D&D "co-op RPG" Neverwinter confirmed for Q4 2011

Cryptic's announced its next project, as promised: it's a "co-op roleplaying game" called Neverwinter, a PC exclusive for next year.

The game, which has been rumoured as an MMO, is "inspired" by an upcoming RA Salvatore book trilogy.

Fans will be thrilled of a chance to return to Neverwinter: Neverwinter Nights is widely regarded as one of history's greatest RPGs.

The story focuses on a Neverwinter that's "faced a great many disasters in the past hundred years."

Rule of the city remains unclear following the death of the last Lord of Neverwinter, and "factions still battle for dominance after the all-consuming Spellplague took a high toll on the population. Even Neverwinter’s dead are beginning to rise from their graves and march upon the city they once called home."

Spooky.

Players will be able to choose from five D&D classes and team up with friends or computer-controlled allies to form five-person co-op groups.

Players also create their own storylines and quests utilizing an "extremely user-friendly content generation system," codenamed Forge.

You're going to be waiting a while for this: it's not out until the fourth calendar quarter of 2011.

Book one in Salvatore’s Neverwinter trilogy, titled Gauntlgrym, releases on October 5 of this year and lays the groundwork for the Neverwinter storyline.

The novel previews the settings, characters and monsters from the game.

There's a splash site here.