New D&D Video Game Announced

New video game developer Giant Skull is developing a new D&D video game. Variety announced the new untitled game today, which will be a single-player action-adventure game set in one of the worlds of the game.

Giant Skull was founded by Stig Asmussen in 2023. Asmussen previously was the game director of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, as well as God of War 3.

“Stig and the team at Giant Skull are exactly the type of exceptionally talented creators we want to work with, and I’m so happy to be reuniting with him on this new project,” Wizards of the Coast chief and digital gaming president at Hasbro John Hight told Variety. “In our time working together on ‘God of War I’ got to see firsthand Stig’s artistry and expertise, and he and the Giant Skull team are the perfect fit for our new game. Worldbuilding and storytelling is in our DNA, and this collaboration reflects our evolution and commitment to our ‘Playing to Win’ strategy, building a stronger presence in digital play. We look forward to revealing more about this brand-new ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ game in the future.”

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Which is ironic because the recent Tomb Raider games had nearly as many RPG elements as Arkham or Horizon -- neither of which are RPGs proper but they get real close at least in their progression systems.

Then we have looter shooters with level advancement. Are those RPGs?

They are not classed as RPGs by the games industry because you don't create a character (you are Lara Croft, female human arachnologist; or Batman, male human vigilante), and they have largely linear stories, with few if any choices that affect the outcome. Ability progression in one form or another is common in a great many types of video game, it doesn't make it a CRPG. Even back in the original Tomb Raider Lara got better guns and some new tricks as the game progressed.

The interview (in Games Raider I think) made it clear this game is going to be very like the jedi games. Those had two forms of progression - traversal abilities (climb, force jump, run on walls etc) which were unlocked at certain points in the story, and combat abilities (force push, sabre throw etc), which were improved by earning experience. It also had cosmetic options that were earned by discovering secrets.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

This is good news. Stig is one of the most talented people in the game industry. Hopefully his team will deliver something amazing.