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A Dungeons & Dragons AAA Open-World RPG Is In the Works
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In a surprisingly low-key announcement, a new Dungeons & Dragons game is now known to be in the works at Hidden Path Entertainment, and the studio says it will be a "AAA, third-person, open-world fantasy RPG." The yet-unnamed title seems like it will enter full development in the near future at Hidden Path, which is best known for its tower defense series, Defense Grid.
While virtually every video game in the RPG genre carries Dungeons & Dragons mechanics and DNA, very few of them have ever been lucky enough to bear its iconic name and license. Some of these official D&D series, such as Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, are based on campaign settings or in well-known series locations. However, even fewer bare the Dungeons & Dragons moniker in their titles, with the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance being a rare exception. Though the name of Hidden Path's title isn't yet known, new information details that it will join a very exclusive club if the project pans out.
Casting out a line to Twitter for a hiring call, Hidden Path Entertainment casually revealed that it's developing an open-world fantasy RPG "that will be taking place inside the Dungeons & Dragons franchise." The studio is currently looking for key personnel, including a graphics programming lead and a writer positions advertised on its careers site. This is a sudden and nonchalant reveal for a new title in one of the biggest names in interactive fantasy, and many were accordingly caught off-guard when Hidden Path broke the news about its untitled D&D project.
Although there's little to go on for this newly announced RPG at present, there are a few key hints about what the game could ultimately be - and what it likely isn't. A big clue lies in the planned open-world RPG structure. While Hidden Path is primarily known for PC development, it has had a few multiplatform releases over the years, as well as a few VR titles and ports under its belt. Even the recent Early Access launch of Baldur's Gate 3 isn't truly open-world (with the world consisting of large, but disparate, regions), so the processing power required to create an open world with the AAA caliber Hidden Path promises should safely rule out VR.
If the developer gets to ultimately ship the kind of game it's currently aiming for, it would become one of the first truly open-world D&D video games, and it would likely do so on modern PC (and perhaps even console) hardware. It'll likely be a long while until Hidden Path is ready to share more than job descriptions, but the final product could finally be the digital Dungeons & Dragons experience that players have longed for since the game first hit pen-and-paper.
