Dungeons & Dragons: Sword Coast Legends will feature a 4-vs-1 Dungeon Master Mode that gives one player a unique tool set to guide, aid or hinder players in their dungeon dives.
There have been a lot of great Dungeons & Dragons video games released over the years, all of them devoted in one way or another to recreating some element of what makes the tabletop franchise special. As excellent as some of these adaptations have been however, there’s no escaping the sad truth that few have ever come close to replicating the core experience of a bunch of players responding to the whims of a benevolent or cruel dungeon master. If the folks at n-Space have their way however, that may soon be a failure of the past.
Revealed in announcement trailer today, n-Space is currently working on Dungeons & Dragons: Sword Coast Legends, a new PC game featuring a unique “Dungeon Master Mode” aimed at more closely replicating the tabletop RPG experience. Structured similarly to a four-vs-one multiplayer game, it will give one player a set of DM tools that they can use to help guide, hinder and enhance the experience of the other four players as they fight their way through pre-designed or player made scenarios. “Dungeon Master Mode is going to allow players to quickly jump in and play as a real-time DM in a way that has never really been fully realized in a video game,” said n-Space president and Dragon Age: Origins director Dan Tudge. “DMs are able to adjust encounters, place, promote, manage and even control monsters, set traps, reward and punish [the] party.”
Dungeon Master Mode will require no advanced scripting and will work in real-time using a special DM interface. The game will also come packaged with campaign making tools to give more ambitious DMs the means to create their own custom scenarios. Players interested in taking on the DM with fewer than three human friends will also be able to recruit AI allies to fight alongside them.
Sword Coast Legends won’t just be a multiplayer experience either. Its developers fully intend to deliver a strong single-player campaign rooted in fan favorites like Baldur’s Gate. “With Sword Coast Legends we are also continuing the legacy of the Baldur’s Gate series,” said Tudge. “You will definitely feel the influence in the tactical party-based combat, pause and play and character progression, but it’s the rich story and memorable characters where the influence is strongest.”
Sword Coast Legends will be based on Dungeons & Dragon Fifth Edition rule set and is expected to release sometime this year.
Source: IGN
