D&D General Cancelled D&D Video Game Project Concept Art Leaks Online

In-development gameplay footage and concept art for a now-cancelled D&D video game developed by Hidden Path Entertainment has made its way online. The footage, first discovered by MP1st, comes from a former Hidden Path employee that worked on the game's music and sound effects. Per the employee, the game was referred to as "Project Dante" and featured standard action-adventure fare, with puzzles and combat both featured in the early development art.

First announced back in 2021, Hidden Path was working on a AAA video game that used the D&D IP. The video game was one of several cancelled by Wizards of the Coast back in 2023, although Hidden Path Entertainment did not confirm the project's cancellation until a year later. As a result of the cancellation, Hidden Path laid off 44 studio employees.

Concept art showed several looks at potential companion characters and several classic D&D monsters, including a tressym, displacer beasts and Tiamat.

Despite the cancellation of Hidden Path's D&D game, at least three other D&D video games are currently under development:

• AAA action-adventure video game developed by Giant Skull, a studio founded by the game director of the Star Wars: Jedi series.
• Project Baxter, a cooperative multiplayer "Games as a Service" model video game developed by Starbreeze, maker of the Payday franchise.
• Survival life-sim developed by Gameloft, maker of the Disney Dreamlight Valley.

 

[Gradine]

• Survival life-sim developed by Gameloft, maker of the Disney Dreamlight Valley.

 

[Reynard]

:​

• AAA action-adventure video game developed by Giant Skull, a studio founded by the game director of the Star Wars: Jedi series

Yay!

• Project Baxter, a cooperative multiplayer "Games as a Service" model video game developed by Starbreeze, maker of the Payday franchise

Boo!

• Survival life-sim developed by Gameloft, maker of the Disney Dreamlight Valley.

Meh

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hmm. Pretty generic, even for a pre-alpha, but I like the blur effects. The problem with kitchen sink settings like the Forgotten Realms is that it's easy for them to just end up flavorless, since outsiders don't have a strong hook to grab onto to convey the look and feel of the setting.

Adorable tressym, though.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Obviously it's very early and thus very generic but I am kind of impressed that the art direction really seems to be identical to that of BG3 which implies that this studio was basically copying Larian's homework, or WotC does have a pretty good central art department that can coordinate the aesthetics across games and media.

EDIT: That pale elf character uses a weapon that kinda looks like a macuahuitl, I wonder if she's supposed to be from Maztica? They keep on talking about how she's got "cultural significance"

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Looks interesting shame it did not get farther along.

 

[JustinCase]

It's a shame it got cancelled; that video looks pretty good.

I am easily impressed, though, so YMMV.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

If this was a premortem meeting within a company I would say "games as services" are a very risky bet. I would advice collabs with other videogames.

Other reason because I don't trust "games as services" is because now my Fortnite game needs a better graphic card after several updates. For a time I couldn't login within the game because some bug. And I enjoyed very much my time playing Fortnite: Save the World, but I can't do always the same after several seasons without changes, and I started to lose games because my internet conection may fail. Now if I internet fails when I play "Shop Titans" the reload is relatively fast and I have lost only a little time.

I am interested into that survival-live sim but only if this can be played offline, or not to be only online always.

There are dozens of videogame studios creating their onw fantasy IPs. In the TTRPG industry D&D is the supreme leviathan, but in the videogame industry it is only a little fish in the middle of the ocean. Hasbro has to offer a videogame not only for D&D players but gamers who know nothing about the franchise.

And I like the aasimars because I start to feel a little sick with a possible saturation of tielflings. It is like everybody wearing the same costume in Halloween becaust is a fashion tendency.

 

[Von Ether]

Obviously it's very early and thus very generic but I am kind of impressed that the art direction really seems to be identical to that of BG3 which implies that this studio was basically copying Larian's homework, or WotC does have a pretty good central art department that can coordinate the aesthetics across games and media.

EDIT: That pale elf character uses a weapon that kinda looks like a macuahuitl, I wonder if she's supposed to be from Maztica? They keep on talking about how she's got "cultural significance"

I wouldn't be surprised if both studios bought some off the shelf assets to save time and labor, especially if they used the same engine.

 

[wicked cool]

That looked pretty good. Dragon age inquisition