Warlock: Dungeons and Dragons Is a New Single-Player RPG That Leans Into ‘Expressive Magic’ | The Game Awards 2025

The Dungeons & Dragons franchise has been steadily making more attempts to expand into video games, and we’re seeing that next effort with Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, a new open-world single-player action-RPG that’s all about wielding dark magic to battle foes.

Just revealed at The Game Awards 2025, Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons is the next project from developer Invoke Studios, the creators of Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance. Set in the D&D universe, Warlock focuses on the adventures of the warrior Kaatri, who embraces newfound dark powers to unleash some otherworldly magic in her fight against the forces invading the land.

“Warlock is a third-person action-adventure game built around immersive, expressive magic where you use spellcraft to solve challenges and take down monsters — and you do it all in your own creative way across all facets of the game,” said Jeff Hattem, creative lead at Invoke Studios.

​Prior to the reveal, we got an early look at Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons and learned from the developers about the game’s approach to “immersive, expressive magic” in its third-person combat and exploration across a connected open world. In the CG trailer, we get to see a variety of foes, such as undead warriors and even a Beholder monster that has been the bane of many D&D veterans.

​According to the developers, the new action-RPG is all about stepping into the “warlock fantasy,” and the main narrative will be leaning into the lore of the D&D universe to focus on the story of Kaati — played by Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica fame — as she goes down the path of the warlock. As it goes with D&D, warlocks form bonds with otherworldly beings known as Patrons, and the relationship between Kaatri and her patron will be one of the campaign’s core stories.

​The developers stated that the gameplay would lean into player agency, with players using Kaatri’s abilities and magic to overcome challenges. Though the team would not say outright whether it has immersive-sim qualities, they pointed to their previous work on games like Watch Dogs, Deus Ex, and Far Cry for the type of experiences Warlock aims to channel.

That freeform nature is a critical part of the traditional tabletop experience. However, the devs were clear that this new action-RPG is not really a traditional RPG. They also believe that its player-agency-driven experience will serve as a solid entry point for newcomers to the D&D universe.

“We’re not trying to simulate the tabletop RPG experience, so there is no dice-rolling in the game — we’re trying to really deliver a video-game experience first,” said Dominic Guay, studio lead at Invoke Studios. “If you are not familiar with Dungeons and Dragons, you are not going to feel friction, like in that you’re missing details of the world. But if you are a fan of the universe, you are going to be really excited about what we are doing with the lore of the series for Warlock.”

After we only got a look at the CG trailer, the developers stated that a larger gameplay reveal is set for later in summer 2026. For more on reveals from The Game Awards 2025, check out our roundup of all the announcements from the show.

Be sure to check out everything announced at The Game Awards 2025 for more, as well as the winners list in full.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].