Dungeon Siege is coming back after a decade of silence - but as a metaverse thing.
The classic hack ‘n’ slash series, which last appeared as the Obsidian-developed Dungeon Siege 3 in 2011, will be reintroduced as “interactive RPG experiences” within The Sandbox, a Minecraft-ish metaverse platform that has recently attracted partnerships with major publishers.
A Dungeon Siege Land will be built on Square Enix’s ‘estate’ within The Sandbox, where you’ll be able to play through voxel-based RPG fare, while “learning best practices for constructing Dungeon Siege adventures”. The latter will be supported by Dungeon Siege-themed characters and items for The Sandbox’s creation tools.
“Dungeon Siege has always been about inspiring adventure and entering The Sandbox metaverse to empower players to craft their own personal adventures opens an exciting new chapter for the franchise,” Square Enix business development exec Hideaki Uehara says. “We’re looking forward to seeing Dungeon Siege come to life in The Sandbox, powered by the inspiration of RPG fans.”
If terms like ‘best practice’ and ‘metaverse’ clued you in, yes, The Sandbox is an NFT-based platform that lots of mainstream partners are hoping to make money from. Its website is full of associated names: Snoop Dogg, Adidas, The Smurfs, Avenged Sevenfold, Atari, Care Bears, The South China Morning Post. There’s nothing that would ordinarily tie these brands together, but I suppose that’s the deal with a metaverse: everything in one place, separate but connected.
The platform auctions off ‘land’ in domains themed around properties like The Walking Dead, with the promise that you can truly own it via the blockchain, and are free to create what you will within its boundaries, monetising your realm if you wish. As with all things NFT, there seems to be as much interest in their trade as the inherent value of the thing being traded.
All of which is to say: there’s the whiff of faddish investment about this project, but that doesn’t preclude you from having fun with a hack ‘n’ slash revival within The Sandbox’s walls, should the Dungeon Siege experience prove to be fun.
The original series was a Diablo-style romp that showered you with loot - but by the time Obsidian got its hands on it, had become a more story-driven and considered adventure.
Into your hack ‘n’ slash? Why not try Destiny 2’s The Witch Queen, an excellent loot-shooter that swaps out gauntlets for guns?
