No Waypoints in D&D Warlock Devs Want You to Figure It Out
In the world of open-world adventure, developers are increasingly grappling with a fundamental question: how do we guide the player without stifling their curiosity? For the team behind Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, the answer was a decisive ‘no’ to traditional quest markers, opting instead for pure, unadulterated exploration.
Ditching the hand-holding approach means removing those obvious directional guides that rush the player from one point to the next. While the game does offer a compass on screen, the design philosophy champions the player’s ability to figure things out—to engage with the world by talking to NPCs, observing the environment, and making their own decisions.
Dominic Guay, General Manager at Invoke Studios, explained that this choice wasn’t arbitrary; it was driven by a desire to foster genuine engagement. “We wanted them to engage with the world, to figure things out and feel that when they found things, it was based on their actions and not just blindly trusting a waypoint,” Guay noted at gamescom 2026.
Invoke has experience building expansive open-world games that utilize waypoints, including titles like Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs series. Yet, for Warlock, the team aimed for a completely different experience. They recognized that relying on simple markers can erode a player’s sense of discovery, tempting them to follow a predetermined path rather than investigating what lies around the corner.
To achieve this, the developers introduced a unique Mystery system. Instead of following a quest line directly to a marker, players must actively explore, interact with characters, and gather clues to uncover secrets. These Mysteries are triggered by player actions, typically within a settlement, encouraging emergent gameplay rather than linear progression.
This approach creates dynamic pathways. The Mystery system offers multiple entry points, which means players can stumble upon a secret from completely different angles. This emergent discovery can radically alter how a player interacts with a settlement, potentially leading to vastly different experiences depending on how they arrive.
Some Mysteries are straightforward, while others demand deeper engagement and exploration. This variance ensures that players are constantly challenged to engage with the environment, rather than passively following an instruction sheet.
This focus on player agency offers a fascinating contrast to current trends in game design. Recently, the push for constant hand-holding has been evident in some titles, drawing attention to mechanics like the tracking systems in games such as Marvel’s Wolverine. While some players enjoy these features, the push for constant guidance raises important questions about player autonomy.
Warlock’s decision reflects a commitment to emergent gameplay, proving that sometimes the most engaging journey is the one the player discovers for themselves, rather than the one simply handed to them.
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