Montreal-based studio Invoke Studios revealed Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons during last year’s Game Awards, and we’ve finally seen gameplay on the upcoming action-adventure RPG. During Gamescom Opening Night Live, the world premiere of how the game plays was shown off. Before the show, select press were invited to a behind-closed-doors hand-off preview of the game. We also got to ask some of the Invoke Studio team about how the game plays and its deeper Dungeons & Dragons connections. The game’s story revolves around the Warlock Kaatri, who’s on a quest to find someone dear to her. Story details were a bit mum during this preview, but we got a good look Kaatri’s relationship with iconic DnD character Tasha. Tasha, an ancient witch queen, makes a pact with Kaatri to give her her Warlock powers, and is a mainstay throughout her adventure.

Enter Darkon

Our presentation gave glimpse at one of the game’s early areas, where protagonist Kaatri is joined by the imp Skev. Warlock is an vast open world RPG. There’s plenty of player agency to allow players to explore wherever they want whenever they want. If you’re familiar with Dungeons & Dragons and its settings, there’s a lot here you’ll be familiar with. But compared to the turn-based, dice-rolling gameplay from the tabletop game, Warlock is a third-person action adventure RPG. I equate its style to other games of its ilk like God of War (2018), but with a much heavier emphasize on using magic. Magic is woven into essentially each of the game’s mechanics. You’ll use Kaatri’s Warlock powers not only in combat, but for traversal, puzzle solving, and likely more we haven’t seen yet.

“There will be plenty of other [weapon] options to build around”

Kaatri is a seasoned Pact of the Blade Warlock. This is a class DnD veterans will recognize as a character proficient in using a wide variety of different melee weapons. In combat, you’ll employ a relatively equal mix of melee and magic attacks. You’ll attack enemies and form strings of combos, and can weave magic in seamlessly. Our demo showed off combat against a troll who dropped his weapon after being defeated. It looked as though Kaatri could pick it up, but we moved on before I could confirm this. I also didn’t get to see any of the game’s UI or menus, but I imagine the character loadout options will be robust as any good DnD product is. The demo showed off a couple of different melee weapons like a one-handed sword and massive hammer, and the team confirmed there will be plenty of other options to build around.

I asked the Invoke Studios team what stood out about the Warlock class compared to other DnD roles and why they wanted to build a game around one. Studio Head Domini Guay explained that a Pact of the Blade Warlock was a great opportunity to have both magic and melee impacted by the game’s systems. Connections between weapons, spells, gear, and ingredients allow players to use the tools provided to them. He also cited the charisma and cool nature of Warlocks, referencing Kaatri’s confidence to approach Tasha as her patron.

The Magic Touch

Most fantasy games with magic have spells for specific use cases. Warlock, however, is intentionally designed so as not to section spells off for only certain situations. There are plenty of familiar DnD spells like Levitate and Gust of Wind, but also bespoke spells new to the game. Each spell was crafted in a way that you aren’t bottlenecked to relegate them to niche uses. Otherworldly Leap, for example, allows you clear a wide chasm. But you can also use it in combat to evade enemies. The development team then confirmed that, as an open-world game, there are dozens up dozens of ways to explore and kit out your Kaatri. You might unlock spells in your playthrough others won’t see, and vice versa. Each spell is also customizable, so you can tinker with magic to adjust to your preferred playstyle.

“There are plenty of deep cuts”

I’m not much of Dungeons & Dragons player, something I was slightly concerned about going in. But Invoke Studio’s Vice President of Creative Jeff Hattem quickly extinguished the uneasiness I was feeling. The DnD references are strictly compartmentalized into lore, characters, and locations. And while there are plenty of deep cuts (we may even see other classic characters and companions on our journey), Warlock is designed for players with little to no DnD experience. In terms of gameplay, Hattem explained that they aren’t trying to simulate the TTRPG rules directly. The game is built for you to learn as you play like any other action-adventure title.

The presentation was only about 10 minutes long, but it was enough to get me more excited for the final product. As someone who enjoys these types of games but has little to no experience with Dungeons & Dragons on tabletop, I feel confident that I can go in blind and still have a good experience.

Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons will launch in 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.