Invoke Studios says Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons will minimize HUD and waypoint guidance

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Gamescom, studio head Dominic Guay said the team deliberately eased up on the "hand-holding" common in open-world RPGs. "It helps that we're trying to go easy on the hand-holding, so that allows us to pull back a little bit," Guay said when asked why the gameplay demo showed so few on-screen prompts. He admitted that some HUD elements were turned off for the demo so it would not be overwhelming for viewers.

Guay said the final game will include "some" HUD elements to help players, but they can be toggled on or off in settings. He recalled a period when the studio felt the need to put many things in the middle of the screen, but later realized players, eased into the game's spell counts and action options, do not need to be overloaded.

He gave an example of the game's guidance: if a quest asks players to find someone in Gamescom, opening the map would show a highlighted area, not an exact pin. "We put a highlight around the area, and we say, 'Well, he's somewhere in there, right?'" then a compass helps close in. "We don't want to overwhelm you with too much information. Keep it immersive," he told TechRadar.

In the same interview, Guay explained that Invoke chose a warlock protagonist because "creative magic" is central to the gameplay and story. Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons is due in 2027 for PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.