Tag:

Dungeons

Diablo 4 Season 9 Will Bring Big, Permanent Changes To Nightmare Dungeons

by admin June 24, 2025

One of Diablo 4’s main endgame activities, Nightmare dungeons, will be permanently changed come Season 9, as Blizzard looks to make them both more challenging and surprising going forward.

As detailed in a new blog post, when Season 9 launches July 1, Nightmare dungeons will receive some major updates. Most notably, there will be a new activity within them called Horadric Strongrooms. Described as a “potent micro-dungeon,” strongrooms will be found more frequently on higher Torment difficulties and can also be reliably found by using a Nightmare dungeon sigil that guarantees the appearance of a strongroom.

Once players are inside the dungeon, players can discover a portal that will take them to the strongroom. In a system somewhat similar to Diablo 4’s Infernal Hordes activity, players will be able to select from a number of statues that add modifiers to the strongroom, increasing the challenge but also the rewards.

Players will then need to attune themselves with the strongroom by slaying enemies within the vicinity of Horadric Pillars within a time limit. Those who complete the attunement process will be transported to the micro-dungeon’s final boss that when defeated will reward a Grand Horadric cache that scales its rewards based on the amount of attunement players earned. These caches will include Obducite as a reward, an endgame material needed to Masterwork weapons and armor. Completing the strongroom will also grant a buff that lasts for the remainder of the Nightmare dungeon, which a chance to receive more XP from monsters, increased reputation gains, increased Obducite drops, 25% more gold, or Horadric Phial drops (a seasonal item that is used to make Horadric Jewels).

There will, however, be another new way to experience Nightmare dungeons–Escalating Nightmares. This new endgame activity is a sequence of three Nightmare dungeons that see dungeon affixes stack from one to the next, with monster difficulty additionally increasing for each subsequent dungeon.

To access an Escalating Nightmare, players will need to find Escalation Sigils from completing Horadric Strongrooms. In pre-Torment difficulties, completing all three dungeons will finish the Escalating Nightmare. However, those playing on Torment difficulties will instead be transported to a boss fight, where players will take on a new version of Astaroth from the Diablo 4 main campaign. Players will need to defeat both Astaroth and his steed, which will become separate bosses over the course of the fight. Defeating Astaroth’s mount first will see it go into a resurrection state, after which it will rejoin the fight if players can’t defeat Astaroth in time. Astaroth can also be modified by Nightmare dungeon affixes, making the boss fight even more challenging.

A look at everything coming as part of Diablo 4 Season 9.

Last but not least, Nightmare dungeons will receive new affixes. Each Nightmare sigil will sport both a positive and negative affix. New positive affixes include the guaranteed appearance of specific shrines, increased XP gains, the appearance of Treasure Goblins, a guaranteed strongroom, equipment rewards, and currency drops.

While the Nightmare dungeon changes will be permanent additions to Diablo 4, Season 9 will additionally introduce new seasonal mechanics for a limited-time. Players will be able to create and modify Horadric Spells to compliment their builds, and can further augment them using new Horadric Jewels that can be slotted into amulets and rings. One Horadric teleport spell in particular might be

Updates to Nightmare dungeons are just the latest permanent changes to come as part of a Diablo 4 season. Season 8 overhauled the game’s endgame boss ladder, while previous seasons, like Loot Reborn, reworked Diablo 4’s entire gear progression system. Diablo 4 Season 9 is not, however, bringing changes to the game’s new (and unpopular) Reliquary battle pass system, though Blizzard has stated it is listening to player feedback.

There are currently no available deals

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Source link

June 24, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Leaked footage of “paused” Dungeons & Dragons RPG shows the thing doing a thing with the stuff

by admin June 20, 2025

Some footage from a reportedly cancelled Dungeons and Dragons RPG from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive co-developers Hidden Path Entertainment has surfaced online, alongside concept art.

All of it paints a vague picture of a work-in-progress game – which was being assembled under the watchful eye of a Wizards of the Coast that’s currently facing a post-Larian Baldur’s Gate conundrum – that looked a bit like a bunch of the big fantasy RPGs we’ve gotten in recent years.

If you need a quick refresher, this unannounnced Hidden Path D&D game was reported as having been cancelled alongside a bunch of other stuff at WoTC back in 2023, only for the studio to then refute that reporting. Then, last year, Hidden Path creative director Michael Austin posted on LinkedIn that they had made the call to “pause development on that project and reduce the company size until we have an opportunity to return to it”. 44 devs lost their jobs.

