Sword Coast Legends

Sure there's Neverwinter, but given the great video game experiences the franchise has spawned in the past it is a bit surprising that we haven't seen more video games based on D&D as of late. During the 90s there just to be a handful of games released each year, and while the following decade wasn't as prolific there were still plenty of games being released. These days it's a more of a rarity to learn of a new D&D RPG (fifth edition rules). Enter Sword Coast Legends.

Sword Coast Legends is set in the Forgotten Realms, and features asymmetric multiplayer that reminds us of Bioware's cancelled ShadowRealms and Lionhead's Fable Legends. That is in addition to singleplayer Sword Coast Legends will feature co-op gameplay for up to four players with a fifth player filling the role of dungeon master.

"Sword Coast Legends is a classic D&D RPG built in the legacy of Baldur's Gate and IceWind Dale and even Neverwinter Nights, but we've really added a twist, we've added real-time DM mode," explains n-Space president Dan Tudge. "So four players can play with a DM, all in real-time. So it's very robust in that respect. You can get together at 7 o'clock at night and by 7.05 everyone is in playing and you're playing as DM."

While the demo (we actually saw the multiplayer demo twice as a result of a cluttered schedule that saw us running back and forth a bit) had two developers facing off in a highly adverserial match-up with the dungeon master not pulling any punches (and while he mainly kept to a script, he did mix up some things on the second playthrough) it should be noted that the DM doesn't necessarily have to punish the other players with severe difficulty.

Taking a page out of pen and paper the DM is certainly free to ease up on the difficulty and instead focus on providing players with a meaningful experience rather than just throwing monsters and traps at them constantly. A great DM will know how to pace the player experience.

As a developer n-Space hasn't made a tremendous amount of waves in its close to two decades in existence. Mainly working on handheld ports of popular properties (everything from Hannah Montana to Call of Duty) their most recent high profile projects include Heroes of Ruin and Rollercoaster Tycoon 3D on Nintendo 3DS. Quite a leap to work on a big RPG set in the Forgotten Realms then.

"N-space has been in business for twenty years doing a lot of great licensed properties and working with a lot of great publishing partners, but deep down we've always had this urge to build something of our own," says n-Space president Dan Tudge.

He added: "Something that we could really, really do the way we wanted to do. And I think the change that we've seen with digital distribution, the ability to connect directly with the customer, has finally provided the opportunity for us to really pursue that dream and do something we've always wanted to do."

While a lot of focus goes into the nature of DM mode (it is the most eye-catching feature), that's not to say there isn't a great deal of work that has gone into the narrative that's being conjured up with the assistance of Wizards of the Coast.

The singleplayer demo we were shown (check out the video below) saw a player party set out in the sewers underneath the city of Luskan hunting for an Ashen priest. It showed off a very traditional set up with lots of little conversations going on between your party members, a deep inventory system and classic "pause and play" tactical combat.

The neat thing is that to show the versatility of the game the ending of the quest was played in DM mode (again see below). It really opens up your mind to the potential in DM mode when you see just how many options there are to tailor the player experience. It's not just about creating a challenge, but it actually allows for some creativity.

The game will offer 5 playable races and 6 classes and Dan Tudge commented "we've limited some of the races and classes that we've done too, to make sure that the ones we do do are the absolute best we can possibly make them".

And it is not without a certain irony that we talked with current n-Space president Dan Tudge, who was one of the executive producers on Dragon Age: Origins while at Bioware many years ago, about this game. Great minds sometimes think alike, and after the cancellation of ShadowRealms it's nice to see part of that concept being used elsewhere, even if Sword Coast Legends has more of an old school golden age of CRPGs feel to it. We're very curious to see more of this as it is set to land sometime later this year.