Sometimes, being clear and concise is the most effective way to inspire imagery and the team in charge of Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance had to do just that. In the latest Making Dark Alliance video, Tuque Games recounts the behind-the-scenes process of bringing the artistic direction to life of the upcoming Dark Alliance game to life, and how the creative art director, Stefan Leblanc, managed to encapsulate it into two words — heavy metal.

“When I say heavy metal think art style, not music,” Leblanc described in a PlayStation Blog post. “The game’s music is fully orchestral. Think of the look of heavy metal album covers, or Mad Max, or Apocalypto. Or even one of the original masters of metal – Mozart. We also obviously take a lot of inspiration from Dungeons & Dragon art that has come before us. The cool thing about D&D is there have been so many unique interpretations of its art over the decades. There is no one set style. But it all still looks high fantasy at the end of the day.”

“They were challenging us to say ‘What’s your style? What are you going that’s different? How are you elevating Dungeons and Dragons?” Studio head and creative director, Jeff Hattem, explained. “We were struggling to find a word to represent the harshness of Icewind Dale, the rituals that these monsters do to gain supernatural powers, the skulls and spikes, and the gritty atmosphere that Icewind Dale is in my mind.”

Fully adopting the heavy metal spirit, it enabled the creative team to create edgier monsters and characters while still respecting the vision R.A. Salvatore had for Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance. Check out early concept art (left) and the finalized version (right) of Drizzt, Bruenor, Catti-brie, and Wulfgar as an example:

We’re completely on board with the heavy metal inspiration behind the game, and even more excited to finally experience Dungeons And Dragons: Dark Alliance when it launches on June 22nd on PC (Steam and Epic Games), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

What do you think of Tuques Games’ decision to go heavy metal with the art direction of Dark Alliance? Let us know what you think in the comment below or start a conversation on Don’t Feed the Gamers Facebook page. To stay up to date on gaming and entertainment news as it happens, follow us on Twitter! Here are some of our latest:

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