Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes

Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes, a hack and slash title with RPG elements, was released exclusively for the Xbox in 2003. Atari Interactive Hunt Valley Studio handled development, with Atari, Inc. publishing. The story follows four reincarnated heroes resurrected to once again face their old enemy, the wizard Kaedin. The game supports solo play or cooperative sessions for up to four players.

Gameplay

Players choose from four character classes: a dwarf cleric, an elf wizard, a halfling rogue, and a human fighter. Anyone can join or leave a game at any time, and the party can include characters of different levels.

When a character gains a level, the player can postpone assigning new points and skills until after combat ends. Four difficulty settings are available: easy, normal, hard, and nightmare, with nightmare only unlocked after beating the game on hard. The game draws on the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manuals for its creatures, featuring red dragons, yuan-tis, and fire giants.

Plot

The plot begins 150 years before the game’s present. The wizard Kaedin opened four portals to different planes, using their power to create four Planar Gems. He then made a fifth Gem to control them and entrusted it to a beholder, which still guards it. Kaedin grew powerful and evil, conquering towns.

The Kingdom of Baele called for heroes, and four answered—the player characters. They killed Kaedin in his castle, but his dying spell killed them too. The Gems were banished to their planes, and Castle Baele was built over the portals. Kaedin’s body was thrown into an unmarked grave.

A century and a half later, evil clerics tried to channel Kaedin’s power, but he revived and killed them. Good clerics then resurrected the four heroes to stop him again. The heroes fight through crypts, defeating a bulette, then move into swamps where a shadowy rogue gives them information. They enter Castle Baele, meet shopkeeper Rik, and learn they need the Planar Gems but must first obtain keys.

They speak with Lidda, a halfling rogue from the Player’s Handbook, at the Dragon’s Tankard. She gives them a key to the Great Hall after they kill trolls in the marketplace. After clearing the Great Hall, Rik tells them to collect four scepters to open portals to the first plane. They clear the Treasury, Barracks, Church of Pelor, and Dungeons, then return with the scepters.