Dungeons & Dragons: Warlock shows off first gameplay footage, will be set in Ravenloft

Wizards of the Coast and Invoke Studios unveiled a first look at the gameplay of its upcoming video game Dungeons & Dragons: Warlock. The eight-minute video, which can be seen below shows the titular character Kaatri enter a small town and explore a subterranean cellar filled with undead and a beholder-kin of some kind. The video also shows off Kaatri's patron Tasha, who embues Kaatri with the ability to sense "Raw Magic." While the trailer doesn't explicitly mention the setting, a press release revealed that Kaatri is exploring Darkon, a Domain of Dread once ruled over by Azalin Rex. In more recent Ravenloft books, Azalin has disappeared and caused Darkon as a realm to start to crumble. As Castle Avernus is shown in gameplay not in a state of perpetual destruction, it appears that this game is set before Azalin's attempted escape from Ravenloft.



Invoke Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast and Warlock is one of Wizards' first forays into AAA video games. The studio was previously known as Tuque Games and developed Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, which was critically panned and performed poorly. However, it appears that the new Warlock game looks a lot more polished than its predecessor.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Zero Company seems to have sold well with good but not great gameplay, on the back of the Star Wars brand.

 

[Selas]

This game is not trying to reinvent the wheel, nor trying to be BG3; it's a fairly straightforward action adventure game trying to tell a story. As long as the gameplay is not janky and the story is good, it'll sell

 

[EzekielRaiden]

If he stops by Darkon, he's not going home.

It seems a missed opportunity for them to not include Ravenloft in the title of this game, although maybe that's too many colons: "Dungeons & Dragons : Ravenloft : Warlock"

Perhaps it could have been "Dungeons & Dragons: Warlock of Ravenloft".

Then you could make it the "D&DW" series, if it's always about warlocks just in different places, or perhaps "DDC" or the like, if it's D&D: <Class> of <World>. Could even be a great way to explore settings otherwise not super focused. I could see "D&D: Thief of Sigil", "Wizard of Athas", "Paladin of Toril", etc.

'Course, that all depends on this first game actually succeeding.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

This game is not trying to reinvent the wheel, nor trying to be BG3; it's a fairly straightforward action adventure game trying to tell a story. As long as the gameplay is not janky and the story is good, it'll sell

That said, there is a meaningful space where "it sold" and "it succeeded" split apart. It could turn a very modest profit. If that happens, it could be a dead-end IP even though it technically did Just Fine™.