Now, this footage (via MP1st) has come out, and looks to have been put together by a music supervisor on the game, which was codenamed Project Dante. It shows off a party of three adventurers, made up of the player and two companions, putting a bunch of bandits to the sword in third person combat that looks quite Dragon Age: The Veilguardy to me.

They then do some puzzles to get the magical water flowing at a temple, explore a bit, and towards the end things get pretty cutsceney with a group of folks chilling in a tavern, before ending with the player sneakily watching a group of NPCs sing while crouching in some grass. I hope they at least tossed the crooning crew a coin as a tip after taking that last bit in.

Overall, not much sticks out to me as beyond what you might expect from a big fantasy RPG like this, though the concept art does have a very nice picture of a flying cat, or a Tressym to give the furry boi its proper name.

Well, I say that, but while the temple puzzling’s going on one of the companions – named Kavar – does say the line “The thing is starting to do a thing with the stuff”. It’s not really noteworthy, maybe a tiny bit eye-roll inducing, but I got a kick out of it.

If this D&D RPG had made it to release rather than that paused/cancelled limbo, I could see myself quoting it to mates in a fashion I’m sure they wouldn’t find irritating whatsoever.

Source link

June 20, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Oblivion’s dungeons suck, Skyblivion is making them better: ‘That’s where the power of a proper remake comes from’

by admin June 20, 2025

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in my hours with Oblivion Remastered, it’s that Oblivion’s dungeons kind of suck. They’re labyrinthine, exist as one of three types, and when you get to the end of them your grand prize often turns out to be, like, 5 gold and a journeyman retort. And then you have to retrace your steps to get back out.

Bethesda didn’t really crack its dungeon formula until Skyrim, where you could at least be relatively sure you had some kind of prize awaiting you at the end of a long session of hackin’ and slashin’: an enchanted weapon, a new word for a shout, that kind of thing.

When I sat down with Skyblivion lead dev Rebelzize for a chat about the upcoming Oblivion-in-Skyrim remake, it sounded like back-porting that dungeon philosophy to Cyrodiil was gonna be a key goal of the mod project.

“I think for a lot of people that play Oblivion now, it will be frustrating at times,” said Rebel, “there’s just old game design that doesn’t really translate anymore, and some of that is still present in the remaster from Bethesda themselves, because they’ve not remade it, which is a key difference [from Skyblivion], which is good for us.”

It’s a neat point of divergence between Skyblivion’s fan-made remake of Oblivion and Bethesda’s remaster, which went out of its way to retain all the strange foibles that made the OG game what it is. “We still have something to offer in that we have more or less redesigned every aspect of the game,” says Rebel.

(Image credit: Bethesda, TESRenewal)

“The easiest example is something that was introduced in Skyrim… once you’re at the boss chamber, the final area, you get a loop back to where you started.” In original Oblivion and the remaster, by contrast, “most of the time there’s nothing at the end. There’s no boss or loot or anything to make that delve rewarding. Then once you’ve done that very unrewarding delve, you have to backtrack all the way.”

Not so in Skyblivion. “That’s something I’ve been trying to really hammer on with everyone in the teams, that we make the dungeons fun. And if a dungeon serves no other purpose than to just distract someone from what they’re doing, then it can’t just be a bear den—you know, with a really big black bear—at the end.”

This is pretty exciting to hear, at least for me. While Oblivion Remastered is very much the Oblivion you remember from 2006 in a lush new wrapper, it sounds like the Skyblivion team is deliberately, consciously pushing things into ‘remake’ territory, and they’re not scared to slaughter some of the OG’s sacred cows if they think it’ll make for a better game. “Oblivion is one of those games that look really good from a distance, because it has those really lush forests, but once you’re in a forest there’s usually nothing between city A and city B.”

The possibility of scattering in new details, new design philosophies, new stuff is, says Rebel, “Where the power of a proper remake comes from, and where I hope we will have some relevance and staying power within internet culture and the Elder Scrolls fandom.”

Source link

June 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Critical Role’s Darrington Press Hires Two Legendary Dungeons & Dragons Game Designers

by admin June 16, 2025

Today, Darrington Press, Critical Role’s tabletop role-playing game publisher, announced it has hired Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins, two of the lead designers for Dungeons and Dragons who recently departed the company. Perkins and Crawford will now serve as Darrington Press’ Creative Director and Game Director, respectively, according to an announcement on the company’s website.

