Dark Alliance, the D&D action RPG, is heading to Icewind Dale in 2020

Stock up on fur and axes, because next year we're heading back to the inhospitable Icewind Dale. We'll be going north in the third game in a series that has been asleep for a while, though probably not the first one that comes to mind when you think 'Icewind Dale'. For the first time, Dark Alliance is coming to PC. Give the trailer a watch above. It's loud.

The series was previously known as Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, but the third game sees it leave the city behind for the much frostier Icewind Dale to fight trolls and frost giants. And instead of a party of randos, the adventurers are celebrity Ranger Drizzt Do'Urden and his mates, Catti-Brie, Wulfgar and Bruenor.

If you're not familiar with the band, they're some of the best-known characters from D&D, though they were created by fantasy novelist R.A. Salvatore for his D&D series, The Crystal Shard. They've starred in many more books, games and campaigns since, especially Drizzt, and if you can rope three friends into playing in online or offline co-op, you'll be able to get the whole party back together.

Tuque Games is developing it internally at Wizards of the Coast, spinning a standalone yarn that will see players hacking and slashing their way through monsters in search of loot and experience.

While Baldur's Gate wasn't suited to consoles, the Dark Alliance series certainly was. Though it retained the setting and a lot of familiar elements from the tabletop game, it was really all about cutting through swathes of enemies than roleplaying. The first two never came to PC, but with Dark Alliance now due out on PC in 2020 and Baldur's Gate 3 on its way, we'll hopefully have the best of both worlds.

Check back soon for our closer look at Dark Alliance.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.