For the final eight years on Xbox, gamers have been in a position to enter the Forgotten Realms and expertise the world of Dungeons & Dragons for themselves, by means of the free-to-play MMO Neverwinter. Now, as Neverwinter brings its Menzonberranzan arc to an finish with the newest launch, The Demonweb Pits, we sat down with Neverwinter’s Lead Content material Designer, Elliot Minner, to speak in regards to the final decade of adventures.

The Forgotten Realms is a basic setting, and gave the Neverwinter crew the prospect to convey basic Dungeons & Dragons characters to life and let gamers work together with them. Doing this has allowed the builders to discover a few of their favourite heroes and villains.

“We’ve been fortunate sufficient to place a few of our absolute favorites within the recreation,” Minner mentioned. “Antagonists like Strahd von Zarovich and heroes like Drizzt Do’urden and the Companions of the Corridor. In reality, we not too long ago have been in a position to companion with R.A. Salvatore and his son Geno Salvatore to jot down an authentic story involving Menzoberranzan and Drizzt.”

A lot of Neverwinter’s updates, referred to as Modules, are primarily based straight on the modules launched by Wizards of the Coast for the final two editions of Dungeons & Dragons. When crafting these tales into gameplay experiences, Minner says they’re cautious to comply with the unique plotline, however put their very own twist on it.

“We attempt to keep true to the character and story, however adapt it to what the sport wants,” Minners explains. “So we’ll usually change or add skills to make a cool battle, or place the characters in a special model of the plot as a result of we aren’t in a position to comply with the module one to 1. With every little thing we make, we work with Wizards of the Coast to verify it matches their imaginative and prescient, they usually’re very supportive after we add our personal touches to the IP.“

After all, bringing beloved D&D characters like Jarlaxle to life comes with its personal obligations. Gamers can have their very own imaginative and prescient of those characters that’s lived of their heads for literal many years. Whereas no model might be excellent, the crew are all large Dungeons & Dragons nerds, and work to get as shut as they’ll.

“Our content material writers sit down and take into consideration the characters and their plot strains, and write to the character’s historical past,” Minner says. “We’ve an enormous bookshelf of Dungeons & Dragons novels within the workplace, if anybody must reference a personality’s established voice. Then we ship that writing to our gifted audio crew, who forged the fitting individual for the job and direct them to provide a satisfying efficiency.”

Neverwinter isn’t the primary Dungeons & Dragons recreation, and it isn’t the primary to convey these basic heroes and villains to life. Requested what units Neverwinter aside from different video games within the Forgotten Realms, Minner says: “As an MMO, Neverwinter is all about taking part in collectively. You’ll be able to meet Elminster with your folks, and work together with him as a celebration. I like the sensation of getting a gaggle of associates collectively to battle one among our epic bosses, like Lolth herself.”

When requested about one character he would add if given the prospect, Minner laughs. “Bahamut, positively,” he says. “The dragon god of justice. I imply, how cool would that be?”

Neverwinter’s The Demonweb Pits is accessible on Xbox consoles now.

Neverwinter

Gearbox Publishing

☆☆☆☆☆
1124

★★★★★

Neverwinter is the premier Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG expertise, that includes fast-paced fight and epic dungeons. Discover the huge metropolis of Neverwinter and its surrounding areas, battle its many enemies, and be part of Forgotten Realms historical past.

Expertise Dungeons & Dragons Like By no means Earlier than – Neverwinter is an motion MMORPG that bridges intense fight with basic D&D gameplay. Journey by means of the town of Neverwinter and the legendary subcontinent of Faerûn, and face off in opposition to the best adversaries from D&D legend.

Construct Your Personal Legend – Carry your adventures to life by means of iconic D&D courses and races, superior paragon paths, companions, and a exceptional vary of customization choices. Whether or not you’re looking dragons and beholders inside crumbling dungeons or battling different gamers within the icy reaches of Icespire Peak, you’ll uncover why Neverwinter is the definitive Dungeons & Dragons expertise.

Optimized for Xbox One – Neverwinter evokes basic Dungeons & Dragons adventures with a totally optimized participant expertise for Xbox One. The fast-paced motion gameplay of Neverwinter has been mapped to the Xbox One controller, giving adventures the power to maneuver across the battlefield and forged highly effective spells with ease. Xbox One gamers may use their Xbox One associates record to seek out and occasion up with others as they discover iconic places of the Dungeons & Dragons universe.

This recreation helps English, French, German, Italian, and Russian.

Further System necessities: Minimal broadband web connection of 512 Kbps is required to entry all options.