This is a massive shakeup for the TTRPG world. Critical Role, known for its livestreamed games of Dungeons & Dragons played by high-profile voice actors, launched Darrington Press in 2020. While the company’s first projects were Critical Role adjacent, this year it released Daggerheart, a standalone role-playing game designed to compete with Dungeons & Dragons and other similar games. The cast is currently in the midst of a mini-arc using the game system, and fans have speculated the company might intend to move away from D&D entirely one day.

Daggerheart, the tabletop role-playing game from Critical Role, is a system that uses dice and cards to tell stories in a fantasy setting.

By bringing on Crawford and Perkins, Darrington Press’s pedigree increases significantly. The two have worked at Wizards of the Coast for many years (Crawford for 18, Perkins for 28), and are considered two of the primary architects behind Dungeons and Dragons’ extremely popular fifth edition and its 2024 overhaul of that ruleset. The designers were public spokespeople for the brand as well, appearing in videos to explain new books or playtests and even clarifying rules on social media. Shortly after the new books were released, however, Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford each announced they had decided to leave the company.

Their jump to Darrington is an unexpected move, to say the least, but it seems Wizards of the Coast was aware of the transition, making a point to congratulate the move on Bluesky. The pair also did an interview with The Los Angeles Times explaining their decision process and generally praising the Critical Role team.

The two will be “developing novel game concepts as well as expanding the games [Darrington has] released so far,” according to the announcement. This likely involves additions to Daggerheart, which launched a few weeks ago. For more Daggerheart and its inspirations, you can read our interview with its lead game designer, Spenser Starke.

Source link

June 16, 2025 0 comments

Dune: Awakening promo image - sexy man with sword

Product Reviews

Dune: Awakening’s dungeons are so atrocious that I’d rather get slowly digested by a sandworm than fight through another one

by admin June 11, 2025

It’s 8 pm on Arrakis and I’ve been on a crafting binge.

I’m not normally the sort of ex-convict-turned-desert-nomad who’s into the whole crafting bollocks. I am, however, absolutely flipping nuts for Dune, so the ability to slap together stillsuits and Holtzman shields and all sorts of fun Herbert-adjacent nonsense has tickled my brain in just the right way, leaving me eager to delve into Dune: Awakening’s byzantine crafting menus.

But yeah, like I said: I’ve been binging. So now I’m out of resources. That means it’s time to switch gears from crafting to gathering. The dunes call to me, and my humble sandbike.

(Image credit: Funcom)

I’m prepared for my potentially dangerous excursion. I have a couple of literjons full of water, a dew-collecting scythe, a blood extractor and two blood bags. I ain’t gonna be running out of water even if I risk riding under the raging sun rather than sticking to the shadows of the mountains and mesas.

As always, I’m excited to leave my base. Arrakis is a striking place, a red-gold ocean punctuated by imposing monoliths and mountain ranges, where burning vehicles on the dunes attract scavengers, who in turn attract sandworms. Not just striking, then; it’s thrilling, too.

To get what I need, I’ll have to delve into a testing station. It shouldn’t take too long, I think, like an idiot. But still, it gives me pause. These are Dune: Awakening’s dungeons, but to call them dungeons is an insult to other MMOs. Really, they are repetitive underground facilities that only contain three things of note: oodles of loot, lots of enemies, and a few locked doors.

I do not like fighting in Dune: Awakening. In fact, I’m growing to despise it.

(Image credit: Funcom)

One-off encounters are fine. And I have some neat tricks up my sleeves. Gravity-altering grenades, a suspensor belt that lets me float, a drone that hurtles towards enemies and explodes—fun toys, all of them. But my god the combat system is rough.

The shooting is perfunctory at best, but the melee combat is downright shameful.

The shooting is perfunctory at best, but the melee combat is downright shameful. Describing it as sluggish and unresponsive would be supremely generous. I feel like I’m shouting commands at a distant colleague who’s only half hearing me whenever I unsheathe my sword. It’s horrible.

Unfortunately, melee brawls are unavoidable early on. This is because you’ll frequently be faced with shielded opponents. Regular guns can’t punch through those shields effectively, so you’ll need to go close range to get a kill, using your slow melee attack to puncture their defenses.

(Image credit: Funcom)

Eventually you’ll be able to craft weapons like disruptors that can bring down shields, but honestly they’re not that great, taking too long to break shields. I’m still hoping to find something more effective out in the desert.

