According to a teaser released by Sony, Dark Alliance, a new action-RPG based on Dungeons & Dragons, will release on June 22, 2021. The information comes courtesy of a tweet from the official PlayStation account, accompanied by trailer and some gameplay footage:
⚔️ Drizzt
🏹 Cattie-brie
🛡️ Bruenor
🔨 WulfgarParty up and beat down the goblin hordes in Dark Alliance, a new D&D action RPG arriving June 22: https://t.co/y8dvzbQazj pic.twitter.com/CitOXlMGZF
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) March 16, 2021
The tweet itself references the four playable Dark Alliance characters. There’s Drizzt Do’Urden, the dual-wielding dark elf (or Drow) ranger, Cattie-brie, a human archer, Bruenor Battlehammer, a dwarven fighter, and Wulfgar, a barbarian warrior. The quartet may sound familiar to fans of the Forgotten Realms D&D setting. Drizzt and his companions were created by fantasy writer R.A. Salvatore and have starred in Forgotten Realms novels and adventures since 1988. They’ve even appeared in games, such as Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone on the PS2.
Dark Alliance itself is a reference to the PS2 era. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance was an action-RPG released in 2001 for the PS2 and Xbox. It and its sequel achieved some notoriety for adapting the top-down combat and loot mechanics of the then PC-exclusive Diablo series for consoles. The new Dark Alliance game, however, appears to have swapped the top-down perspective for a third-person character action style, somewhat similar to 2018’s God of War. The narrative also turns the clock back somewhat. Through Drizzt and company have been through decades of adventures since their debut, the story of Dark Alliance takes place in the same setting and timeframe as the party’s first adventure: 1988’s The Crystal Shard. The crew must battle hordes of monsters that have invaded the northern haven of Icewind Dale in search of the Crystal Shard itself.
Players will control the party and take on goblins, frost giants, wraiths, beholders, and other iconic monsters from the D&D monster manuals in solo modes, as well as online and local co-operative play. The PlayStation Blog also offered more details on enemies like the goblins.
Dark Alliance will go on sale on June 22, 2021 on the PlayStation 4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Baldur’s Gate 3, another game set in the Forgotten Realms setting, is available on PCs in Early Access.
