This week we got our first look at Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, the new RPG-tinged action game from Wizard of the Coast. In theory, it’s the story of a grizzled weapons master who searches a lawless pocket dimension for someone valuable to him, but I massively disapprove of this goal, because it seems like it’s going to keep him from unearthing strange spells and creating a glorious mess.
Created by a team of former Far Cry, Watch Dogs, and Splinter Cell developers, Warlock gives you an open world full of charms, cantrips, and conjurations to gather around and have fun with. I really hope it’s as open as they claim. Here’s a video, followed by some comments from the Invoke creators.
Warlock takes place in Darkon, a dread realm sealed in mist. A bit like Blackpool, but with more turrets and mountains than roller coasters. The aforementioned weapons master is Kaatri. Early in the story, she teams up with a former witch queen, Tasha, who is voiced appropriately by Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil Village. Tasha grants Kaatri a bunch of magical powers. There’s a price to pay, of course, but I guess you won’t have to worry about that until the end of the game. In the meantime: tentacle attacks!
Warlock offers a variety of D&D spells, including old standby spells like Eldritch Blast, Gust of Wind, Levitate, and Black Tentacles. The developers have modified how they work to adapt to the real-time single-player action format: Fae Switch, for example, is a reimagined version of a spell from 4th edition D&D, which here allows you to swap places with an enemy. Pact of the Blade Warlock, on the other hand, allows you to summon physical weapons such as swords and hammers.
“They’re not all typical of a Warlock class, so we’re bringing new additions to the game based on its boss, Tasha,” explains Jeffrey Hattem, founder of studio Invoke and former developer of Splinter Cell and Far Cry, during a panel discussion published by wccftech. “But we’re also introducing a few new spells to the game. One of them is Tasha’s Leash, where Kaatri can summon ethereal tendrils that will grab objects or monsters and bring them towards her. She can also throw objects after catching them.”
Hatten emphasizes that “spells are intended to be versatile tools that you can use as a tool in your toolbox, and that’s how we want players to play the game.” You can, for example, use your black tentacles to prop up a box for platforming purposes, or deploy them to wrench an ax from an ogre’s fists. Some spells also combine. You can pull out a conjuration table and summon a rainstorm, for example, which will make your Witch Bolt chain even more dynamic.
I wouldn’t say any of the above apps surprise me. Granted, this has nothing to do with the kind of unintended cascade effect we see in Baldur’s Gate 3. But I like the intention here. I also like that you don’t just collect spells from an upgrade tree. Many of them are optional discoveries, hidden in a world described as more busy than large.
“From an open world perspective, we want to create one with a lot of density,” says Dominic Guay, general manager of Invoke and former lead producer of Watch Dogs 2. “So yes, you will have to travel, but we don’t want you to have to travel intimidating distances where it takes 15 minutes to get somewhere. So you should always have interesting things around you that catch your attention, and different opportunities that attract you.”
In general, the game ranks exploration over “forced” story beats. The developers try to keep orientation features such as the game’s maps to a minimum. They spent a lot of time determining the size of the world. “You can’t go from the mountains to the ocean and all kinds of different types of terrain if you only have 100 meters,” Guay adds elsewhere in the chat. “So you need distance. And I think when we talk about the size of open worlds, it’s always very difficult to talk about it because it’s mostly how we perceive it, more than the actual size of the world. So it’s a pretty big world in the sense that you can travel around it for a long time if that’s what you’re determined to do.”
Even though they embrace – perhaps invoke – D&D’s rich sorcery history, Invoke is afraid of scaring people who have never rolled a D20. “What we don’t want is D&D to be a barrier to entry,” comments Hattem. “Like any good action adventure game, you don’t need to have any knowledge of D&D. Kaatri is a stranger in a strange land when she enters this world, and players are on par with that as she embarks on this adventure. So whatever you need to learn about the game, you’ll pick it up as you explore the world.”
It will be released in 2027. I am very excited! Leaving aside the comparison to Baldur’s Gate, it still doesn’t seem as receptive to wizarding improvisation as Eternal Strands, which trades more openly on real-time physics. But I feel like Invoke has the experience to deliver something pleasantly volatile. Don’t be afraid to break the game a little, developers. Any good spell system should be a little broken.
