You don’t usually see the name Guillermo Del Toro and think “children’s programming,” but it’s on his CV. He created the Netflix series Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia in association with Dreamworks Animation, the group behind the How To Train Your Dragon films, and the Dragons series. And with the impending release of a second spinoff series, it seems he’s entering the video game space at one remove with the help of game developer Wayforward with a tie-in title, Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia.
The game is set in the town of Arcadia Oaks, a place that sits at the convergence of mystical energy lines that make it a nexus for all manner of supernatural creatures. Teenager Jim Lake, Jr., having stumbled over an amulet under a bridge, serves as a Troll Hunter, charged with protecting both the human and troll worlds from the rise of Gunmar the Black and his Gumm Gumm minions.
While it’s not precisely specific about where the game occurs within the chronology established in the original series, the spinoff 3Below, or the impending spinoff Wizards, the developers have indicated it will be tying the three series together narratively. Additionally, the voice cast from the original series will be reprising their roles for the game. Emile Hirsch (Into The Wild), Charlie Saxton (Hung), David Bradley (Game of Thrones), and Lexi Medrano have recorded new lines for the game.
Published by Outright Games, Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia is currently slated for release on September 25, 2020, for Xbox One, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It will be rated E-10 by the ESRB. There is no official release announced for Wizards: Tales of Arcadia, but it is expected to come out later this year on Netflix.