The future of Dungeons and Dragons games has never looked brighter than it does right now. With the in-development Baldur's Gate 3 available for early adopters and an open-world D&D game in the works, fans have more to look forward to now than they've had for nearly an entire decade prior. Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance, one of the games coming soon, has been something of a question mark since its reveal in December 2019, but it's now just a bit less mysterious.

Game Rant recently got the chance to play 45 minutes of Dark Alliance alongside Lead Game Designer Kevin Neibert, tackling one of the campaign missions and spending some time at the game's hub, which is dressed up as the player's camp. Opting to play through as Bruenor, a key character alongside Drizzt and the rest of the characters found in RA Salvatore's novels, we got a solid idea of how the game plays, from the combat mechanics right down to the loot system.

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During our session, we worked through the entirety of a level called Verbeeg Jamboree. Those familiar with Dungeons and Dragons will likely recognize the Verbeeg from the Monster Manual, with Dark Alliance's depiction successfully replicating the creature on-screen. The mission is set up in a similar way to a standard Dungeons and Dragons campaign, just with the focus being on combat rather than any sort of roleplaying. Interestingly, though, the opening to Verbeeg Jamboree almost feels like an homage to The Hobbit's Troll scene, with the Verbeeg discussing the best way to prepare Dwarf meat in a cutscene leading into the mission.

As the cutscene plays, Neibert tells the player that the team wants to capture the culture of each of the game's enemies. The Verbeeg are a good example of this, but we spend most of our time in the level duking it out with Goblins, one of Dungeons and Dragons' classic fodder enemies. These came in a few variations, from ranged to melee, and tanky to squishy. They manage to make combat a bit more dynamic, but it's too early to tell if that feeling will last beyond a few missions.

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.

In Bruenor's case, our selected abilities allowed him to taunt other creatures to him, drawing heat from his squishier allies. Another called down a giant anvil from the sky that dealt AOE damage, pairing nicely with the taunt move. Neibert played as Cattie-Brae, a nimble, bow-and-arrow-wielding fighter that complemented Bruenor's beefy weapons and abilities, especially with a move that allowed her to pin enemies in place. Even team compositions that seem less workable should be fine when the game launches, though, as Dark Alliance is designed to be completed with whatever combination of characters that players choose.

According to Neibert, Dark Alliance is "about what happens after you roll for initiative," and from the slice that we got our hands on, that's an accurate assessment. Not everyone is after Dungeons and Dragons' combat experiences, at least in the tabletop game proper, but Dark Alliance isn't offering up the turn-based system found there. Instead, it's all the flash and flair that one would reasonably expect from a Dungeons and Dragons movie. It's a tight blend of working as a team and executing high-octane individual movements to brag about once the mission is done.

The level structure is something similar to Warhammer: Vermintide, at least as far as the objectives and layout are concerned. Outside of that, however, the game is a third-person hack-and-slash, with the camera angeled tightly over the shoulder. A key thing to keep in mind here is that Dark Alliance is a new game, and isn't a remake or soft reboot of the original Dark Alliance titles, a point that Neibert emphasized while playing.

After tough encounters, players will have the option to take a short rest, which will restore health and act as a checkpoint. If players choose to forgo these breaks, though, they will earn better rewards. It's something of a gamble, and while we opted to take the short rests during our playthrough, it will be interesting to see how the challenge moves the needle when it comes to gearing up characters.

That's largely because the loot system is what will inevitably keep players coming back for more. Essentially, each item earned in Dark Alliance is part of a larger set, and each hero has 12 sets of gear to acquire. These sets will function like quasi-subclasses, offering a bit finer control over individual characters. There are also Feats and a character sheet for players to tinker around with, giving even better control where progression is concerned.

Part of the goal is to have Dark Alliance function as a "gateway" for those that have never dipped their toes into Dungeons and Dragons, Neibert tells us. Neibert is an avid Dungeons and Dragons player, just like many of others at Tuque Games. The game's merchant character and some in-game elites are even inspired by some of the studio's campaigns. The influence the tabletop game has had on Dark Alliance, despite being nearly as far removed from the core tabletop experience as one could get, shines through. Each campaign mission not only has an overarching story, but there are also smaller subplots for players to unearth as players explore the level.

The biggest takeaway from our session is, quite simply, that the game oozes the iconic style of Dungeons and Dragons. How that translates to the rest of the game is still quite a big question mark, but if Tuque Games can stick the landing, Dark Alliance could well be the first major hit in D&D's massive lineup of upcoming games.

Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance release June 22, 2021, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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