// PC GAMER — GAMING
I was excited by Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons until the protagonist pulled out a sword
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Considering only eight minutes of it were shown at Gamescom's Opening Night Live, I went on a real journey with Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons. At first, I was nonplussed by it. While the production values were impressive, it also looked like every Sony game released in the last ten years, right down to the specific angle of the camera and the quippy NPC companion.
Yet as the reveal unfurled, I found myself growing intrigued by Warlock's invocation-based puzzle-solving and combat. Levitating objects to create platforms, using teleportation spells to swap places with enemies, conjuring a whole-ass storm to make electrical attacks more viable. It's rare to see a game of this scope encourage guile and cleverness from the player, to set its mechanical ambitions slightly beyond timed dodges and grisly executions.
And then, just as I thought I was sold on Warlock, the main character pulled out a sword.
Well, to be specific, Warlock's magical protagonist Kaatri conjured a sword. After all, why bother lugging around several pounds of sharpened steel when you can just make one appear out of thin air any time you like? It's silly to carry around a sword that you don't need. Which is precisely why I was dismayed to see one appear in Warlock at all.
Now, to be clear, I like swords—to the point where I spent several years training to use one. I also like games about swords, and appreciate how difficult it is to create interesting and authentic swordplay in a videogame context. Despite being simpler weapons, swords are way harder to depict in videogames for a whole bunch of reasons, from the technical demands of animating convincing swordplay to the many nuances associated with different kinds of swordfighting.
But there was something about seeing hack 'n' slash combat crop up in Warlock that really punctured my enthusiasm for it. Admittedly, it probably didn't help that Opening Night Live had already delivered a torrent of Dark Souls knockoffs and identikit Chinese action adventures up to that point. You'd be forgiven for thinking that swords were the only thing holding the games industry up.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realised it wasn't swords per-se that I had a problem with. Instead, what bothered me was the fact that we don't really see games that are about being a Warlock. Or a wizard, or a mage, or a sorcerer, or whichever brand of berobed spell-slinger floats your boat.
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It's far rarer to see games that are purpose-built around wielding the arcane arts.