Demeo is a videogame take on tabletop dungeon crawling that we quite liked: Weekend editor Jody Macgregor described it as "like having the Monster Manual thrown at your face," but in a mostly good way. Now Resolution Games, the studio behind that game, is taking Demeo's D&D roots a big step further in a partnership with Wizards of the Coast to develop the first official Dungeons and Dragons VR game.
"As anyone who’s played Demeo can guess, we’re incredibly huge fans of tabletop roleplaying games," Resolution Games founder and CEO Tommy Palm said.
"Dungeons and Dragons offers one of the richest fantasy worlds that has ever been created, and it only gets bigger with every new sourcebook and adventure. We’re beyond humbled to have the opportunity to work with such an incredible IP and look forward to sharing the first details of this new project in the future."
- Wizards of the Coast gaming head says Baldur's Gate 3 'certainly raised the bar' and changed how they think about big budget D&D, but they still want 'different entry points' including smaller games
- Dungeons & Dragons' first post-revamp adventure book says hey, let's put some dungeons and some dragons in this thing
And yes, that is the unfortunate aspect of the announcement: There's no real information beyond the fact that a D&D VR game is happening. There's not even a proper title at this point. Even so, it's interesting for a couple reasons. For one, Demeo does a very nice job of recreating the classic D&D vibe, so it's reasonable to expect (or at least hope) that Resolution Games will be able to do good things now that it has full access to the real deal.
The success of Baldur's Gate 3 has also demonstrated that the D&D license still carries weight: Yes, it's also the continuation of a beloved CRPG from 20 years ago, but as much as we like to think otherwise, that is not actually a guarantee of major mainstream success. Yet BG3 absolutely demolished it, and maybe it's a bit of a stretch but I don't think it's completely out of the question that some people might think, "I enjoyed that D&D videogame experience, maybe I'll enjoy this one too."
The VR requirement is obviously a limiting factor, but that's not necessarily carved in stone forever: Demeo originally launched for VR in 2021, but a standard PC edition followed a year later. Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro SVP Eugene Evans seemed to hint at that possibility in the announcement.
"Resolution Games has a clear understanding of how to bring players together and capture the fun of tabletop gaming on digital platforms in an accessible way," Evans said. "They are an ideal partner to bring a new Dungeons and Dragons videogame to life in VR and beyond."
A proper reveal of the new D&D VR game will happen "in the future."
