Dark Alliance, a game based on the Dungeons & Dragons franchise that was announced a rather long time ago, has finally broken cover as a third person hack ‘n’ slash destined for release late this year.
In the reveal trailer (embedded below) we get a look at familiar D&D monsters that players will be fighting as one of four characters: Drizzt, Cattie-brie, Bruenor, and Wulfgar. These four were created by famous author R.A. Salvatore. Bringing some friends and tackling the challenge – which is the basis of D&D – is encouraged here as this is a co-op focused title.
The trailer is on the short side and doesn’t give us too much to chew on, but there is thankfully more available online.
The official PlayStation Blog has a post penned by Jeff Hattem, the Jeff Hattem
“Our game is focused on combat. Each playable character has more than 50 combat abilities to master, giving you a lot of tools at your disposal,” Hattem writes, “That can also be a lot to remember. Which is why we’ve added something to our combat system we like to call Emergent Combat. We want you to feel powerful in combat from the start.”
Emergent Combat is explained as a system which allows button mashers to get along just fine but those who want to put in time to master some complexities will be able to do so. Despite the fancy name it seems like the combat will have a low skill floor and a decently high skill ceiling.
As for what you’ll be using that skill on goblins will be a main faction to fight and the most common of the 30 different enemy types in the game. Goblin Warriors, Defenders, Archers, Booyahgs and Captains were all revealed by Hattem.
Combat will be broken up by exploration and puzzles, more staples of any decent D&D outing.
Dark Alliance is planned for release on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X on 22nd June 2021.
What’s surprising is that this isn’t a full fat $60 game. The official website lists the regular version of the game at $39.99 / €39.99, and a digital deluxe edition at $59.99 | €59.99. We’ll need to wait for localised pricing to see what those overseas amounts equate to, but it’s clear that this should be a sub-R1 000 game, which is always nice to see.
If you want to see more of the game you can sign up for a newsletter at the aforementioned official site, and you can watch 10+ minutes of gameplay below.
