D&D Dark Alliance - co-op action brawler where you play Drizzt's party

[Bara]

It's also wisdom.

I... don't follow you. Isn't wisdom the by-product of a large amount of information, experiences, understanding and common sense? Sorry, but you've lost me.

The learned man knows that he is ignorant.

or

I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.

 

[Wunderbar]

Looks like Hunted Demon's Forge spiritual successor, except without a scantily clad elvish woman.

 

[The_Mask]

And that is only half the battle.

What is the other half, in your opinion?

 

[Delterius]

And that is only half the battle.

What is the other half, in your opinion?

forgetting all those dumb things and just playing games

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...liance-game-is-out-in-june-and-weve-played-it

The new Dark Alliance game is out in June, and we've played it
It's a positive showing, but no longer has local co-op.

Dark Alliance is back, many years after the originals made Dungeons & Dragons work as a co-op action RPG on PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and many months after this spiritual successor was first announced. But after an AWOL 2020, we now have a final and firm release date of 22nd June 2021.

So what does a new Dark Alliance game look like? Because we haven't actually seen it before now, except for an in-engine teaser that didn't give a lot away.

Now, though, I've played it.

The biggest and most immediate difference is the camera angle, which is now over-the-shoulder, rather than zoomed out and looking down, as in a game like Diablo. This makes Dark Alliance more cinematic and better shows off the new setting of Icewind Dale. The old games were set in Baldur's Gate, if you recall. In the new game, it's wide open mountain ranges with snow, and forested areas, and there's a sense of space and grandeur that comes with them. A sense of big adventure.

The perspective also brings more impact to combat as you dash around a battlefield, slamming attacks into enemies, chaining combos together more akin to an experience like God of War. It's not all the way God of War, it's not quite that physical, but it's certainly much more than a hotbar experience. Holding your light attack or heavy attack button unfurls dramatic, animated combos, which I think differ with directional input. And each character has more than 60 moves, game director Jeff Hattem tells me while we play.

I play as Drizzt Do'Urden, the famed drow hero of Dark Alliance, who's all hood up, long hair and smolder. Technically, he's a kind of high damage rogue, dual-wielding and backstabbing and stealthing. And playing him involves flanking enemies for critical hits, dodging (with the dodge button) their attacks, and watching your stamina consumption so you don't get exhausted in dangerous areas. Invisibility is a temporary active ability with a short cooldown, and there's a kind of storm of swords ability with a longer cooldown that whirls around you.

My light-attack combo is a flurry of lunging, thrusting stabs, which feels satisfyingly murderous to perform; and my heavy-attack combo deals a meaty double-slash before charging up to summon a magical circle on the ground which deals lots of damage to things inside. I can also perform a kind of lunging riposte, by attacking immediately after a dodge. And I have an Ultimate, which fills in a gauge as I fight.

Movement and positioning are vital, not just for dealing damage but avoiding it. Bigger enemies and bosses - like giants - have special, fairly well sign-posted abilities that can immobilise you and leave you open to their mega charged-attacks, like a literal elbow drop. There are pools of poison and clouds of ice to avoid, and the whole process feels like an encounter in an action game rather than an RPG. You'll have to keep an eye out for friendly abilities too, like healing circles you need to stand inside to make use of. And there are some light platforming elements to the game, such as ledges to climb up to, gaps to leap across, and traps to deal with.

It's energetic and it's fun. But it's hard to get a deeper appreciation of how challenging it can be - and how tactical and group-focused - in one 20-minute mission, especially on the mission's easiest Challenge Rating: one of a possible six. My companion nearly died a couple of times (which was probably my fault) but generally it was a breeze. Of course, it helped that Drizzt had been buffed to high heaven for the demo and had all his abilities unlocked. Usually everyone begins at level one and progresses to 20, unlocking abilities as they go.

Presumably as the difficulty increases, so will the need for a full group of heroes coordinating effectively together. In addition to Drizzt and Cattie-Brie (a kind of ranger with healing), there's Bruenor Battlehammer (a tank), and Wulfgar the barbarian (fairly self explanatory). But to fill a group, you will need other players as there are no AI companions in the game. And this means going online, as local co-op/couch co-op has sadly been dropped.

"We wanted to do local co-op but it's not on the cards any more for the game," Jeff Hattem says. "We led out with the intent but we got ahead of ourselves [...] and it got away from us."

