The Bard's Tale runs on the Dark Alliance engine. You console gamers probably already know they engine well already since it was used for both Dark Alliance games as well as the recently released Champions of Norrath. Like the other games using the engine, The Bard's Tale is an Action RPG in the vein of Diablo, only with more story and depth. While the 2004 version of The Bard's Tale will include several allusions to the original, it is not a remake or sequel to the classic series, and you can expect a top-down view instead of the first-person 3D view from the originals. The game is non-linear with several side-quests, and you can get into some of the higher level areas early in the game if you can figure out how, but you probably won't last too long until you're strong enough and have plenty of powerful weapons and songs in your arsenal.