Video games news, releases, esports and culture — all the biggest gaming stories in one place.
Dark Sun, D&D’s most heavy metal setting, will be back in 2027
Wizards of the Coast has confirmed that Dark Sun, Dungeons & Dragons’ post-apocalyptic desert campaign setting, will return in 2027. The announcement matters because it revives one of the game’s most distinctive and long-dormant worlds, known for its harsh survival themes, psionics and heavy-metal-influenced fantasy.
Dark Sun is set on Athas, a devastated world ruled by powerful sorcerer-kings where magic has damaged the environment. The setting originally launched in 1991 and was last substantially updated for D&D’s fourth edition in 2010; its new version will need to address elements of the older material that have since drawn criticism.
In short
- Dark Sun returns to Dungeons & Dragons in 2027.
- The setting is a brutal, post-apocalyptic fantasy world.
- Wizards will revisit a setting last updated in 2010.
Explained simply
Dark Sun is a campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons, the tabletop role-playing game in which players create characters and tell adventures together. It takes place on Athas, a desert world where water and food are scarce, cities are controlled by powerful rulers and survival is often central to the story.
The setting was first published in 1991 and stood apart from more familiar D&D worlds through its ruined landscapes, unusual psychic powers and fantasy imagery influenced by heavy metal art. Its rulers, known as sorcerer-kings, use magic associated with damage to the land, while many ordinary people live under harsh conditions.
Wizards of the Coast is the company that publishes Dungeons & Dragons. Dark Sun has not received a major update since 2010, and discussion of a new version has also focused on how material from earlier editions, including some portrayals of slavery and cultures, might be handled for modern players.