Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard [PC]

We're surprised at how much time it's taken for the extensive worlds of Dungeons and Dragons to host a real-time strategy title. But developer Liquid Entertainment doesn't seem willing to settle for simply shoehorning D&D archetypes into the strategy environment. Instead, they're tailoring the genre for the story and characters, and so far the result looks great.

The primary mechanic that distances Dragonshard from other entries in the genre is its split architecture. The game is more like an RPG -- it divides play into two arenas: areas above ground and underground dungeons.

The solo game will feature story elements that lead players in and out of dungeons, following the paths of three campaigns, all set in Eberron, D&D's newest world. For story elements, the team went to established screenwriter Haris Orkin. He's interwoven each campaign so that the three interact in many ways, and playing through the full collection will unlock an extra mission.

With the split between play above and below ground, Dragonshard alters or discards many RTS conventions. In the overworld, play is superficially like a standard RTS, with large groups of units battling in and between sizable cities. Rather than allowing units to simply swarm in mobs, distinct lines of battle will be drawn, and the losing side will find their units slowly outflanked by the enemy. Towns and cities can't simply be attacked and overrun -- players will have to deal with outer walls and defenses, then gradually overwhelm settlements in large, endgame battles.

Basic overworld units include rare, high-powered heroes, captains, and grunt soldiers. In a big departure from convention, Dragonshard does away with the tech tree. Every unit, piece of "technology," and building is available right from the start. Instead of requiring players to go through specific steps to obtain units and buildings, the game rewards strategic thinking in how each is deployed. For example, players can create heavily armored units by placing a blacksmith next to the barracks that produce them. Liquid promises thousands of possible results from experimenting with combinations of building locations and units.

Below ground, things change quite a bit. Here, the heroes and captains become primary characters, and the units under player control appear more like a traditional D&D party. The story in each dungeon takes place on a much smaller scale, with fighters, thieves, and mages all working in a more role-playing game fashion. The AI works each character archetype for maximum effect, sending rogues ahead to scout and deal with traps while fighters keep the mages safe. So far, the execution looks spectacular, giving Dragonshard a feel that isn't just unique in the strategy genre, but uniquely D&D.

Players not inclined to deal with game economies will be happy to see that, along with the tech tree, most resource management has been scrapped. Two resources exist: gold and shards. Gold can be collected through either taxation or conquest. Shards deal with magical energy, and will have their own collection scheme. But neither makes players feel more like a warehouse manager than gamer to manage properly.

From the small amount of footage we've seen, the visual component of the game is progressing well, too. Despite an undeniable Diablo aesthetic, the game's look is very D&D with massive beholders and dragons, not to mention very detailed dungeon architecture. Even at this early stage, the lighting and particle effects are impressive, and every piece of art exudes high quality.

Atari is making smart moves in the real-time strategy genre this year, with Act of War and Axis and Allies coming across as fine entries. But Dragonshard looks like an entirely different beast. Liquid's plans for bringing the D&D and RTS worlds together is detailed and, in some ways, groundbreaking. We'll be keeping an eye on the game's development until its scheduled release in the second quarter of 2005.