The adventures of the rogue drow Drizzt Do’Urden started in 1988, 31 years old. The dark elf has gone on to become one of the most beloved Dungeons & Dragons characters, featured in more than 30 novels, but he and the iconic Companions of the Hall have never had starred in a video game of their own.
Until now. At The Game Awards tonight, Tuque Games is announcing its first project since D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast acquired the studio this fall. It’s Dark Alliance, a “spiritual successor” to the PlayStation 2-era Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance games. It’s a four-player co-op action-RPG for PC and consoles coming in fall 2020, and it stars Drizzt, Bruenor Battlehammer, Catti-brie, and Wulfgar — the Companions of the Hall. It takes place after the events of R.A Salvatore’s The Crystal Shard (the characters’ debut), and Icewind Dale is its setting. Tuque sets out to capture the incredible action from Salvatore’s novels, which sees Drizzt and the Companions dispatch legions of foes with both brutal efficiency and pinpoint precision — all with the spirit and trust of longtime friends who trust one another with their lives.
Dark Alliance joins Baldur’s Gate III as triple-A game projects that Wizards of the Coast has announced this year. Dark Alliance also fills a space we haven’t seen in years on console and PC — couch-co-op action-RPGs with a splitscreen. It also fills a gaping hole in D&D‘s game catalog. It hasn’t had a proper action-RPG since the broken Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale in 2011. It also offers online co-op play. With D&D more popular now than it’s ever been, putting out well-crafted games is a good way for Wizards of the Coast to not just capitalize on what it’s built but also sustain and bring that momentum into other markets — and expand its audience, both for video games and pen-and-paper products.
“I feel like there’s a great need for games that offer that local co-op aspect, that couch co-op,” Tuque Games founder and head Jeff Hattem said in a video call with GamesBeat last week. “That was one of the things that was really cool about the original Dark Alliance games. They introduced a lot of people to Dungeons & Dragons. The co-op aspect was part of the reason why those games were successful.”
Drizzt has appeared in games such as Menzoberranzan (1994, his first video game appearance), the Baldur’s Gate RPGs, 2004’s Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, and the D&D MMORPG Neverwinter. But this icon of the Realms has never had a game of his own.
“He needs to [have his own video game], right,” Hattem said. “That’s why I wanted to make this game. I’m ecstatic to have the opportunity to do this for the first time.”
Hattem said he started talking with Wizards of the Coast about making this game in 2013. “It’s always been about Drizzt. I like to make high-action, visceral games where I feel the intensity. For me, those two things just work together so well. I would’ve been open to doing other stuff, but it wouldn’t have been my first choice, that’s for sure.”
Tuque’s lone game is Lifelock, an action-RPG it made for Perfect World in 2016. Hattem has worked at Behavior Interactive and Ubisoft, where he worked on Assassin’s Creed over his 20-year career.
Hattem said Tuque had talked early on with Salvatore about the project, saying that the author was “happy to see Drizzt and his other characters come to life.”
Draw your blades
In the PlayStation 2 days, two of the best co-op action-RPGs on the console were the Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance games. Hattem says that Dark Alliance is a spiritual successor to those games, though it changes the story and setting.
You play as either Drizzt, Bruenor, Catti-brie, or Wulfgar. Each has iconic weapons in Salvatore’s novels:
- Drizzt wields the scimitars Icingdeath and Twinkle
- Bruenor’s notched axe
- Catti-brie’s magic bow Taulmaril
- Wulfgar’s mighty warhammer that Bruenor crafted for him, Aegis-fang
“The way that Salvatore reveals those weapons in the books are some of the best bits of those books, at least for me: when Bruenor’s crafting Aegis-Fang, when Drizzt acquires Icingdeath and Twinkle as well later on,” Hattem said. “We’re definitely going to showcase them.”
Dark Alliance has the characters using weapon types, not just these iconic arms: Bruenor has axes, Wulfgar wields warhammers, and so on.
“We thought it was important to give them an identity based on the weapon they wield. Especially in the books, I know Drizzt is a weapons master and he can wield many weapons, but through the course of a lot of R.A. Salvatore’s books, he’s wielding scimitars, Catti-brie’s got her bow, and Wulfgar has his warhammer. We added a lot of depth in the way you wield those weapons, as opposed to going with having many different weapon types without much depth.”
“Each of the [characters] plays in his or her own way,” Hattem said. “Drizzt is wielding scimitars. Wulfgar’s wielding a warhammer. It’s not only Aegie-fang or Icingdeath. There are other weapons with different properties. We’re letting [players] explore the playspace of those characters so they can [tinker with] their builds in their own way. The way I build Drizzt may be different than the way you build him. Depending on which weapons you equip and what skills you unlock, and how you decide to progress the combo system, those are all ways you can tailor the experience to your playstyle.”
The Companions have other powerful items and abilities as well. Drizzt carries a Figurine of Wondrous Power that summons his loyal panther friend, Guenhwyvar. They’re an iconic duo, and when he was on his own surviving in the Underdark before arriving in Icewind Dale, the panther was about the only touchstone Drizzt had to who he was, to his soul. Guenhwyvar isn’t just a magic item to him; she’s a trusted friend.
