Gameplay footage and concept art belonging to Hidden Path Entertainment’s cancelled Dungeons & Dragons RPG recently leaked online. Wizards of the Coast’s iconic tabletop RPG franchise has inspired several official video game adaptations over the years, but not every one of these projects made it to the final cut. Now, Dungeons & Dragons fans can get a glimpse of what one of these unfinished titles could have looked like in reality.
News of Hidden Path Entertainment working on a game based on Dungeons & Dragons first surfaced in 2021, when job listings for the studio surfaced. While the company didn’t share many details at the time, it did confirm that it would be a third-person, open-world RPG. Early signs were quite encouraging, but unfortunately the game never saw release and was cancelled a few years later.
A series of concept art and leaked footage obtained by MP1st has revealed more details about the RPG, including its development codename ‘Project Dante’. According to a 2021 job listing, the eight-minute-long gameplay footage of Project Dante depicts third-person combat and exploration in an open-fantasy world reminiscent of series like Dragon Age and The Elder Scrolls. It also features elements like cooperation and puzzle-solving between party members. While it’s hard to draw any solid conclusions from such an early development stage, it’s clear that the game had a lot of potential. That’s why the cancellation of five D&D video games, including Project Dante, by Wizards of the Coast in 2023 proved even more disappointing for fans.
Gameplay and Concept Art from Hidden Path’s Canceled Dungeons and Dragons Game Leaks
In addition to the test footage, the leaked files also include a number of concept art that shows both solo exploration and party interactions. The environments in these images look detailed and rich, though it’s hard to say to what extent these visuals would have translated effectively into actual gameplay. Unfortunately, fans will now never know. Project Dante isn’t the only cancelled Dungeons & Dragons project. Development on virtual D&D tabletop experience Project Sigil is also on hold for the time being. However, instead of being cancelled entirely, it’s now being retooled as a feature of D&D Beyond rather than a standalone game.
Thankfully, Dungeons & Dragons fans still have plenty of exciting projects to look forward to. Recently founded studio Giant Skull is working on a single-player D&D action-adventure game, while Invoke Studios is developing a different, magic-focused game that promises to take the iconic fantasy franchise in a new direction. Even though Hidden Path’s Project Dante never moved beyond development, the world of D&D video games is full of possibilities. Also, many fans are hoping for a possible announcement regarding Baldur’s Gate 4, though such a sequel may still be a while away.
