come from what Pearl Abyss showed publicly in 2021, chiefly the August 2021 gameplay trailer and the developer walkthrough that ran alongside it, and no new gameplay footage has been released since. In its August 2026 earnings letter the studio said specific gameplay systems and content details would be disclosed progressively in line with its marketing schedule, so none of the systems described here has been re-demonstrated for the build now in content production. The project was also redesigned once already, from the massively multiplayer game announced in 2019 into the action-adventure shown in 2021. Treat what follows as the most recent public demonstration rather than a settled specification.

Real-Time Action

Combat is action-driven, not turn-based. The player character carries weapons of their own and attacks directly, while one or more summoned Dokebi fight at the same time. Both layers run together: a player can swing or fire a weapon, dodge an incoming attack, and trigger a Dokebi ability in the same exchange. Dodging is a core defensive action, and the loop rewards reading telegraphs and timing summon abilities rather than stacking raw stats. The protagonist's arsenal leans into a stylised, toy-like aesthetic; public footage has shown oversized, cartoonish weapons such as a giant novelty hammer and a shark-shaped gun. The full weapon roster has not been published.

Summon Discs

In DokeV's fiction, Dokebi are stored inside small prismatic disc-shaped devices. During a fight, the player calls out a Dokebi from its disc to join the battle, where it acts under the player's direction with its own attacks and abilities. The disc format lets the player travel light, bring multiple Dokebi into a single encounter, and swap or recall summons mid-fight.

Arena Bubble

Combat encounters appear to take place in an arena-style space carved out of the surrounding open world when a fight begins. Rather than the world freezing or the player being teleported to a separate map, a contained battle area forms around the participants. When the encounter ends, that bubble dissolves and the world returns to its normal exploration state. The result is combat that stays readable and self-contained while still feeling embedded inside the seamless world rather than walled off behind a loading screen. In shown footage this contained space reads as a swirling vortex of clouds, throwing off confetti, sparks, and fire with each hit from the player and their Dokebi. Pearl Abyss has not said whether those clouds represent a separate realm the Dokebi inhabit or simply mark the boundary of the fight.

Boss Fights

Pearl Abyss has confirmed designed boss encounters through pre-release gameplay footage. The August 2021 gameplay trailer showcased multiple combat scenarios, including a fight against a giant boss-scale creature that towered over the player and their summoned Dokebi. These encounters indicate that the creature-collecting layer is backed by purpose-built, large-scale fights rather than only routine open-world skirmishes. Boss names, movesets, locations, and unlock requirements have not been detailed.

Special Gear

Alongside weapons and Dokebi summons, DokeV features special gear items with unique gameplay effects during combat. These items work in tandem with summoned Dokebi rather than replacing them, layering an extra tactical option on top of the player's weapon and the creatures already in play. The full list of items and how they are acquired or upgraded has not been confirmed. New readers who want broader context should start with the Overview and Getting Started articles before diving deeper into combat specifics.

Catching Dokebi

Wild Dokebi are not added to the party on contact, and the studio has been careful about the word catching. Speaking in 2021, the game's designers said the player does not actually capture Dokebi at all: bonds are formed by befriending them, which means meeting conditions particular to each creature's own story. The handheld vacuum seen in trailers was described in the same interviews as a tool used after a fight is won, to free a Dokebi trapped inside one of the android machines the player fights, and the executive producer called it a homage to Ghostbusters. A hands-on preview from the same year instead described the vacuum as a capture step performed on a weakened wild Dokebi after wearing it down with toy hammers, seated bouncing balls, and squirt guns. Both accounts date from 2021 and the studio has not revisited the subject since, so where the two differ the developers' own wording is the one to trust. What befriending actually requires, and how activities such as leaving offerings at roadside shrines feed into it, has not been detailed.

Unconfirmed Details

Several aspects of combat have not been publicly confirmed by Pearl Abyss and should be treated as open questions until the studio shares more:

• The full weapon list and how weapons are acquired or upgraded.

• The complete Dokebi roster and launch-day creature count.

• Whether the game uses a type or elemental matchup system.

• Party size and how many Dokebi can be active per encounter.

• Named bosses and any boss-rush or repeatable encounter modes.

• Damage scaling, level systems, and stat growth.

• Multiplayer combat rules, including shared health, loot, or boss instances.