A New Dungeons and Dragons Game That Is Not Baldur's Gate 3
Invoke Studios, an internal game developer at Wizards of the Coast, is working on a new Dungeons and Dragons videogame called Warlock. Revealed in a teaser trailer at The Game Awards, this upcoming title is a third person action adventure open world game focused entirely on the warlock class.
If you are expecting another Baldur's Gate 3 style epic that closely follows tabletop rules, Warlock is not trying to be that. Instead it aims to deliver a more direct, action driven experience that builds around the fantasy of playing a powerful, pact bound spellcaster.
Creative director Jeff Hattem explains that the team wanted to explore what makes warlocks unique, both in style and in gameplay. Rather than being a classic pointy hat wizard, the warlock is all about dangerous bargains, supernatural patrons, and an overwhelming presence that bends the room around them.
Living the Warlock Fantasy
The core fantasy behind Warlock is simple but rich. In Dungeons and Dragons, a warlock gains their power by making a risky pact with a powerful entity. That could be a fiend, a mysterious eldritch being, or another supernatural force that trades magic for loyalty and service.
On the tabletop, warlocks are known for their charisma stat. In game terms, that stat drives their spellcasting and damage. But Invoke Studios is more interested in what that charisma means for the character and the story than just in numbers.
Hattem describes warlocks as the kind of people who can walk into a room and instantly command attention. They are able to convince the most powerful beings in the Dungeons and Dragons universe to grant them magic in the first place. That level of charm, confidence, and intensity is something the team wants to bring to life in every scene.
To help sell that presence, the main character is played by Tricia Helfer, known for Battlestar Galactica as well as her roles as EDI in Mass Effect and Kerrigan in Starcraft 2. Casting a voice actor with that kind of range and intensity fits the idea of a character with a charisma score cranked up to the max.
Instead of building a full party of adventurers like in Baldur's Gate 3, Warlock zeroes in on a single archetype and tries to explore it from every angle. It is a similar design philosophy to the classic Thief trilogy, which took one style of play and turned it into something deep and memorable.
Magic First Gameplay and A Different Take on D and D Rules
Magic is the heart of Warlock's gameplay. The developers want spells and rituals to matter everywhere, not just in combat. According to Hattem, the same abilities you use to blast monsters will also help you explore the world and solve environmental challenges.
That means you can expect your toolkit of spells to be relevant across the entire game. Instead of being just a set of flashy attacks, magic will be something you use creatively to interact with the world. The team wants players to think laterally and experiment with their abilities.
However, do not go in expecting a one to one recreation of Dungeons and Dragons rules. Unlike Baldur's Gate 3, which leans heavily into the tabletop 5e system, Warlock is more of an original action adventure set in the D and D universe. It respects the setting but does not feel bound by every mechanical detail from the rulebooks.
Hattem praises Baldur's Gate 3 and acknowledges how important it has been for players who love faithful adaptations of Dungeons and Dragons. But he also points out that the setting has fifty years of history behind it, full of designers, artists, and storytellers. For Invoke Studios, Warlock is a chance to add their own twist to that massive shared universe.
This approach should make Warlock easier to get into for players who enjoy fantasy action games but might be intimidated by dense tabletop systems. You will still be living in a classic D and D world, but you will not need to learn every rule from the Player's Handbook to enjoy it.
What We Know About Release And Why It Matters
Warlock is still a way off. Invoke Studios plans to show gameplay footage in the summer of 2026, with a full launch targeted for 2027. That gives the team plenty of time to refine their take on the warlock fantasy and build an open world that supports magic driven exploration and combat.
For Dungeons and Dragons fans and PC gamers, this is an interesting direction. After the huge success of Baldur's Gate 3, many people might have expected every new D and D game to follow the same formula. Warlock is a sign that the brand can support very different styles of play, from deep party based RPGs to focused action adventures.
If Invoke Studios pulls it off, Warlock could become the go to game for anyone who ever looked at the warlock class and thought, I want a whole game just about that. A single character, a dangerous pact, a massive open world, and spells that shape everything you do sounds like a strong foundation for a standout fantasy adventure.
We will have to wait a bit before we see how it all comes together, but for now Warlock is one of the more intriguing Dungeons and Dragons projects on the horizon.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-next-official-d-and-d-videogame-wont-be-anything-like-baldurs-gate-3-were-making-a-third-person-action-adventure-open-world-game-that-focuses-on-the-warlock/
