Little is known about Gameloft’s upcoming Dungeons and Dragons game, save for its focus on survival. However, there’s one question about Gameloft’s take on D&D that’s more pressing than most.
Following the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, Hasbro is expanding D&D‘s presence in the video game market. An example of this is an upcoming game being worked on by Gameloft Montreal, the studio behind Disney Dreamlight Valley. Announced back in March of this year, this presently-unnamed title has been presented to fans as a mix of survival, life sim, and action RPG elements. Other than this statement, fans have only been able to draw on a single piece of art and some Gameloft job listings for information.
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The Sky’s The Limit For Gameloft’s D&D Game Combat
Among the information presently unknown about Gameloft’s D&D game is the system it will use for combat. Larian stepping away from the IP is indicative of Hasbro’s goals for D&D in video games, namely that it wants to diversify beyond what Baldur’s Gate 3 offers. This is to say that Gameloft may not necessarily be tethered to turn-based combat, which most D&D games have been strictly tied to. Given the lack of clarity around the subject so far, just about anything is possible for the combat system in Gameloft’s upcoming title.
Gameloft Montreal’s Previous Releases Don’t Give Much Away
Disney Dreamlight Valley may be the claim to fame for Gameloft Montreal in recent times, but its lack of combat makes it ill-fitting as a case study. The mobile title Dungeon Hunter 6, which features hack-and-slash gameplay, could be more of a foundation, but it too lacks grounding. Not only is it a mobile game that lacks the inherent scale of Gameloft Montreal’s D&D game but its combat is also suited to dungeon crawling. Though dungeons may play a role in Gameloft’s upcoming D&D title, its survival/life sim genre would scarcely match hack-and-slash combat.
Gameloft Montreal’s D&D game has been classed by the studio itself as an action RPG, so combat is definitely on the table—especially considering how the tabletop game has trended towards a combat-heavy, superhero-inspired direction in recent years. The emphasis on survival in the title’s announcement also makes it prime for random encounters, which are part of D&D combat’s bread-and-butter. Nonetheless, there’s a real scarcity of information regarding how combat will be approached in Gameloft’s title, and the above factors make it all the more of a topic for speculation.
The clearest route to go would be turn-based, which has been the standard for many D&D games. On the other hand, Gameloft’s title would be the perfect opportunity for Hasbro to diversify its output, allowing for a game that uses the IP without attaching itself to tabletop rulings. A shift to a different combat style would also match the survivalist nature of the game, which could make sudden usage of turn-based systems disconcerting. A more grounded system, though one that could still make use of the game’s items and abilities, would work well for these parameters.
Gameloft’s D&D Game May Let Combat Take A Backseat
On the other hand, combat may not need to take center stage in Gameloft’s D&D game. While the title has not been pitched to fans as a cozy game, nothing about its (admittedly limited) presented details necessarily pigeonhole it as a combat-focused game. Though D&D 5e is heavily combat-oriented, that doesn’t have to be the case for a game based more on the series’ IP and spirit than perhaps its hard systems. Gameloft Montreal has already demonstrated its proficiency with cozier games via Disney Dreamlight Valley, and its D&D game may well echo that design.
Dungeons and Dragons
- Franchise
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Original Release Date
- 1974-00-00
- Designer
- E. Gary Gygax , Dave Arneson