Tim Schafer wanted to “compete” with classic D&D CRPGs like Icewind Dale by cranking up the fantasy in Brutal Legend: “Let’s really exaggerate it”

Brutal Legend is one of the oddest big budget games maybe ever because it’s such a wild mish-mash of ideas. It’s an open-world action game. It’s a top-down RTS. It’s a classic Double Fine comedy. It’s a heavy metal dreamscape. But part of that DNA actually came from classic CRPGs, which the studio wanted to crank up to absurd levels.

To celebrate 15 years since Brutal Legend’s original release, developer Double Fine recently published a retrospective blog about the game’s conception, development, and, err, legacy, delving into everything from its genre mash-up to Jack Black’s eventual involvement. But one interesting tidbit comes from Brutal Legend’s unexpected connection to old-school high fantasy RPGs like Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights.