Warlock escapes Baldur's Gate 3's long shadow with a very different take on D&D that I'm happy to roll my dice on

Sitting down for my behind-closed-doors demo, I've little idea of what to expect from Warlock. It's one of those games that's felt shrouded in mystery for the longest time – a third-person action-adventure with ARPG elements, all set against one of the Dungeons & Dragons universe's spookiest settings: Ravenloft's Domain of Dread, Darkon. Only this time – unlike Baldur's Gate 3 – dice, spell slots, turn-based combat, and long rests aren't anywhere to be seen.

Except they haven't gone anywhere. Developer Invoke Studios has simply repurposed them. I specifically see this in how the game adapts itself to suit real-time combat and exploration. Evard's Black Tentacles is not only a great spell to ensnare enemies with; you can cast it at a wall and attach other items to it, crafting platforms and walkways to get around obstacles. Eldritch Blast is still a powerful cantrip but that too will have additional utility as an exploration tool – perhaps to explode anything suspicious.

Then there's brand new spells like Tasha's Leash, which looks and sounds like Invoke's answer to Mage Hand, letting protagonist Kaatri pick up and throw items to manipulate the environments around her. She can fling a flaming torch into a wooden obstruction, for example, and either grab a handful of water to douse the flames or pick up a puddle of flaming oil to hurl as a makeshift fireball. Because what is D&D without Fireball?

It all speaks to how Invoke has taken the rules of D&D and transposed them into something entirely different to what many fans might expect, and from my 20-minute hands-off demo, the risks just might pay off.

Lair of despair

You read it here first, folks: the world of Warlock looks absolutely stunning. Darkon might be one of Ravenloft's Domains of Dread, sharing a plane with the legendary adventure Curse of Strahd's Barovia, but it's teeming with color and vibrance as well as gothic gloom.

My hands-off demo begins as Kaatri has a conversation with her patron – Tasha the Witch Queen – who marks her new agent with a scar-like sigil over her eye, sealing their pact. It's a scene we glimpse in the new trailer unveiled at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026, our first taste of Maggie Robertson (Orin the Red in Baldur;s Gate 3, Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village) as one of the most well-known characters in D&D lore.

Tasha has no hideous laughter here, though her playfully cruel smirk while Kaatri reluctantly agrees to their pact indicates that both patron and pacted will have one hell of an interesting working relationship. Instead, she sends Kaatri out into Darkon, as she hunts down something she "cares deeply for".

Following this cinematic, the demoist directs us into a town called Crickshank, one of many settlements found across Darkon. This is where Kaatri can look for leads, discover side quests called Mysteries (all noted handily in your journal), and get helpful hints from the locals.

Giving a coin to a beggar tips Kaatri off about people being dragged away screaming down a nearby alleyway, leading us down into a spiral staircase that's in need of a few repair works. Casting what looks like Evard's Black Tentacles against the curved stone wall, Kaatri can then fasten a nearby slab of rock to it, creating a platform to scale her way to the bottom of the chasm. I also catch her using a spell that looks not unlike Misty Step or Gaseous Form as she dissolves momentarily into a glittering blur of purple particles to get through bars, grates underfoot, and more.

One of my favorite things I get to witness as part of my demo is how Invoke performs the art of ritual spellwork. In Baldur's Gate 3, it's a simple case of being able to cast certain spells only once per long rest. But in Warlock, we get to see Kaatri assemble the tools of her magical trade for ourselves.

She pulls out a levitating worktop that looks very much like a Ouija board, only with strange magical markings and wells for ingredients to be placed (if you have them in your inventory). Kaatri pulls all manner of strange reagents out of her pack – including some poor creature's eyeball, landing with a satisfyingly wet thunk against the wood. I love this more intentional depiction of Tasha's magic at work. Channeled through Kaatri, it makes sense that a witch's powers might look different to those of a fiend, and that methodical process is beautifully represented in Warlock.

Even the combat is perfectly on theme. Warlocks are a popular choice for solid melee-caster builds in D&D, so watching Kaatri restrain an ogre with tentacles before wresting his sword away with magic only to plunge it into his chest is particularly emblematic of that. For all her hard-hitting combat chops, though, she does turn tail and run from a Beholder. Again, very relatable and lore-accurate behavior.

I've barely seen 20 minutes of Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, and I'm already under its spell. Sure, some animations make me stifle a giggle here and there – mainly the ogre staggering about a little too fast and light-footed after being whacked on the head with a sword hilt – but I am extremely impressed with this little vertical slice of magic. Invoke's commitment to authenticity seems to match up with its experimental flourish and ambition, meaning Warlock has just teleported to the top of my action-adventure list when it comes to gorgeous new games I'll be hankering for in 2027.

Want to war-lock-in with another adventure that'll put your skills to the test? Our best action RPGs ranking has plenty more recommendations!