Atari and Bedlam Games have recently announced Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale – the latest action RPG to be scheduled for release in the DnD ruleset, which will be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in Spring 2011. It’s a downloadable hack n slash title, which Atari claims will contain 10 hours of gameplay. For the expected release price of $10, that’s not too shabby. It’s set to be the first part in a three part series, each of which will cover ten levels of character progression, so with the addition of the second two parts, you’ll be able to work your way up from lowly noob to epic level adventurer in the space of 30 hours or so. Not bad!
Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale centers on the desperate struggle to defeat the evil Rezlus and his Zhentarim in their attempt to invade and conquer the Dalelands. Players are charged with the task of restoring order to Nentir Vale by unlocking the secrets of the Mines of Tethyamar, defeating the evil within the treacherous Tower of the Void, leading to the final confrontation with Rezlus himself.
Atari Press Release
“The Dungeons & Dragons franchise remains a priority for Atari as we continue to build upon the ever-evolving narrative with Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale. As the first D&D cross-platform digital download title we look forward to expanding the franchise to a growing gaming audience.”
Jim Wilson, President and CEO of Atari, Inc.
“Wizards of the Coast is excited to offer another great Dungeons & Dragons play experience. This exhilarating game will be a thrill for both current fans of the brand and new players alike.”
Liz Schuh, Brand Director at Wizards of the Coast.
From what we can gather so far, the level of class customisation seems a little limited, and rather than customising your character you’ll be able to select from a few pre-made classes: a Human Fighter, an Elven Rogue, a Dwarven Cleric, or a Hafling Wizard. However you are able to select your gear – weapons, armour, accessories, helms and pots – and these are created by a randomiser. There are apparently over a billion unique combinations of item in the game, so you’re unlikely to see the same thing twice. The game is unsurprisingly based on the newest 4th Edition rule-set which is a bit of a shame for those of us who are happier with some of the older rules, but I’ll concede that it makes sense from the point of view of a new game. This means you’re also able to use the feats system, which allows you to spend points on abilities such as weapon specialisations to deal more damage with certain weapon types, or to give a higher chance to hit, or parry, or resist certain spell types. (I’ve not seen the exact list of feats which is available yet, but you get the idea.) Along with the feats, players will also be able to select new skills and spells for their characters as they level up, as you’d expect, as well as being able to distribute your stats in the STR, INT, DEX, WIS, CON, CHA system we know and love.
The first hands on previews have reported that the combat is simple but fun, and streamlined with an interface similar to the console version of Dragon Age: Origins. These reports have been from console based previews however, so we’re not sure yet how it will look and feel on the PC version.
The game supports up to four player coop, and the difficulty will be scaled depending on how many people are playing. The level of your enemies will be determined by the highest level character in your party, and since all progress is saved between online and local games it’s possible that there will be a bit of a discrepancy between character levels at times so this will matter. All xp is and gold is shared, but any items are dealt with on a “finders keepers” basis. My DnD group – which happens to consist of 4 people – is really looking forward to it!
