The first gameplay footage from upcoming “Dungeons & Dragons” action-adventure game “Warlock” was revealed during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live presentation Tuesday.
From “D & D” maker Wizards of the Coast and developer Invoke Studios, “Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons” is described as an original third person single-player action-adventure game that’s “set in a dark fantasy open world inspired by ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ where magic is a tool that players will use creatively across systemic combat and exploration.”
The “D&D” game, which is set to release in 2027, stars Tricia Helfer (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Lucifer”) as Kaatri, a veteran warrior who makes a pact to wield otherworldly magic against dark powers, and “Baldur’s Gate 3″ star Maggie Robertson as Kaatri’s patron, the witch queen Tasha, aka Iggwilv.
“I think this game is different because we’re following one character’s story,” Robertson tells Variety. “With ‘Baldur’s Gate,’ you really got to choose your own adventure. You picked your party, and every playthrough could be completely different. Here we’re diving deeply into one character’s backstory, emotions, and motivations. That’s what makes it exciting — we’re focusing on the story and getting to know Kaatri. ‘Warlock’ takes us through the relationships of these specific characters, Tasha and Kaatri. Instead of being pulled in many different directions, we’re asking players to focus on one relationship with a lot of emotional depth.”
Helfer adds: “But as Maggie mentioned, the game is very focused on Kaatri and her quest. Along the way, there’s also a wonderful team that joins her on the journey. We really get to understand her, know her motivations, and hopefully become captivated by the emotion driving her. And you’ll still have all the fun parts of D & D. You’ll still see iconic spells, characters, and locations from D & D. I think Warlock is trying to balance being a great experience that is both accessible to newcomers and longtime fans of D & D.”
See below for Variety‘s full interview with “Warlock” stars Helfer and Robertson about their roles in the upcoming game, followed by the new gameplay footage trailer.
How would you describe your characters?
Tricia Helfer: Well, Kaatri is a fighter and the warlock at the heart of this story. She gains her magic through a pact with Tasha, and her quest is very personal and urgent. There’s a timeline — she’s searching for someone, and it’s full of emotion. But she’s as I said, a warrior, and she’s a badass.
Maggie Robertson: Tasha is awesome. And interesting. She’s one of the most iconic figures in D & D lore. She even has her own book, which is cool. She is this ancient and immensely powerful being. What’s fun about her is that she’s neither good nor evil. She straddles that line, so it’s fun to see where she chooses to fall at any given moment. You never know which version you’re going to get, and she always keeps you on your toes in that way. She’s warm and almost fairy godmother-like, but also dangerous. She has a real edge to her, and you definitely don’t want to get on her bad side. She’s helping Kaatri, but she also has her own agenda throughout the story. You’ll learn more about that as you go and see how they work together to achieve their own ends.
Obviously, the big dynamic between a warlock and their patron is the pact they make. In creating these characters, how did you express that relationship through your performances and while working together on the game?
Helfer: As an actor, you often meet people just as you’re about to step onto set, and that’s what happened with us. But immediately I felt, “OK, this is somebody I can play with”. Maggie’s somebody I can play with, and I think we were very quickly on the same wavelength.
Robertson: They threw us into the deep end with the scenes we had, too, because they were pages long — just talking, talking, talking.
Helfer: Amazing what you had to pull off with all the spells and everything, but we got it all.
It was also a great team to work with. Stefan, Catherine, and everybody doing the performance capture were fantastic.
Robertson: It really helps when there’s a sense of collaboration, because everyone brings their own skills to the table. Collectively, we create something better than any one of us could have created alone. Getting to play together in the volume, having a creative team that encouraged discussion and experimentation, really helped us find the nuances in each scene. It would have been easy for every interaction to feel similar, so we had to ask ourselves, “What makes this scene different? What’s happening here that wasn’t happening in the previous one?” Even if some of the dialogue was similar, the emotional conversations were very different, and playing with those tonal shifts was a lot of fun.
Helfer: Absolutely. And for me, the magic of filming was Kasper — the head writer.
Robertson: Oh yeah.
Helfer: Because he knows everything. When you’re filming, you’re not necessarily shooting in order, so sometimes you don’t know exactly where you are in the story. Unlike a traditional script that you’ve read from beginning to end, you’re thrown into scenes and thinking, “Where am I? What’s going on?” So I’d always look over to Kasper and ask, “What’s this? What’s happening here?”
Robertson: Especially in D & D, where the lore is so massive. Having someone who could interpret all of that history — and explain what elements they were specifically pulling into this game — was incredibly helpful.
You mentioned D & D lore. Obviously when people think about D & D, they think about parties, skill checks, rolling dice, and all those classic elements. How do you see Warlock being different from previous D & D adaptations like “Baldur’s Gate?”
Robertson: I think this game is different because we’re following one character’s story. With “Baldur’s Gate,” you really got to choose your own adventure. You picked your party, and every playthrough could be completely different. Here we’re diving deeply into one character’s backstory, emotions, and motivations. That’s what makes it exciting — we’re focusing on the story and getting to know Kaatri. “Warlock” takes us through the relationships of these specific characters, Tasha and Kaatri. Instead of being pulled in many different directions, we’re asking players to focus on one relationship with a lot of emotional depth.
Helfer: But as Maggie mentioned, the game is very focused on Kaatri and her quest. Along the way, there’s also a wonderful team that joins her on the journey. We really get to understand her, know her motivations, and hopefully become captivated by the emotion driving her.
And you’ll still have all the fun parts of D & D. You’ll still see iconic spells, characters, and locations from D & D. I think Warlock is trying to balance being a great experience that is both accessible to newcomers and longtime fans of D & D.
How did you get involved with the project? Were you approached, or did you audition?
Helfer: Through the audition process!
Robertson: I love this question because people always assume we have more power than we actually do. We audition, baby.
Helfer: Yeah. When it’s a straight offer, you’re like, “Yes!” Those are rare. And honestly, even those can be stressful because you get to set thinking, “Nobody actually saw my interpretation beforehand.” For me, the audition process was pretty extensive. There were only two sessions, but the first was a Zoom audition that lasted about an hour. At the time, I was dating a fighter pilot who actually built me a belt so I could draw a sword from a sheath. I was just wearing jeans and a tank top, but having the sword made me feel like a badass instead of just standing in a room.
Once it seemed like you were getting close to booking it, how did you start feeling about the character and the world?
Helfer: I didn’t have a full script — just a couple of scenes. Even those audition scenes changed somewhat from what we ultimately filmed. But from what I saw, I became really excited to play Kaatri. I really wanted to put myself into her skin.
Robertson: Very different experience. I was doing self-tapes. Initially I read for different characters, then they asked me to audition for Tasha. My callback came while I had COVID. I recorded it anyway.
Any final thoughts before we wrap up?
Helfer: We’re just so excited to reveal more of “Warlock” at Gamescom on August 25. There’s a gameplay reveal coming, which is both exciting and nerve-wracking. This is just the beginning — there’s so much more to come. We hope you love these characters.
Robertson: We love them, and we hope you will too. We’re excited to share this story with you.
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