Dark Alliance Has Single-Player, But It Will Be Difficult

If Dark Alliance ends up a difficult single-player experience, that’s by design, according to developer Tuque Games lead game designer Kevin Neibert. Dark Alliance is set in Icewind Dale of the Forgotten Realms, and belongs to the larger Dungeons & Dragons multiverse, a setting that has also spawned major video game titles like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter.

Dark Alliance will eschew the traditional expectation for Dungeons & Dragons titles – that is, a heavily RPG-influenced experience – and instead focus on action-based combat and co-op multiplayer for fans to explore. The game doesn’t lack story, as it’s set to follow Drizzt Do’Urden, the drow created and made famous by R.A. Salvatore, alongside three of his companions, Catti-Brie, Bruenor, and Wulfgor. The game will be set in Icewind Dale and will task players with roaming the frozen wilderness while combating hordes of monsters and collecting loot, and is a spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 1 & 2, titles that served as inspirational starting points for some of the current game’s design. Dark Alliance is set to release in fall 2020 and is the product of Wizards of the Coast acquiring Tuque Games to develop the next Dungeons & Dragons video game.

While Dark Alliance will have single-player options available to players who want to brave the wilds solo, it’s apparently going to be a difficult task. During an interview with Screen Rant, Neibert acknowledged that the game will support single-player attempts but is a co-op title at heart, stressing that those who seek to survive alone will find that it gets difficult quickly:

“You can play single-player, you can play two-player, three-player, four-player…you can play single-play with each character. You can progress down the progression path for each character individually or with your friends. I’m not going to lie – playing alone is going to be hard. Part of the appeal that our game has is that it’s fun to play together. If you try to brave the wilds of Icewind Dale alone you’re in for a rough, rough time.”

Neibert already revealed that Dark Alliance will be resurrecting couch co-op as a multiplayer feature, meaning that friends looking to play either online or in-person will have options available to them. It’s very clear that the game has been designed to be enjoyed with other people, whether that’s because of the four characters’ different playstyles or the way they mesh together to survive, but at least the option to play single-player in Dark Alliance is there.

Of course, Neibert describing that experience as a “rough, rough time” will only galvanize players towards pursuing a solo playthrough of Dark Alliance just to prove they can do it. That’s a boon to Tuque Games and the title’s flexibility, however, and will likely make for some entertaining fan content, too. With Dark Alliance set for release next year, fans won’t have to wait too long to see just how difficult the journey is for Drizzt if it’s undertaken alone – and how fun it is when he has his companions at his side.

Dark Alliance will release worldwide on console and PC in fall 2020.

About The Author

Cody Gravelle
(1588 Articles Published)

Cody is Screen Rant’s Game Reviews Editor. He joined the team in 2018 and has been reporting on games pretty well every day since – except on weekends, where he’s typically playing them instead. Despite being in a field ostensibly about critiquing and enjoying quality games, his most played game of 2019 was Fate/Grand Order – something unlikely to change in 2020 and beyond.

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