When it comes to live roleplaying shows, few names are more recognized around the internet than Critical Role. This gathering of veteran voice actors consists of a rotating cast of names like Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Sam Riegel, and typical Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer, and has been regularly streaming their adventures since March 12, 2015. With a TV show by Metapigeon, The Legend of Vox Machina, an associated tabletop publisher, Darrington Press, and plenty of multimedia crossovers, including a tie-in with Dungeons & Dragons itself, Critical Role has had a stellar past ten years.
As its tenth anniversary approaches, Critical Role has even more in store for its fans and players, and a preview of that was recently dropped by a series regular. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Critical Role CEO, participant, and voice actor Travis Willingham revealed that there has been some kind of video game-related Critical Role project brewing behind the scenes. Whether it’s the reveal of another Critical Role multimedia branch like Metapigeon and Darrington Press or the announcement of an inbound game isn’t clear yet, but it’s happening in the next few months, and there couldn’t be a better time for it.
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Critical Role Is Stepping Into An RPG Resurgence
Besides the obvious accolade of Critical Role gaining an interactive game, there are incentives for Critical Role approaching this hobby right now. As Travis Willingham noted, the game industry is in a period of upheaval, but that could also mean that the usual hierarchy of game popularity is upset. Just glancing at the December 2024 Game Awards nominees confirms that, with budget family platformers like Astro Bot and indie titles like Balatro standing alongside typical award contenders like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. This isn’t even new, as the winner of 2023’s Game of the Year award was Baldur’s Gate 3, a CRPG licensed to an indie studio.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Has Paved The Way For More Games Like It
While plenty has been said about Baldur’s Gate 3‘s quality, voice cast, lengthy Early Access period, and continuous post-launch updates, the fact remains that a fairly traditional CRPG managed to win Game of the Year over AAA mega-hits like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. “Computer Role-Playing Games” have long enjoyed a fairly large niche audience, but even the highlight titles like the first two Baldur’s Gate’s and Fallout’s only brushed against the mainstream. Baldur’s Gate 3 finally bridging that gap so long after its genre was considered relevant is huge, and means good things for like-minded games.
A Critical Role RPG Like Baldur’s Gate 3 Could Be Huge
Even though the nature of Critical Role’s first digital gaming project is still unknown, chances are high that it’s an RPG. Since Baldur’s Gate 3 set such a good example of what a roleplay-heavy RPG should be like, and several core Critical Role members have at least touched the game, taking after it would be a logical choice for an interactive Critical Role adaptation. It remains to be seen whether this means that Travis Willingham’s mention of the upcoming project having taken several years to come together is foreshadowing an Early Access launch similar to Baldur’s Gate 3, but that would be another sensible choice.
Why Critical Role Should Invest In A CRPG
Setting aside speculation about the Critical Role game itself, opting for a CRPG format would be rewarded right now, despite how easy it is for such games to alienate wider audiences with their pulled-back cameras and complex mechanics. The 1-2 punch of Disco Elysium and Baldur’s Gate 3 have given the CRPG genre more popularity than they’ve ever had, allowing for more of them to exist. A Critical Role video game that successfully follows the path that Baldur’s Gate 3 has blazed could bring a whole new kind of success to the aging role-playing show.
Critical Role
- Release Date
- March 12, 2015
- Seasons
- 3 (Campaigns)
- Based On
- Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition
- Number of Episodes
- 200+
- Streaming Service(s)
- YouTube