Page 24 - PC Gamer - UK (February 2020)

PRE VIE W

Dark Alliance

If we don’t fight that dragon,
I’ll eat my helmet.

NEED TO KNOW

RELEASE DEVELOPER PUBLISHER LINK
2020 Tuque Studio Wizards of the Coast darkalliance.com

All four adventurers will be playable
DARK ALLIANCE together in co-op, both online and offline
with split-screen. It’s been convenient for
Tuque to have such well-defined
characters who have not only been
developed across a multitude of books,
but also already comfortably fit into RPG
classes and playstyles. The studio doesn’t
Hack and slash your way across want to be strict about the class
Icewind Dale with some mates definitions of these characters, however,
because they evolved over time and it
wants players to have a similar experience.
The adventuring quartet still falls into
aldur’s Gate isn’t the only D&D setting
B being revisited soon. The previously familiar archetypes, however. “Drizzt is
very dashy, quick and agile,” says Hattem.
console-exclusive action-RPG series
Dark Alliance is also returning, and this “Wulfgar is the basher – he’s a seven-foot-
tall, strong barbarian. Cattie-Brie is more
time the party – which now includes D&D celebrity of a ranged character, where she has a
Drizzt Do’Urden – is hanging out in the chilly, wide range of different abilities that she
barbarian-infested land of Icewind Dale, trying to can use from a distance, and she’s super
keep the frost giant population down. athletic. And there’s Bruenor, the father

figure of the group and the protector.
The original Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance Using gaming terminology, he’s the tank.”
launched on consoles soon after Baldur’s
Gate 2 concluded with the Throne of Bhaal LEVEL UP
expansion, but aside from sharing the Dark Alliance has a hub-and-spoke design
same setting it was an entirely different where the heroes will hang out in a central
kind of fantasy romp. It was a 3D location where they can pick up quests
hack-and-slash affair with three and go off on side adventures.
classes, couch co-op, and a linear, FIRST There’s a main quest to follow,
rollicking campaign that left LOOK though it’s still a mystery, and you
countless dead monsters in its wake. won’t have complete freedom over
Next year’s Dark Alliance drops your path, but you’ll still have options
‘Baldur’s Gate’ from the title and takes the for how you progress.
action north. Icewind Dale was the setting This also goes for building your
of a pair of great Infinity Engine RPGs, but character, picking skills and gear, and
it’s also famously the stomping grounds of creating different loadouts. The skills and
the rebellious Drow hero, Drizzt Do’Urden, abilities that will be making their way over
originally created by author R.A. Salvatore. from the tabletop game aren’t ready to be
You’ll be playing him, along with his pals, revealed yet, unfortunately. There will be a
Cattie-Brie, Bruenor, and Wulfgar. degree of self-expression, however, from
Drizzt and his buds’ adventures have the choices you make when you level up,
spanned several series, starting with The to the appearance of your gear, which is
Crystal Shard, but Dark Alliance is a cosmetic as well as practical.
standalone romp. “It’s a new, unique This is how Dark Alliance approaches
adventure inspired by the characters, but roleplaying, rather than through lots of
it is set in and around the events of The dialogue choices and story-based
Crystal Shard,” says Jeff Hattem, head of character development. There’s still some
Flame on.
Tuque Studio. “But some of the elements exploration and downtime, but the main
… will be familiar to fans of the franchise.” focus of the game is action. Specifically,
chopping up monsters.
“D&D is super fun and it offers lots of
“WULFGAR IS THE BASHER – different ways to please different kinds of
HE’S A SEVEN FOOT TALL, players,” says Hattem. “Our game is the
part when the DM says ‘roll initiative’, and
STRONG BARBARIAN” that’s when you get going.”
Fraser Brown

24 FEBRUARY 2020