Brenda Romero says the Xbox-exclusive *Dungeons & Dragons Heroes* was effectively rescued just five months before release, after an internal reckoning prompted the team to pivot from Atari's intended Gauntlet-style hack-and-slash into a more authentic RPG with quests, items, NPCs, and progression. Though the 2003 game ultimately received mixed reviews and Romero calls it "mediocre," she describes the late-stage overhaul as a development "miracle" given the compressed timeline.