Dungeons and Dragons is an incredible franchise. More so than almost any other piece of nerd culture currently out there, Dungeons and Dragons puts a distinct emphasis on bringing people together. And, with an incredible level of success, it has managed to do so for 45 years now. Perhaps that's why fans were so excited upon learning that Dungeons and Dragons has eight games currently in the works, but with so much in the pipeline, it's important to ask if that may be too many.
Right now, there's very little information out about what those games actually are. Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance was announced at the Game Awards earlier this month, but there's been next to nothing shown of that thus far. Plus, Baldur's Gate 3 is on its way from Larian Studios, the developer's behind the Divinity series, though beyond those two games, there's little in the way of information as to what fans can expect next.
That being said, the Dungeons and Dragons team has promised that the games will encompass a wide variety of scopes and budgets, with Dark Alliance being somewhere in the "medium" size category of the games currently planned. Fans will have to wait and see what that means for the other games in the lineup, as there isn't enough information out there to accurately gauge just how big Dark Alliance is, and there likely won't be until sometime around E3 2020.
Both Baldur's Gate 3 and Dark Alliance are either sequels or spiritual successors to older Dungeons and Dragons games. Fans know roughly what to expect from both titles, though there are still plenty of details yet to emerge that will likely shake up at least some expectations. The two games should operate fairly distinctly from one another, offering fans of the franchise a way to scratch two itches with the same Dungeons and Dragons lore that they know and love. However, if the Wizards of The Coast don't operate carefully, they may scratch too many itches with the six other games in the pipeline.
It all comes down to how diverse the games actually wind up being from one another. Based on what has been described so far, a game where it's "grand strategy and combat at army level scale" seems like an obvious hint towards some type of RTS game, which would be a killer concept inside of the Dungeons and Dragons Universe. There will also be games that explore characters on an intimate level, which, with any luck, would fall somewhere along the lines of a Dungeons and Dragons-themed Witcher game. Needless to say, that would be a game that Dungeons and Dragons fans would fawn over for years to come.
So long as the games don't have too much overlap in terms of mechanics and genre, there's really no reason for fans to worry about the games potentially getting old. There's plenty of room to explore in the Dungeons and Dragons mythos, whether that involves an in-depth look at major cities like Baldur's Gate, a less detailed exploration of regions like Ice Wind Dale, or even possibly, players being given the freedom to create their own maps, cities, and campaigns like a traditional Dungeons and Dragons playthrough.
Now, that's not to say that this is the only requirement for fans not to feel weighed down by an endless tide of Dungeons and Dragons games. Wizards of the Coast has to be careful to space the games out over time, otherwise, fans may begin to feel like they're being barraged by the franchise. Plus, as with any other game out there, there needs to be a level of quality control. There are tons of great Dungeons and Dragons campaigns already out there for fans to play through in the tabletop game. To woo fans over to the digital world, there will need to be a certain level of quality present in the games themselves.
Assuming all that shakes out, there aren't any reasons that the eight games will feel like too many. In fact, if the smaller games are simpler titles, perhaps like Elder Scrolls: Blades. there may still feel like there's something of a draught of new Dungeons and Dragons games. There hasn't been any information as far as how many games will be small productions versus triple-a blockbusters, so there's no telling what the market will actually wind up looking like. There are tons of great Dungeons and Dragons-style games to pull inspiration from, so the possibilities really are endless.
Now, Dungeons and Dragons fans have to strap in for months worth of rumors and speculation. With brand new consoles on the horizon, there's a good chance that more of the games won't start to pop up until the next generation of hardware is widely available. That being said, fans have already been pretty patient, and adding some extra time really isn't that big of an ask at this point. It still isn't as bad as what most Kingdom Hearts fans had to go through.
Time will tell whether or not the eight Dungeons and Dragons games are worth playing. Until then, fans will just have to keep rolling dice and scribbling notes to satiate their fantasy desires, though that still hasn't gotten old for many after decades of play, so that's more than likely going to keep on happening anyway. Seeing Wizards of the Coast start to take video games more seriously is great, and it's exciting to wonder what the future actually holds for the franchise that means so much to so many.