WotC Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance Video Game Announcement Trailer

An announcement trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance premiered at The Game Awards on Thursday evening.

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Developed by Tuque Games, the studio acquired earlier this year by Wizards of the Coast, the game will be a sequel of sorts in the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance action-RPG series for the Xbox, Playstation 2, and Gamecube. This game, however, will go to Icewind Dale and feature four-player co-op as you take on the roles of Drizzt Do'Urden, Cattie-Brie, Wulfgar, and Bruenor. The game is due for release in 2020.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Unfortunately the trailer needs better modelling and rigging for the characters.

Apart from that it does evoke the mood it most likely will try to portray - you have to kill everything with really general missions to go on.

The previous two Dark Alliance Games fit that bill as does D&D Heroes.

In addition if you check out Livelock (Tuque Games only other game?) it is most likely the best example of what will come out. I do not see them recreating a game engine or code when they are trying to churn this out for 2020.

They will need a good 3rd person modeller for the game and that trailer will essentially have nothing to do with gameplay whatsoever - especially that move where the dwarf presents his shield and Drizzt leaps off of it.

If you check out their careers page they seem to be looking for modellers so I would not be surprised if these are related to the product - hopefully.

D

Hey, maybe they’ll get weird and present group moves like that.

But probably not

 

[GreyLord]

I agree, the trailer was made in poor taste. They need to take the individual who decided that this was in good taste behind the barn and rectify their taste to be a bit better.

On the otherhand, I have heard MANY calls for a new BG: DA game over the past few years. BGA was one of the games that many hold as one of the D&D games from the past that they really enjoyed.

IF a true sequel or spiritual successor can be made of that, I think there could be an audience for it that will eagerly consume it.

However, they need a better advertisement.

 

[dagger]

I hope no one pre-orders this...

 

[Aldarc]

If I wanted to play an action RPG, there are plenty of good ones to choose from already: Skyrim, Witcher, etc. When I want to play D&D, I want to feel like I'm playing D&D, and that's turned based (or pause-able). It seems like whenever D&D tries to go out genre, it never works well because they simply can't compete with the aforementioned Witcher or Elder Scrolls. Almost like they just think they can skate by on the D&D Brand.

IMHO, the issue is that D&D is far larger than just its system, mechanics, or existence as a TTRPG. It contains a family of franchises, media tie-ins, settings, and variously associated IPs. Also, I don't think that going out of the genre is necessarily the issue. A significant part of the issue is with who (variously) WotC has develop the games for D&D rather than whether they are "in genre" or not.

Video games provide a unique opportunity to explore the settings of D&D in less conventional ways than just another D&D campaign that one could have from sitting down with your friends at the table. So, for example, imagine a video game following the story and perspective of a lowly thief in Waterdeep who gets over their head involved in a conspiracy with various city factions. You can potentially go further in depth and focus in the setting than another bog standard adventure that involves assembling a party of four to five companions in a tavern that go on a turn-based murderhobo rampage across the countryside.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Also, seriously DDO still feels like dnd every time I go back and play it.

I look forward to a real time with pause dnd game, sure, and I wish that Obsidian or someone would make a new isometric dnd game in the general style of the BG games, but better graphics.

However, I’m also excited at the prospect of something like the old Dark Alliance games.

 

[Parmandur]

Also, seriously DDO still feels like dnd every time I go back and play it.

I look forward to a real time with pause dnd game, sure, and I wish that Obsidian or someone would make a new isometric dnd game in the general style of the BG games, but better graphics.

However, I’m also excited at the prospect of something like the old Dark Alliance games.

Baldirs Gate 3 is going that classic full CRPG route: variation in strategy is cool. We'll see how it shakes out.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Videogames allow to explore and test new ideas, for example an adventure set in Ravenloft with a lot of investigation, where some sacred cows are killed, for example a changed list of abilitie scores, or rules about sanity/madness.

In TTRPG industry D&D is the supreme master, but in the videogame market, they are still a little fish, with lots of rivals fighting for a piece of the cake.

Why not a coproduction with Capcom for a new title set in Mystara?

 

[Mecheon]

Why not a coproduction with Capcom for a new title set in Mystara?

I see what you did there

But anyway, seeing as I've got my feet more firmly in the video game side of things than the D&D side, I can confirm the rest of the Internet is ripping a bit into this trailer (It didn't get "Worst Trailer from the event" though, so that's some small mercy.)

Once we actually see gameplay footage we can start paying attention, but this doesn't a good picture paint so far. But, well, great trailers have lead to awful games sometimes, its the gameplay footage that matters.

 

[ddaley]

At most, we learnt what the gameplay graphics will look like, and tbh the idea that those graphics are particularly bad just tells me that people have grown vastly too picky about graphics, to the detriment of gaming

Eh... I grew up playing games like Wizardry, Ultima, Zork, etc... and still play games that would be considered to have "bad" graphics. The the graphics in this game are disturbingly bad. They just look plain awful. You can defend it all you want, but I don't see this game appealing to very many gamers. It'll be in the $5 bin pretty quickly.

 

[Mercador]

I hope no one pre-orders this...

Oh, it will. A DnD logo on anything will sell and they know it. I just wondering how the heck Tuque games was acquired by WotC in the first place, I guess they had a few millions to purchase a studio and were poorly guided. It's quite sad to know exactly where this is going and not being able to do anything about it. Buyers will be displeased, fans will be pissed, WotC corporate will say (again) "no more videogames" and we'll get a videogame drought once again.