Most of the time I’m not that bothered by this. Not when I’m scouring the dunes and getting into quick 2-minute fights. But in a dungeon? God, it’s miserable.

Almost every room is a carbon copy of all your previous encounters. A melee guy with a shield charging towards you. Some arseholes trying to riddle you with darts from range. And then the real problem: the armoured minigun bastard who takes twice as long to kill, can shred your shield and health in seconds, and who needs to be taken out with your sword.

It’s 8:30 pm. I thought I’d be done with the dungeon. The last one took about 15 minutes to clear. But this one is bigger and contains a greater number of awful fights. Sadly, it’s not more interesting. In fact, visually it’s identical. It’s just bigger.

(Image credit: Funcom)

Since I’m hoping to die at 40 and love low quality food I ordered some Taco Bell and it has now arrived. My disappointing quesadilla is getting cold.

I’m extremely dead.

A tougher-than-usual heavy gun dork manages to stun me with some Holtzman trickery, I get stuck in a slow-as-hell animation and my camera decides to become fixated on the opposite direction. I’m extremely dead.

“OK,” I think to myself. “I really want to eat this disappointing quesadilla. I also have some disappointing nachos. They too are getting cold. Maybe I should call it quits?”

But no, I can’t do this. My bike is outside the dungeon and it will almost certainly be destroyed by a sandstorm if I leave it unattended. Along with everything in its inventory. So I leg it through the dungeon again. This time the heavy gunner smacks me with his gun and murders me while I’m stunned. So far, stuns are the only and only trick enemies deploy. It sucks.

(Image credit: Funcom)

I run through the dungeon again. I don’t realise my Holtzman shield is damaged, so when the heavy gunner opens fire as I’m closing in, I go down like a tragic sack of meat. I’m in my head now. This isn’t a tough fight, but I’m stressed out, hungry and not having any fun. It’s making me stupid. I’ve equipped my backup shield, though. I’ll be OK this time. Right?

My power pack has been broken and my shield doesn’t activate. I am rapidly shot to death.

I gnaw on a nacho to give me strength. It’s 9 pm. The nacho is chewy and cold. I hate this dungeon and I hate myself. I refuse to hate the nacho. It’s not to blame.

Eventually, I remember how to videogame. I kill my nemesis. I know his tricks now. I’ve smashed through the brain block. I do not feel good about any of this, especially since I still have to fight the actual boss. I have no more darts, and besides, my gun is broken, which is unfortunate, since she’s a ranged attacker with no shield. A gun would be handy here.

(Image credit: Funcom)

I slink around the room, weaving between cover as I take out her allies with my sword.

I’m making this sound cooler than it actually is. There’s no cover system. I’m just occasionally hiding behind objects and I never actually have a clue if I’m going to be hit or not. Mostly I’m just running in circles muttering curses. I have run out of health kits.

And then I go in for the kill. Unlike the heavy gun lad she has no tricks, except for an exceptional talent for not dying. I slice and I slice and I slice but she won’t go down. She gets me to the ground three times, but I have plenty of water, which allows me to get back up again. Her gun isn’t powerful enough to take me out before I can stage my comeback. Again and again.

Finally I slash her and she remembers that, actually, swords are sharp. She is dead. I am alive. All is right on Arrakis.

(Image credit: Funcom)

As I reluctantly chow down on my slimy, cold quesadilla, it strikes me that these two final encounters represent the high point of this dungeon. Not because they were good, but because—thanks to misfortune, getting trapped in animations, camera jank, broken equipment and arbitrary enemy health boosts—they at least made me feel something.

As I reluctantly chow down on my slimy, cold quesadilla, it strikes me that these two final encounters represent the high point of this dungeon.

Sure, that feeling was frustration. And, let’s face it, no small amount of anger. It was an annoying climax to the hour and change I spent in this incredibly bland facility—admittedly an infinitesimal amount of time in an MMO, but it feels so much longer when the slog is so dull. I’m gonna remember these two fights, though. At least for a day, anyway. But bloody hell that’s sad. That a mixture of my hunger-induced impatience/ineptitude and some slightly hardier-than-usual enemies would lead to my sole memorable dungeon encounter.

Anyone not being distracted by the smell of rapidly cooling fast food probably wouldn’t even notice these fights. And this is a multiplayer game. Bring a buddy along and you’ll drop these fools in a few seconds. Just another couple of faceless goons added to your burgeoning body count.