The idea had been to quarter the screen for each player, and I understand why, with the zoomed-in perspective, that might have been undesirable. But it's a shame not to have anything at all, even two-player split-screen. Multiplayer means going on online, then, either with friends or matchmaking in Quick Play, but you are also able to play the game offline on your own. It'll be a more tentative, edging forwards experience, though.

Between missions, you return to a hub area, a camp in the mountains surrounded by forest. It's here you do all of your upgrading and equipping because this isn't allowed during missions. There are a variety of tents and NPCs, and a central chest where you receive the loot assigned to you (and tailored for you) during the mission. You have the option of improving the quality of that loot during the mission, but it's a risk-reward gamble. Campfire stops offer you the choice of either taking a Short Rest and recuperating, or carrying on but improving the rarity of loot you'll receive. And note, there is no trading between players.

This is Cattie-Brie launching herself into the air.

A glimpse at the dwarf tank Breunor, and the barbarian with his two-handed hammer, Wulfgar.

I've only seen a brief slice of Dark Alliance, and playing it remotely wasn't ideal because it added latency to the input and dropped the resolution of the image on occasion - not great for a type of game that relies on bombastic action and a feeling of responsiveness. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable, and I'm encouraged by what I've seen.

I didn't really see elements like the story and the wider world. There was a cheery introduction to my mission where a bunch of giants played instruments around a campfire and sang a bawdy song, suggesting a playful nature, but beyond that, I have no idea. I do know there will be seven quests in total, each with three missions each.

Dark Alliance will be slightly cheaper than other games when it comes out. The Digital Edition will cost £33.50/€40/$40 when ordered online at DarkAlliance.com, and that's for all versions of the game, even pricey PS5. Shop-bought Standard and Steelbook editions, meanwhile, will be a more regular £50/€60/$60. That's the same price as the Digital Deluxe Edition, by the way, which bags you an upcoming expansion called Echoes of the Blood War, and a Lich weapon set. All pre-orders, whichever version of the game, will get a Beholder weapon set at launch. And no, there won't be any extra-monetisation beyond buying the game.

There's a generous upgrade option offered, too. On Xbox, you'll be able to move from old-gen to new-gen for free via Smart Delivery; and on PlayStation, you'll be able to move from PS4 to PS5 via a free digital code. Incidentally, there will be some "noticeable" visual differences between the two generation versions of the game, according to Hattem, but smooth performance is a priority, as is providing a like-for-like experience. And I'm afraid there won't be cross-platform multiplayer.

All in all a positive showing. Roll on June.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...liance-game-is-out-in-june-and-weve-played-it

opinion discarded

 

[The_Mask]

"Dwarf tank Bruenor"

then...

"Seven quests total, with 3 missions each..." for $60?

but then...

you can buy physical copies of this game.



My usual compass is broken. I can't tell what this game's gonna be.

 

[Bara]

My usual compass is broken. I can't tell what this game's gonna be.

Dead if not at launch in a few years. Especially with no local co-op I highly doubt this will be fun to play in single player.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/dark-alliance-is-dandd-for-the-impatient/

Dark Alliance is D&D for the impatient
More death and fewer dice.

Dark Alliance has got the setting, the characters and the language of Dungeons & Dragons, but they're draped over a brisk action game that will see you bouncing from fight to fight without ever worrying about dice rolls. Kill goblins, grab loot, admire your new cloak—it's all about the simple pleasures. This is D&D for the impatient.

Though it's the third game in the Dark Alliance series, the slate has been wiped clean for its PC debut. Previously a top-down action-RPG exclusively for consoles, Dark Alliance is now a third-person action game where clicks have been replaced by combos. This party is a bit more acrobatic.

As celebrity drow Drizzt Do'Urden, I rush around Icewind Dale, dodging, leaping and backstabbing, with the goblin body count rapidly rising. I can block, parry, attack from the air and string together special moves, only limited by my stamina bar. While I button-bash my way through the mostly linear mission map, there's still an RPG working away under the hood, but things like ability scores and feats have been reshaped around a game that's mostly pure action.

I can choose to level up my charisma attribute, for instance, but in Dark Alliance it has nothing to do with persuasion or diplomacy. Instead, it determines how quickly the ultimate ability recharges. I'll have to wait until after the mission, though, because levelling up, unlocking feats and equipping new gear only happens back at camp. When you're on a quest, there's nothing to distract you from your bloodlust.

