Warner Bros. announced today that it has commissioned Arrowhead Game Studios to remake Gauntlet, the game that popularized the “hack and slash” dungeon-crawl format when it made its arcade debut in 1985. And while it’s a major name in video game history, efforts to expand the series since the arcade/NES era have been fitful and mostly mediocre. This remake—as seen in the announcement trailer—bears a strong resemblance to Diablo III, which is only fair, as the Diablo series owes some of its design ideas to the old Gauntlet. That said, the new Gauntlet’s borrowing looks more brazen, replete with the colorful sparkles and swirls that make Diablo III such an amusing shiny object.
The remake will reprise the four character types that made Gauntlet stand out from other dungeon-crawling games, and they all bring their own strengths and weaknesses to your fighting party. The warrior is skilled at hand-to-hand fighting but never chips in when it’s time to get a birthday present for one of the other characters. The wizard has powerful magic, but he just broke up with his girlfriend, so don’t mention that. The valkyrie has excellent defenses, but everyone’s pretty sure that she’s the one who has been stealing food out of the refrigerator, even the stuff with someone’s name on it. And the elf does this gross thing with his fingernails.