Demeo X Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is a VR tabletop tactics game from Wizards Of The Coast
You'll have to bear with me for this one, because the press release we received for Demeo X Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked contains about an 86/14 split between scrambled hypeguff and actual tangible information. In brief, it's a VR collaboration between D&D traffickers Wizards Of The Coast and Demeo studio Resolution Games that aims to simulate a tactical co-op tabletop experience without any of the boring bits, like seeing your mates' genuine reactions to things or having your frigid digitised soul warmed at the hearth of human kinship. Here is - in a sense of the word so loose I fear imminent smiting by a bellicose scribe god for typing it - a trailer:
It's aiming for a focus "on social strategy rather than social roleplay, encouraging group tabletalk focused on tactics and decision-making". To this end, it supports up to four player co-op cross-platform, with two story campaigns and more planning as DLC in the future.
Alice Bell (RPS in new podcast) enjoyed Demeo's TTRPG hangout space when she played it a few years back with Edders (RPS in peace also, let me know if you start a podcast), although noted it might struggle to find an audience. It does seem to have kept a humble following on Steam, where it sits at a 'very positive' rating.
"BATTLEMARKED continues Hasbro’s strategy to leverage our extensive catalog of world class IP to create digital games through licensing and internal studio development," reads the presser. Last year, we learned of Hasbro's wry "more Baldur's Gates, more money" strategy, a scheme so devilish and brilliant that only the finest business minds in the land could have concocted it. They've invested a cool billion dollars across four studios in the hope to replicate Larian's success.
No release date on this one yet.
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