Structurally I'm reminded of Vermintide. You've got a hub from which the party can gather and prepare, as well as selecting missions, and then when they're on the job it's all about pushing forward through the mass of enemies. No faffing around with inventories or character sheets. Developer Tuque is also a fan, but one place they differ is the kind of rewards the party gets back at camp.

Unlike Vermintide and most action-RPGs, Dark Alliance doesn't give you mountains of random loot. Instead, you'll find equipment belonging to different gear sets, each with distinct attributes that will inform how you play. This way, gear is tied to builds in more obvious ways, and there's less disposable junk. Each set also contains items with different rarities, with the rarer ones looking flashier and having bigger numbers.

As I kill my way through Icewind Dale, more nods to its main inspiration start to appear. Though it might not evoke any tabletop adventures that I've been on, Dark Alliance does more than just pay lip service to D&D, adapting various staples in interesting ways. Take the rest system, for instance: you can find campfires that let you take a short rest, healing and recharging you, but now they also provide a checkpoint. You can choose to ignore them, however, and you'll be rewarded with better loot for taking the risk. Naturally I ignore them all, hoping to impress the developer and PR person watching me.

While Dark Alliance can be played solo, it might be a bit tricky, especially since there are no AI companions. The difficulty scales with the number of players, so solo runs are viable, but it's really designed for co-op parties. Your abilities are meant to synergise with your mates', and fights that will be a lot easier with teamwork. For the demo, I'm accompanied by a developer playing another member of the quartet, Catti-brie.

Technically, Drizzt is a ranger and Catti-brie is a fighter, but the R.A. Salvatore novels that made them D&D stars are less tied to the concept of classes than the tabletop game, and Dark Alliance follows suit. Drizzt has more in common with a fighter or rogue, alternating between diving headfirst into the throng of monsters and turning invisible so he can go in for the backstab. He can also summon his panther from the astral plane to briefly attack his foes. Catti-brie, meanwhile, serves as ranged support, peppering enemies with arrows, trapping them with magical vines and healing her pals.

Catti-brie drops some healing circles when I'm looking worse for wear, and pulls me up when I've been knocked down, so I appreciate the help. And when enemies become trapped in her vines, they're unable to sneak up on me while I'm busy, and they become easier targets when I can give them all my attention. Even with just two people, it's obvious how much has been designed around cooperation, so I don't think I'll be playing this one on my lonesome.

Dashing around with twin scimitars, summoning astral panthers and turning invisible makes it easier to overlook that I'm fighting goblins again. My main target, though, is a group of verbeegs, a lesser known type of giant-kin that I don't think I've ever seen before. It turns out that they're avid singers, and their bellowing accompanies me throughout the mission, growing louder and louder as I approach their camp. The pace of the demo doesn't leave a lot of room for Dark Alliance to display much personality, so the inclusion of some musical giants is very welcome. It's a shame I have to kill them.

With the boss fight over and the verbeegs defeated—for now—it's time to teleport back to camp and admire all my rewards. The greatest of them all, of course, is being able to unlock some new cosmetic appearances for my gear sets, purchased from my deep gnome merchant pal. I've decided to go for a chilly look with an icy blue hue to match my surroundings. Even with action taking centre stage, there's always time to look nice. It's a good way to cap a successful quest.

Dark Alliance is coming on June 22.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/dark-alliance/release-date-dnd

Dark Alliance is a frantic ARPG, but somehow it’s still a DnD game
Wizards of the Coast is publishing its first DnD game directly, and it's coming to PC in June

What is Dungeons & Dragons? Is it the setting? The classes? Is it the many-sided dice which underpin the mechanics? Or maybe the real D&D is the friends you make along the way?

Despite becoming a mainstay in the rejuvenated tabletop role-playing scene, D&D’s remain a weirdly intangible world that can mean different things to different people. Perhaps it’s a consequence of Tolkienesque visualisations being everywhere in modern fantasy, but the power of D&D does not lie in anything visual. Sure, source books have illustrations, and there’s plenty of official artwork out there, but the moment you set out to actually construct the ‘world’ of D&D for something like a videogame (or a film), I feel you’ve already lost some of the magic. It’s an experience powered by the imagination. And that’s hard to beat.

Now watch as I contradict everything I just said. It’s because of my mild prejudices against licensed D&D media that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Dark Alliance, a co-op action RPG set in Icewind Dale, part of D&D’s core world, the Forgotten Realms. The game features Drizzt Do’Urden – an iconic D&D character created by author RA Salvatore – and his companions as they fight to stave off a growing tide of Frost Giants, dragons, and more in a narrative-driven campaign.

