Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

Gut goblins galore in this lavish action RPG set in the frosty realm of Icewind Dale.

Dark Alliance is the type of game for people looking to blow off steam with their friends. It's such an exploration ride that I just wanted to keep playing it all day long. The fun combat and loot system kept me coming back even if it is a shame the story set in the D&D universe written by a prolific writer fails to live up to its potential. It's also baffling that almost no love was given to the game on the PS5 to utilize its power or even the DualSense controller. At $40 though almost all of its flaws can be overlooked for just plain old fun.

Tuque Games must have rolled a natural 20 on their saving throw, because none of Dark Alliance's faults are able to bring the action-RPG down. It’s a solid cooperative dungeon crawler that’s positively dripping with D&D’s iconic Companions of the Hall setting and lore. The combat may take some getting used to, and putting your party together is more fiddly than it needs to be, yet Dark Alliance remains an entertaining adventure from beginning to end.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance offers a decent arcade action RPG experience, but suffers from midbudget jank and some questionable combat elements.

Offering up four-player online action in a familiar setting, D&D Dark Alliance looks good but is chock full of problems.

I really wanted Dark Alliance to good, and maybe it will be after some patches. The game looks beautiful and has solid performance, but for being so co-operative focus, there seems to be plenty of net-code and bugs that proved rather annoying. If you do jump in on Dark Alliance, I highly recommend the solo route as you’ll find most of those issues eliminated. But that honestly is an issue in itself, because this is D&D, and how do you recommend someone to play by themselves for a series known to be played in groups?

Read our Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance PS5 review and see if Tuque Games brought the everlasting Wizards of the Coast franchise to life, or if this is one release best left in the depths of the Icewind Dale...

At the moment, Dungeon & Dragons: Dark Alliance is just too rough around the edges to recommend, but some will be able get enjoyment out of it if they can work past its issues. As ever, it’s fun battling your way through dungeons with friends, collecting loot as you go – especially once you’ve powered up your characters and learned some new moves. But until the camera has been tweaked to give you a better view, enemy AI has been improved and bugs have been quashed, the action will always be accompanied by an element of frustration and disappointment. It might be a good idea to wait for a patch...

Playing with one-to-three other people online on its 15-hour campaign would have smoothed over some of its issues, but it wouldn’t have changed the fundamental problems that dragged down my enjoyment. As a single-player experience, it has bright moments but is quickly overshadowed by a dull story, unresponsive controls, repetitive level design, and lifeless encounters.

Okay, I screwed that one up. Its other strengths are… Let me put it gently: there is some promise to its multiplayer. If its control issues are mopped up and the enemies recover from their collective hangovers, Dark Alliance could be reasonable fun with friends. For a little while. I guess.

A tragically awful attempt to revive the Dark Alliance name, with horribly repetitive combat, empty storytelling, and a dragon horde’s worth of bugs.

The difficulty system in Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance is the start of some major issues with the game, however. Lower difficulties will have enemy AI simply standing around waiting to be killed by three or four hits, while the higher difficulties turn these attackers into massive damage sponges that can make a simple 45-minute mission last hours on end. Playing around the center of difficulty options is where the game feels normal but new characters won't be able to handle this, which forces players to work through the lower levels of boredom just to earn better gear to take on the most c...