Just before gamescom we got to see an extended look at the unveiling of an incredible new game collaboration between Wizards of the Coast and developer Invoke, Warlock. Dark powers and darker intentions, this one looks like it’s going to be an awesome single-player D&D game that combines the best part of the tabletop experience with the most up-to-date visuals possible. With an all-star cast to bring it to life, it’s also a great showcase of the dedication of Wizards of the Coast to this new chapter for the company. Let’s talk about it, shall we?
In Warlock, we meet a brand new character to the universe, Kaatri. Kaatri (played by award-winning actress Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica, Lucifer), is a powerful weapons master warlock who has struck an otherworldly bargain to gain enough power to fight the dark powers that infest the land before it consumes all.
In the demo, there are a handful of things that immediately stand out to Magic players. We see that Kaatri is partnered up with a powerful patron, a woman named Tasha (played by Maggie Robertson (Baldur's Gate III, Resident Evil Village, Back 4 Blood) who acts as her mentor and source of power. In her role as teacher, she provides Kaatri with deep magic to sense Raw Magic, a power hidden throughout Darkon that lets her expand and transform the world around her.
If you’re observant, you’ll notice the myriad raven feathers on Kaatri’s armor, suggesting a connection to the Raven Queen and Shadowfell. Her magic and rituals only serve to deepen that assumption. It’s in those rituals that we see the biggest difference that developer Invoke is looking to bring to the table.
Warlock is an open world, and how you interact with it is the difference. With more in common with its tabletop counterpart, Kaatri is free to interact with the world how she sees fit. Using her warlock powers, she can interact with the world around her, reshaping it to her purpose. During one sequence, we saw her grab a nearby lantern and throw it into some nearby brambles. She then yanked a ball of water from the nearby stream to splash against the fire to extinguish it. Walking through town, it’s clear that folks aren’t happy to see a warlock in their presence. Or maybe it’s the smartassed Quasit that seems to be our stalwart companion that has them unnerved. Either way, we follow some clues and find bloody drag marks that lead into a nearby shop. Lifting and suspending some crates in the air, we shadow-step through the floor grate and into the expansive sewer below.
Descending some broken stairs, we find ourselves unable to proceed. Using a spell to grab a nearby chunk of stairs, we attach it to a tentacle we’ve attached to the wall (perhaps 4th-level Evard's Black Tentacles?) to create a temporary space for us to flit across. Making our way to the bottom, it doesn’t take long until we find ourselves face to face with some sort of undead creature. Dispatching them with magic rather easily might have given us confidence, as does using our power to drop columns on top of undead creatures to crush them, or shoving them into a nearby hole to their doom. That is, until a Death Kiss flew up, face to face with us at entirely too close range. As it rushed into attack, we froze the creature in place momentarily. Kaatri then replaced herself with a nearby zombie creature, escaping the creature’s grasp and warping to a nearby ledge. The Death Kiss stabbed the zombie through the chest as we vacated the area in a hurry.
Further down in the dungeon, we saw the other half of combat – melee. As a weapon’s master, Kaatri is able to summon various weapons into being, including a sword and hammer that we’ve seen thus far. As Kaatri exits the dungeon, she sees a number of foes that look like they might cause her the slightest bit of trouble. To help her fight them, Kaatri initiates a ritual where we see her use a summoning circle and various components to summon rain and lightning to the area. This, along with lightning magic, electrified enemies and dispatched them quickly. Utilizing a combination of chained magic, melee, and executions, we see a ballet of carnage. Weapons plucked from foes and then thrown violently back into them. Bodies flung, suspended, twisted, and crushed. It’s clear that the team is aiming for a visceral combat that gives players flexibility as they engage with the various underpinned systems like weather, physics, and weapons. It’s that experimentation that should make Warlock interesting.
This brief look at the game was just a taste, but it’s already clear that the game is a mix of magic that serves as both weapon and exploration tool. It’s also clear that the team is huge fans of tabletop and trying to be extraordinarily faithful to its tabletop roots. From what I’ve seen – they’re succeeding.
While we don’t know much more about Warlock than what we’ve seen ahead of the reveal at gamescom, we won’t have to wait too much longer. Warlock is scheduled for release at some point in 2027 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