The core pillars of Dark Alliance are simple enough. Each of the four characters from the Drizzt novels is a D&D class: respectively, Drizzt, Catti-brie, Bruenor, and Wulfgar are a rogue, ranger, fighter, and barbarian.

Playing either solo or in online co-op, you must run through self-contained levels in which you fight, loot, and fight some more, before heading back to your camp to rest and start the process again. It’s comparable to Vermintide or even Diablo, but takes a third-person over-the-shoulder view rather than first-person or isometric.

As you’d expect, your chosen hero starts off pretty basic, and you’ll develop them over time. Each has a bespoke skill tree through which you can hone their fighting style to your preference, and you can make further tweaks by adjusting their gear, which is where loot plays a role.

On paper it’s a game with a fairly ordinary design, but for two things that really stand out to me based on a recent hands-on session.



First, there are some wonderful little touches that really make it feel like a D&D experience in ways I wasn’t expecting. The easiest example to relate is the resting system. After certain combat encounters, you get the option to take a short rest. This allows you to heal your characters, but if you choose not to, you get better loot instead.

The short rest is a quintessential tactical decision in a D&D adventure. When do you take it? Is it safe to take it? Can your current quest handle a couple of hours’ delay while you have a snooze? The fact that it’s been smartly woven into Dark Alliance’s core loop is a lovely touch, and sends a clear signal that, despite being a fast-paced action RPG, this is still a D&D game. D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast is closely involved with development, having acquired developer Tuque Games in 2019, which probably explains this kind of attention to detail.

Secondly, the fighting mechanics are surprisingly satisfying. I was trying out Bruenor, an armoured dwarf fighter who basically serves as your party’s tank. Everything I did, whether it was blocking attacks with my shield, thwacking a goblin-thing with my hammer, or pulling off a jump attack combo, felt weighty. There’s a level of reverence given to the feel of each hit that almost approaches that of Tekken or Street Fighter.



Timing is key, different button combinations can do different things, and there are more elaborate moves you can pull off at higher levels. I giggled slightly when I managed to pull off what appeared to be a shield block counter, which flowed into a reverse spinning backhand with my weapon.

My time with Dark Alliance was brief and plenty of crucial questions remain unanswered. The co-op experience will make or break this game, as I can’t imagine this being as enticing as Diablo or Destiny as a solo experience, D&D or no. The endgame loop and longevity are also massive question marks, although this is not a live-service game.

Dungeons & Dragons means different things to different people. For me it’s never meant a videogame, despite impressive efforts by Baldur’s Gate and the like to recreate the tabletop experience in digital form.



Dark Alliance doesn’t even try to do this – it’s a hectic ARPG, not a ponderous CRPG – but it’s still managed to embed itself quite strongly as a ‘D&D game’. There are no dice, but there’s certainly a soul.

Dark Alliance will release on PC (and consoles) on June 22, 2021. Pre-orders are available now via the official website.

 

[Turbografx]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...liance-game-is-out-in-june-and-weve-played-it

opinion discarded

Unbelievable.

 

[DemonKing]

No couch co-op = probably no sale for me probably, unless one of my kids is really keen.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

lmao at bg3 having couch coop and not-DA3 not having it

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Most D&D settings have limited penetration in the video game world. Crispy likes Greyhawk and more power to him but when nerds think D&D, they think Forgotten Realms. In fact, when a normal person thinks 'generic RPG setting' or 'tolkienesque' what they actually mean is the Realms, this mother of Abominations. Yet they don't even know it. Showing therefore how weak a name the settings of D&D actually are. Its greatest so dilluted in the general culture of gaming that nobody knows who the fuck Drizzt is. They might get the gist about what drows are but nobody cares about the many books of 'Elminster (who?) fucks another hot magic lady to save the world'.

I think when most normal people think D&D they don't think Forgotten Realms. They're probably thinking something more along the lines of the pre-Forgotten Realms stuff that was around when the cartoon was...and they're probably thinking of the cartoon too depending on their age. Probably don't even know there's more than one setting, and are thinking of some general mix of Greyhawk and Mystara along with Jeff Easley art.

 

[Volourn]

"Genuinely curious does anyone give a shit about the D&D license or is it exclusively the ruleset? It helps sales I'm sure but it's not like Warhammer or Tolkien where people revere the source material."

