Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale is an action video game developed by Bedlam Games and published by Atari. The game includes both single and cooperative multiplayer modes and is set in a Forgotten Realms environment. Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale was the second Dungeons & Dragons video game to be announced in 2010 and was released in May 2011 on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Microsoft Windows. It was the first D&D video game to be released on a console since 2004.

Synopsis


A party of four Daggerdalesmen adventurers &mdash; consisting of a dwarf cleric, an elf rogue, a halfling wizard, and a human fighter &mdash; are summoned to the mines of Tethyamar by the Banite priestess Lorin-Aria. She explains to the party that a Zhent wizard named Rezlus has constructed a building in the mines that reaches all the way above the Desertsmouth Mountains, called the Tower of the Void, and is amassing an army to conquer Daggerdale and the greater Dalelands in the name of the Lord of Darkness. She instructs them to travel through the mines in search of the tower and put an end to Rezlus before departing, reasoning that her ties to the Zhentarim would only put them in further danger.

The adventurers aid the local dwarf miners of Granstone as they make their way through Tethyamar, fighting large Zhent-allied hordes of goblins, goblin ghosts, phaerlocks, and skeletons. Eventually they come to a skull lord, defending a portal that leads into the Tower of the Void. After managing to trick the skull lord into destroying a series of columns around him, thereby crushing the undead, the adventurers travel through the portal and find themselves within a cell.

The group is greeted by the human Daewen Bael, who explains to the adventurers that he and his brother in the next cell over were part of a group of brigands that were caught trespassing in the tower by tieflings, under the command of Kilkar Demoneye. He further explains that the tieflings were given leeway with Rezlus on how they dealt with trespassers, so set up a fighting pit that cost his brother Drathca Bael his eyesight, and that the tieflings maintain an antimagic field that will make it difficult for the spellcasters in the party to fight. Kilkar himself then approaches the cells, commanding that the adventurers be thrown into the arena.

After fighting waves of goblins and phaerlocks in the arena, the adventurers were brought back to their cell and confronted with Rezlus alongside his Zhent soldiers. The wizard prattles at the party, asking if they are part of the Cyricists that have been interfering with his plans, before striking Drathca down and commanding Kilkar to send his dragonborn into the arena next time. The next time the tieflings guarding their cells step-away, a mysterious woman climbs up a pit in the center of the room and uses magic to lift the cellbars before teleporting away. Wanting to avenge his brother, Daewen pledges the aid of his brigands and the party begin launching a mass jailbreak.

Gameplay
Bedlam stated that Daggerdale is a video game that uses real-time tactics combat, questing, character development, exploration and a pick-up-and-play feature. Two modes, campaign and freeplay, have been announced. Single and multiplayer modes also exist for the game, including split-screen multiplayer.

The game makes use of the four main D&D character classes: clerics, rogues, wizards, and fighters, as well as the four main races, dwarves, elves, halflings and humans. Some customization of the characters is provided as a player earns experience in the game, and character progression advances as per a limited set of Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules for both class and race. Further customization is achieved through loot and equipment drops. Character level advancement is currently limited to level 10.

Development
Bedlam Games began development of Daggerdale in March 2010 and sixty developers were reportedly working on the game as of January 2011. On January 19th, 2011, Bedlam began operating as a subsidiary of bitHeads, Inc., and continued to operate as a brand-dependent division. bitHeads co-founder, Scott Simpson, alluded that the company planned to pursue a game model that would allow a gamer to play the same game on both an Xbox 360 and a portable device, such as an iPhone, in order to provide 24-hour access to the game.

The game was originally planned to be the first in a trilogy of video games. With each game being released, the player would be able to go up 10 levels higher, following 4 edition's character tier progression system of Heroic, Paragon, and Epic. However, Bedlam Games was largely shut down three months after Daggerdale's release.

Reception
Joystiq rated the game a 1.5 out of a scale of 5. They stated that "It's not just a bad game, it's a terrible use of Wizards of the Coast's timeless license." The chief criticism came from the fact that there were too many bugs and glitches, and this ruined the game for many gamers. The game was praised for its tight gameplay. The PlayStation version is expected to be better because of its later release.

Trivia
After the game ends and one watches the credits till the end, one will see the ruins of the Tower with a sign saying "Gamma Terra", Referencing the TSR-turned-Wizards' tabletop setting Gamma World.