(Image credit: Funcom)

MMO dungeons need to offer more than this. I’m still hoping Dune: Awakening ups its game in the later areas, but even baby dungeons should feature some quirks. The odd bespoke mechanic or demand for strategy to train you for the challenges ahead. Give me some puzzles or traps or unique bosses. Not just some bald lassie who takes too long to kill.

As I drive away from the dungeon, at last, I’m at least able to appreciate all the sweet loot I found. It’s a good haul. At least Dune: Awakening gets that right. But the cold Taco Bell ain’t sitting right. I don’t think I’m going to have time for more crafting.

I park my bike in the garage and move to the sofa to gently groan and question my life choices. The lesson: the dungeons of Arrakis ain’t worth the stomach ache.

Source link

June 11, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Obsidian’s Dungeons & Dragons RPG Neverwinter Nights 2 gets an Enhanced Edition next month

by admin June 10, 2025

Neverwinter Nights 2 – the 2006 RPG from Obsidian based on D&D 3.5 – is getting an Enhanced Edition, and it’s out next month. ‘Enhanced’ in this case means nicer textures, camera improvements, Steam Deck and controller compatibility, and Steam Workshop mod integration. It’s out next month, July 15th.

Watch on YouTube

It also includes three story expansions. If that’s simply not enough Neverwinter Nights for you, there’s a bundle on Steam currently where you can buy both this and the original NN – also in Enhanced Edition form – for 10% off. This would require pre-ordering, however. It’s like I always say: if someone has to bribe you into doing something, it’s surely a brilliant idea. Here’s Steam on the matter of the affairs of the particulars of the videogame at hand:

Return to the city of Neverwinter in Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition. A dark force sweeps over Faerûn, ravaging everything in its path as though searching for something – something that you now find in your possession. As the Shard-Bearer, only you can stop the King of Shadows and his army from desecrating the land you call home. Will you save Faerûn, or fall victim to the temptation of absolute power? When your actions dictate the fate of the Realms, there are no small choices.

I bet there are some small choices, really. That’s just good writing. How do you make the big choices seem big otherwise? Please, consider your hyperbole for one second, advertising blurb.

The previous Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition was handled by Beamdog. They’ve since been gobbled up by Aspyr, themselves a gobbling appendage of chief gobblers Embracer, and it’s Aspyr on both enhancing and publishing duties this time around. Being long in the tooth by now, the Neverwinter Nights games have built up a decent modding community over the years, and the minimal amount of research I’ve done suggests that mods for the original NN worked fine with the 2018 EE. Assuming that’s the case for this new one, it means you’ll be able do things like play the entire Baldur’s Gate 1 campaign inside of it.

Here’s John’s (RPS in peace) diary series A Bastard In Neverwinter if you’re curious to learn how Neverwinter Nights 2 reacts to proto-Dark Urge shenanigans, and also just find the word ‘bastard’ inherently funny enough to force at least once into most articles you write, like some sort of marauding crambastard.

Source link

June 10, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Dungeons & Dragons Visual Retrospective Is On Sale For As Low As $20

by admin June 9, 2025

D&D fans can save big on a really cool special-edition book box set at Amazon. Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History Special Edition is available for only $51.65 (was $125). To get the full $73-plus discount, you need to click the coupon box on the store page to slash an additional $10.05 from the price. Alternatively, you can get the standard hardcover edition for only $19.60 (was $50).

$51.65 (was $125) with coupon

Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History is a 448-page, full-color art book detailing the artistic evolution of the tabletop RPG. It includes concept sketches, official illustrations, photographs, and other material from D&D’s many rulebooks, adventure modules, novels, magazines, and more.

In total, the book contains more than 700 original pieces of art and more than 40 interviews with artists and game designers who have worked on the storied tabletop game over the years.

The Special Edition includes an eye-catching display box with exclusive artwork. Inside the book-like box, you’ll find the actual hardcover as well as 10 art prints, and a pamphlet of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax’s classic Tomb of Horrors adventure module, all within a clamshell case featuring original designs by D&D artist Hydro74.

$19.60 (was $50) with coupon

The standard hardcover version of Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana doesn’t come with any of the extras, but you’re still getting a 448-page tome filled with all of the original artwork and interviews found in the Special Edition.

Make sure to click the coupon box to get the full discount.

Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana: A Visual History Special Edition

Earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast released an updated Monster Manual for D&D’s tabletop game. The Monster Manual joined the updated Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide, both of which received new editions for the first time in a decade.