You are genuinely retartet.


"I think when most normal people think D&D they don't think Forgotten Realms. They're probably thinking something more along the lines of the pre-Forgotten Realms stuff that was around when the cartoon was..."

You are genuinely retartet part 2.

 

[Mangoose]

same gameplay, different source

Did anybody mention that this would be a sequel to Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2?

Spiritual successor. This one is called "Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance", which is why they're not using 3 in the title. Given the nostalgia factor, I think banking on a "long-awaited sequel that was canceled because Black Isle shut down" would be a better option than a soft reboot...

Oh shit you're right. It wasn't just BG3 and Fallout 3 that was cancelled by INterplay. They were working on a Dark Alliance 3.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

"Seven quests total, with 3 missions each..." for $60?

The amount means nothing since we don't know how expansive those quests (stages) will be.

edit: According to the other article a mission lasted 20 minutes, so assuming they're all around that lenght...seven hours?

But it's hard to get a deeper appreciation of how challenging it can be - and how tactical and group-focused - in one 20-minute mission, especially on the mission's easiest Challenge Rating: one of a possible six

 

[rusty_shackleford]

"Seven quests total, with 3 missions each..." for $60?

The amount means nothing since we don't know how expansive those quests (stages) will be.

edit: According to the other article a mission lasted 20 minutes, so assuming they're all around that lenght...seven hours?

But it's hard to get a deeper appreciation of how challenging it can be - and how tactical and group-focused - in one 20-minute mission, especially on the mission's easiest Challenge Rating: one of a possible six

preorder now for the DLC!

Spoiler

not a joke, look at the preorder bonuses

 

[GrainWetski]

Nobody asked for this....
Also those animu animations... cut to 12 fps.... oof. Can the thread it's not even close to rpg.

Every game that identifies as an RPG is an RPG in the year of our lady 2021, bigot.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

They've called it Dark Alliance just because Drizzt is black? WTF?!

 

[Vapid]

They've called it Dark Alliance just because Drizzt is black? WTF?!

African-American Alliance. There you go, a triple-A game.

 

[Delterius]

its the dark alliance because a herve caen, a fr*nchman, created it

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.gamebanshee.com/news/12...e-official-gameplay-trailer-and-previews.html

Kotaku:

The demo convinced me I could have a fun time in Dark Alliance, whittling away the hours grinding through it on late nights with some friends. But it also showed the game to be a much more modular, grinding experience than I think of the original Dark Alliance games as being. Outside of an opening cinematic and some light, in-mission dialogue, I didn’t get much of a sense of the greater Forgotten Realms world the game is pulling from, or why my friends and I would potentially be hacking and slashing our ways through it.

GameRant:

What's immediately striking about Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance is how fluid the combat feels. Chaining together attacks in different directions has an incredible flow to it, creating a graceful but impactful combat system that changes based on input direction and attack type. This system is supported by interesting abilities that can be used to create meaningful synergy. Each character has four abilities total, though only two can be slotted at once, along with a third ultimate ability.

 

[Gargaune]

GameRant:

What's immediately striking about Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance is how fluid the combat feels. Chaining together attacks in different directions has an incredible flow to it, creating a graceful but impactful combat system that changes based on input direction and attack type. This system is supported by interesting abilities that can be used to create meaningful synergy. Each character has four abilities total, though only two can be slotted at once, along with a third ultimate ability.

Dungeons and Dragons much dungeons, very dragons

 

[Elex]

I think when most normal people think D&D they don't think Forgotten Realms. They're probably thinking something more along the lines of the pre-Forgotten Realms stuff that was around when the cartoon was...and they're probably thinking of the cartoon too depending on their age. Probably don't even know there's more than one setting, and are thinking of some general mix of Greyhawk and Mystara along with Jeff Easley art.

I’m sure that a lot of D&D players think that the 100% homebrew setting of their dungeon master is “THE” D&D setting.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I think when most normal people think D&D they don't think Forgotten Realms. They're probably thinking something more along the lines of the pre-Forgotten Realms stuff that was around when the cartoon was...and they're probably thinking of the cartoon too depending on their age. Probably don't even know there's more than one setting, and are thinking of some general mix of Greyhawk and Mystara along with Jeff Easley art.

I’m sure that a lot of D&D players think that the 100% homebrew setting of their dungeon master is “THE” D&D setting.

normal people don't play D&D