Dungeons and Dragons single-player action-adventure game is being worked on by Giant Skull

Today, Wizards of the Coast and developer Giant Skull announced a partnership. Giant Skull is a new development studio founded by Stig Asmussen, director of God of War 3 and the Star Wars Jedi series. Asmussen founded Giant Skull last year after leaving Respawn Entertainment. The studio’s first title will be a single-player action-adventure game set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, a property owned by Wizards of the Coast. Asmussen’s track record with single-player action-adventure games is legendary, but I’m not confident about how a Dungeons & Dragons game will stand out.

How well does D&D adapt to a single-player action-adventure game?

Dungeons & Dragons is maybe more popular than ever. Larian Studios’ massively popular and successful Baldur’s Gate 3 is a testament to that. Nearly every video game RPG can trace its roots back to the original tabletop game. But there is a reason there are only a handful of games set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons. The popularity of the game has nothing to do with the world it's set in.

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For many fans of the tabletop RPG, Dungeons & Dragons is more about game mechanics and creating a shared world with friends. Many tables take the rules and adapt them to their own unique setting. Some of the most popular Dungeons & Dragons livestreams, like Critical Role and Dimension 20, have rarely, if ever, touched on the same setting that Baldur’s Gate 3 uses. So, when I hear about the director of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor making an action-adventure game based on Dungeons & Dragons, I’m not particularly excited about it being set in that universe. Put a coat of fantasy paint over a Star Wars Jedi game, and you will end up with a fun action adventure, but I would be surprised if it were able to capture the feeling of Dungeons & Dragons adequately.

The success of Baldur’s Gate 3 had much more to do with its depth of roleplaying and incredibly customizable abilities. There’s essentially no two playthroughs of Baldur’s Gate 3 that will have the same outcomes. This is the closest a video game at this level has come to adapting the feeling of playing Dungeons & Dragons at a table with friends. While the fantasy setting works well, I wouldn’t say it stands out more than something like Tamriel from The Elder Scrolls, for example. Dungeons & Dragons may not be digital, but it is essentially an open-world, turn-based multiplayer RPG. The setting is secondary.

This is not to say that Giant Skull won’t come up with a great game; it’s just that tagging the world of Dungeons & Dragons onto something doesn’t immediately inspire confidence. A single-player action adventure is typically more of a linear experience, whereas Dungeons & Dragons has essentially limitless potential choices. Both can be great, but this Giant Skull game will need to find a way to stand out more than just this being set in what can arguably be a rather generic fantasy world. I am curious to learn more, but will remain cautiously optimistic for now.

In a statement today about the partnership, Asmussen said, “Our goal is to craft a rich new Dungeons & Dragons universe filled with immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal that players will fully embrace.” The wording here could hint that the Giant Skull team is creating a brand-new world set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, but what this will come down to is the story they choose to tell, and how the setting complements that.

• D&D / Dungeons & Dragons (franchise)
• Wizards of the Coast
• Dungeons and Dragons