“Guenhwyvar is a very interesting aspect of Drizzt. He usually summons her from a figurine in times of need, and I think we’re going to approach it in that way for Drizzt,” he said. “But she’s not going to be a character.”
Getting into character
Readers love Drizzt not just for his bravely or his willingness to risk his life and soul for his friends. They enjoy his introspection. Every book has interludes in which Drizzt ponders his place in existence, the events around him, and the nature of good and evil. How he battles against The Hunter, the part of himself that focuses on pure survival with savage efficiency … especially in the years after he first arrives in Icewind Dale and discovers some people, such as his beloved friends, can look beyond his heritage. Will that introspection be something Tuque is looking to bring to Dark Alliance?
“His inner drama always tries to find a way out. He keeps that at bay. Those kinds of inner struggles are absolutely best captured in R.A.’s books,” Hattem said. “There are certain advantages and disadvantages of each medium, and there’s nothing like a book to be able to go inside the head of a character like that. So we wouldn’t be doing it justice if we tried to bring that experience to the game, because we’d just fall short.”
But this doesn’t mean that Tuque isn’t finding some way to bring out the characters’, well, character beyond their iconic weapons and fighting styles.
“There a lot of ways where the personality for Drizzt and the Companions is going to come through. If you play with your friends, and you have more than one character playing in the game, they are constantly talking to each other, expressing how they feel about the events that are going on in the game. And that’s a way for us to get insight into their personality.”
Which fits with the characters in the books. They often banter as they’re taking on challenges and fighting foes.
Why Icewind Dale
The Icewind Dale trilogy wraps up in 1356 Dale Reckoning (the calendar of the Forgotten Realms), but as of this falls’ Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus campaign, the official Realms timeline is in 1494 DR. Dark Alliance is an original story taking place after The Crystal Shard, as the group is still in Icewind Dale.
Icewind Dale is a cold, dangerous land. It’s in the far northern reaches of Faerûn. It’s a land of imposing mountains, blistering gales, and snow and glaciers. Many of the hardy folk who live there are clustered in Ten Towns, a group of small burgs. Barbarian tribes also roam the frozen landscape, and dwarves live under Kelvin’s Cairn, supplying Ten Towns with metal goods and weapons.
And it’s also the home to monsters. White dragons, goblinoids, frost giants, and ogres are just some of the malevolent threats in Icewind Dale. And plenty of beasts can ruin your day as well.
“We are definitely showcasing Drizzt and his friends, and the time frame takes place, quite a few years before the current events happening in the books right now, so we’re going back to a time some,” Tuque Games head and founder Jeff Hattem in a video interview. “A little bit after the events of The Crystal Shard.”
In that story, a wizard finds the evil artifact Crenshinibon, a crystal shard with incredible powers and malevolence. He uses it to try to conquer Icewind Dale, controlling the minds of goblinoids, giants, and more and recruiting the powerful balor demon Ertu as his general.
It’s curious why Tuque and Wizards picked Icewind Dale for the setting of this action-RPG. In Salvatore’s latest novel, Boundless, Drizzt found himself in a desperate flight against demons and abyssal constructs as his friends once again faced danger at the hands of those seeking power and the death of the renegade drow to appease the evil god Lloth.
Being set so far in the past, I wondered if this signified Wizards of the Coast’s newfound interest in telling stories set in any period of the Forgotten Realms, not just the current timeline.
“Dark Alliance is intended to appeal to existing D&D fans who already know and love Drizzt and the companions, but it’s also meant to attract new D&D fans through a different platform and style of gameplay. It made more sense to start earlier in the Legend of Drizzt as an entry point for the newer fans,” said Nathan Steward, the vice president for Dungeons & Dragons for Wizards of the Coast, over email. “For people who know and love R.A. Salvatore’s work, it gives a new adventure for the companions set in between his novels.
“As for whether or not Wizards is open to telling stories outside the current Realms timeline, we want to work with the most passionate developers on amazing D&D stories and if expanding that beyond the current TRPG makes sense for the fans, we will gladly craft that adventure.”
A couple of years ago, Stewart told me he would love to see a D&D open-world RPG. Considering that we’re now seeing Wizards forger ahead with Baldur’s Gate III and this action-RPG revisiting an older timeline, I wondered if this openness was a step in that direction.
“We have a long-term vision for Dungeons & Dragons and a big part of that future is digital gaming and entertainment. This game, the acquisition of Tuque and the game development, is a major investment in the future of D&D, and everything we are doing is with purpose and a passion for the brand,” he said. “So, while I can’t speak to this being a stepping stone or a test, I will say that Jeff and his team in Montreal are a very talented group of game developers and they are now part of the D&D and Wizards family. I don’t see us taking any steps backward, and this game is a huge step forward … just imagine what we can create together in the future.
Author: Jason Wilson
Source: Venturebeat
