Over the last decade, Dungeons and Dragons has catapulted itself towards the front of the public eye. The classic role-playing game has gone from being the most niche among a host of already-niche nerd hobbies, to now being perhaps the most mainstream of the entire bunch. In other words, it’s gone from folks like me getting shoved into lockers, to folks like Dimension 20 selling out Madison Square Garden.
This meteoric rise can be attributed to a few factors. For one, the latest edition of Dungeons and Dragons was designed to be remarkably more accessible to newcomers. The release of D&D 5e also happened to be closely followed by increasing representations of D&D in popular media like Stranger Things, which has then led to popular adaptations like Baldur’s Gate 3. However, D&D owes its modern success to perhaps nothing more than the formation of Critical Role.
Critical Role Announces Video Game Project with AdHoc Studio
Critical Role started when a small group of professional voice actors (and personal friends) decided to stream themselves playing Dungeons and Dragons. Critical Role has since ballooned into a massively successful media empire. Members of Critical Role have played and streamed multiple full-length campaigns, each of which has spawned spin-offs of its own.
Critical Role has even gone on to produce an animated adaptation that is now three seasons deep, so it’s no surprise that a Critical Role video game would be in the cards eventually. After years of open speculation and wishful thinking, Critical Role co-founder Travis Willingham finally confirmed the team’s intentions to develop their first video game in the near-future. This announcement sprouted from an exclusive report by Variety, which directly quoted Willingham on a few occasions.
AdHoc Studio has yet to release their first game, Dispatch, but they are far from newcomers to game development. The studio is largely made up of former Telltale employees, many of whom are industry veterans at this point. This background could offer a small glimpse into how their Critical Role title might play, but it’s ultimately safer to wait until Dispatch releases later this year. After all, Dispatch seems to be the origin of AdHoc’s collaboration with Critical Role, thanks to Travis Willingham’s involvement in both.
What Will the Critical Role Video Game Look Like?
Willingham was far from unwilling to share details. Instead, it seems more that there aren’t too many details to share yet, and that the game is currently in the very early stages of development. However, Willingham did do Critical Role fans a favor by sharing a few details about the team’s vision for the completed game.
For example, this currently untitled project does not appear to be a direct adaptation of an existing Critical Role campaign. Instead, Willingham suggested that the game would merely take place in Exandria, the same setting as Critical Role. This is exciting news in its own right, as Willingham hinted that players could expect to see their “favorite characters”. Willingham added that the game may take place between the events of campaigns, but was otherwise light on narrative details.
It’s worth remembering that even at a small scale, video game development is no small feat. With this announcement coming by word of mouth alone, it’s likely that fans will have to wait a few more years before getting their hands on whatever this game project develops into.