Dungeons & Dragons fans should also check out the Dragonlance Chronicles Omnibus, which released earlier this year and has sold out multiple times since. On sale for $26 (was $35), Dragonlance Chronicles is a 1,000-plus page hardcover collecting the first three novels in the beloved fantasy series set in the world of D&D. Written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and originally published in the mid-1980s, this trio of Dragonlance novels are must-reads for anyone who enjoys Dungeons & Dragons fiction.

For more book deals, check out Amazon’s B1G1 Free Book Sale (June 2025).

which Amazon just restocked after selling out at launch in February. It also happens to be discounted to $28 (was $35). Dragonlance Chronicles is a 1,000-plus page hardcover book compiling the first three books in the beloved fantasy series set in the world of D&D. Fans should also consider The World of Dragonlance Book Bundle at Humble, which lets you get 26 novels for only $18.

For more fantasy book deals, take a look at our roundups of Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan novels that are featured in Amazon’s B2G1 Free Book Sale.

Source link

June 9, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Baldur’s Gate IP overlords Wizards of the Coast reveal a new Dungeons & Dragons single-player action adventure

by admin June 3, 2025

With Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian now off doing their own thing and making multiple games that aren’t Baldur’s Gate 4, BG IP owners Wizards of the Coast have just revealed something that might help fill that void. They’ve agreed to a publishing deal that’ll see relatively new studio Giant Skull create a new game set in the D&D universe.

Giant Skull were founded by Stig Asmussen, director of stuff like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and God of War 3, back in March 2024, and said way back then that it’d be aiming to make “gameplay-driven, story-immersed action-adventure games”.

Well, they get points for sticking to that goal thus far. This WotC-published game they’re working on (thanks, Gematsu) is an “all-new, single-player action adventure title set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons” that’ll be coming to console and PC at some point between now and the end of time.

“Our talented and experienced team at Giant Skull is built on creativity and curiosity,” Asmussen said in a press release, “Our goal is to craft a rich new Dungeons & Dragons universe filled with immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal that players will fully embrace.”

“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,” added Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro digital gaming president John Hight, “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.”

So, concrete details about the game and what it’ll end up looking like are pretty scarce right now – as you’d expect for a thing that’s only just tied the publishing knot. There’s no indication of how it may or may not be tied to the BG games we’ve already gotten, or whether any of the characters BG3 famously inspired War and Peace-length fanfictions about will star in it.

Given the fact it hasn’t been declared an RPG, it could well turn out to have very little in common with BG3, aside from the obvious D&D connection. We’ll just have to wait, ponder our orbs like those coastal wizards, and see.

Source link

June 3, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Star Wars Jedi director’s new studio is working on a single-player Dungeons & Dragons game

by admin June 2, 2025

Giant Skull, the studio founded by Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and God of War 3 game director Stig Asmussen last year, has signed a deal to create a new single-player action-adventure set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

Asmussen announced his departure from Star Wars Jedi developer Respawn Entertainment back in 2023, when it was said he was waving goodbye in order to “pursue other adventures”. Seven months later and Giant Skull was unveiled to the public with the goal of “building gameplay-driven, story immersed action-adventure games set in captivating worlds”.

And the first of those worlds, it now transpires, will be a familiar one to RPG fans; Wizards of the Coast has announced it’s signed a deal with Giant Skull to create an “all-new, single-player action-adventure title set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons”. Details are limited at this seemingly early juncture, but we do know it’s in development for PC and console using Unreal Engine 5, with more information promised “at a later date”.

“Our talented and experienced team at Giant Skull is built on creativity and curiosity,” Asmussen wrote in a statement accompanying today’s announcement. “Our goal is to craft a rich new Dungeons & Dragons universe filled with immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal that players will fully embrace.”

Giant Skull’s new game is just one of a number of Dungeons & Dragons titles confirmed to be in development over the last few years. Payday developer Starbreeze, for instance, is working on a co-op live-service game currently expected to release in 2026, while Disney Dreamlight Valley studio Game Loft is developing a co-op adventure built around “real-time survival and action”. And then there’s a triple-A Unreal Engine 5 project from Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance developer Invoke Studios, first announced back in 2022.

It’s a busy time in the world of Dungeons & Dragons games, then, and amid all this, Wizards of the Coast’s search for a new studio to take on the Baldur’s Gate series following developer Larian’s departure seemingly continues.

Source link

June 2, 2025 0 comments