Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons Won't Chase Baldur's Gate 3's Branching Story Model

Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons may share its tabletop setting with Baldur's Gate 3, but Invoke is making clear that players should not expect the same kind of radically flexible, player-authored story. The upcoming open-world Dungeons & Dragons game follows a specific hero, Kaatri, through a narrative with major moments that have been written in advance for every player.

That distinction matters because comparisons to Larian's hugely influential 2023 RPG are almost unavoidable. Both games draw on the D&D universe, both place fantasy adventuring at the center of the experience, and both arrive in a period when players regularly measure new role-playing games against Baldur's Gate 3's exceptionally broad approach to choice. But Invoke general manager Dominique Guay has described a substantially different narrative goal for Warlock.

Rather than offering a custom protagonist whose personality, ethics, alliances, and approach to the campaign can shift dramatically from one save file to another, Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons centers on Kaatri as an established character. Players will not be deciding whether she is fundamentally heroic or villainous in the way that a morality system or fully open role-playing framework might allow. Her journey has a defined direction, and the game's pivotal scenes are intended to be shared experiences.

"The main narrative moments you're going to go through are written down, and you're going to go through the same moment as someone else," Guay said.

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A defined protagonist instead of an open-ended avatar

The choice to build the game around Kaatri is perhaps the clearest dividing line between Warlock and Baldur's Gate 3. Larian's game gives players a custom avatar alongside a set of origin characters, creating room for vastly different party compositions, relationship outcomes, quest resolutions, and role-playing identities. Its systems frequently support unexpected solutions, including routes through content that can be missed, altered, or bypassed depending on decisions and experimentation.

Warlock, by contrast, is being framed as a hero's journey about one person. Kaatri is not merely a model for the player to reshape into any desired archetype. She is a written protagonist with an intended character identity. That does not mean an authored story cannot be personal, dramatic, or reactive in individual moments, but it does establish a boundary around the kind of freedom players should anticipate.

For prospective players, the practical takeaway is straightforward: the game should not be approached as an attempt to reproduce every feature associated with Larian's D&D adaptation. It is not promising an endlessly variable campaign where two players could emerge with entirely different versions of the central plot. Instead, it is aiming for a more focused narrative path built around Kaatri and the events she is meant to encounter.

That structure can also give a game a different set of strengths. A defined lead lets developers craft scenes around a known history, voice, perspective, and emotional arc. Rather than accounting for every possible personality a player-created adventurer might have, the writing can concentrate on how a particular character responds to the dangers and relationships surrounding her. Whether that approach resonates will depend on the execution, but it is a deliberate alternative to the expansive role-playing format players may expect from the D&D name alone.

Kaatri's companions remain part of the story

While Kaatri is the central figure, she will not be alone. Guay has said that allies will join her during the adventure, describing them as something like a found family. That phrasing suggests that companionship and evolving bonds will be important to the game's emotional core, even if the structure does not mirror the player-led ensemble storytelling of Baldur's Gate 3.

One confirmed companion is Skev, Kaatri's imp. Guay has highlighted an ongoing narrative thread concerning the development of their relationship. In a game that places its protagonist at the center of an authored campaign, a companion dynamic like this can serve as a continuing anchor: a relationship that follows the hero through the wider adventure rather than a party member whose role is wholly defined by player selection.

The available details do not establish exactly how companions will function mechanically, how many allies Kaatri will meet, or how extensively players can influence those relationships. Still, the emphasis on Skev and the broader found-family concept indicates that Warlock is not presenting Kaatri's journey as a solitary one. It is a story about a fixed lead character, but it is also one in which connections made along the way matter.

Open-world exploration does not require a branching campaign

One reason the comparisons have persisted is that Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons is an open-world game. That label can lead players to assume that an open landscape and an open narrative must go hand in hand, but they are separate design choices. A game can encourage free exploration while still guiding its central plot through a planned sequence of major story beats.

Invoke has already discussed an exploration philosophy that avoids leaning on AAA-style waypoint guidance. The stated aim is for discoveries to feel connected to what players do and where they choose to look, rather than simply being delivered by a dense layer of map markers. That approach could make the world feel more self-directed at the level of exploration, even as Kaatri's main narrative remains authored and consistent.

In other words, freedom in Warlock may be more about how players navigate its spaces and uncover points of interest than about changing the identity of its protagonist or completely rerouting its overarching plot. The balance between those two forms of agency will be one of the most important questions surrounding the game. A world can feel rewarding to explore when discoveries arise through observation and action, while the story still maintains a clear destination.

This separation is especially useful to keep in mind when discussing D&D games. The tabletop game supports an enormous range of campaign styles. Some groups build stories around improvisation and major player-driven changes, while others follow a more tightly constructed adventure led by a dungeon master. A digital game set in the same universe does not need to pursue one definitive interpretation of tabletop freedom.

Why the Baldur's Gate 3 comparison is difficult to escape

Baldur's Gate 3 set a major benchmark not only because of its critical acclaim, but because its scope made player choice highly visible. Players have spent years sharing stories of unusual combat solutions, unexpected quest consequences, companion developments, and dramatically different outcomes. It naturally became a reference point for discussions about what large fantasy RPGs could deliver.

That success also creates a challenge for any new game set in the D&D universe. Familiar monsters, magical classes, taverns, dungeons, party members, and fantasy regions can invite immediate comparisons, regardless of whether the underlying design has much in common. Invoke's messaging appears intended to set expectations early: Warlock is not trying to be a second version of that experience.

There is value in that clarity. Games are often judged most harshly when audiences expect features that were never part of the project's intended structure. By explaining that Kaatri's key narrative scenes are shared and predetermined, the team is identifying the kind of game it wants to make before players fill in the blanks themselves. Those looking for a custom character with broad moral control and a highly branching main campaign may find that the game is aimed elsewhere. Players interested in an authored fantasy adventure with open-world discovery may see more to anticipate.

Warlock's identity will depend on its own execution

Early hands-off impressions from Gamescom were positive, with the game described as having the potential to establish its own take on the D&D setting rather than remaining trapped beneath Baldur's Gate 3's long shadow. That remains the central test for Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons. Sharing a universe with one of the era's most celebrated RPGs guarantees scrutiny, but it does not require the same structure.

Invoke's stated direction is becoming easier to understand. Kaatri is a specific protagonist, not a blank slate. The main narrative is written rather than built around sweeping moral divergence. Allies, including Skev, will help shape her journey and its relationships. And the open world is intended to reward discovery that comes through player action, even without promising that every player's central story will be fundamentally different.

For now, the most useful expectation is not that Warlock will replace or replicate Baldur's Gate 3, but that it will offer another style of Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Its ambition appears to lie in combining an authored character-driven story with a world that players can explore more organically. How successfully those elements work together will determine whether Kaatri's adventure can stand confidently on its own.