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Dark Souls, Bloodborne kill it as tabletop games
Video games—especially the really good ones—have a tendency to transcend the medium originally used to bring their virtual universes to life. As they escape the boundaries of your television screen or computer monitor, a good number are transformed into novels or comic books. Others become springboards for entire lines of action figures for display on your desktop or in your cabinet. A few have the fortune (or misfortune) of getting the Hollywood movie treatment.
And some—such as From Software’s “Dark Souls” and “Bloodborne”—enjoy extended lives as tabletop games.
Polygon was present at this year’s Gen Con, an enormous, four-day annual convention celebrating tabletop games. While it proved an exciting showcase of the greatest tabletop gaming has to offer, two of the event’s most welcome surprises were the “Dark Souls: The Board Game” and the “Bloodborne: The Card Game.”
Prepare to die…
If you can remember our review of “Dark Souls III” earlier this year, we described the game as the most satisfyingly challenging “Souls” entry to date. “Dark Souls: The Board Game” aims to replicate that experience.
The board game started life as a humble Kickstarter project. In time, however, it amassed an army of backers some 31,178-strong. These rabid “Souls” and board game fans then proceeded to raise more than $5.4 million in crowdfunding. Now that’s a Kickstarter success story!
The company behind the board game’s development, Steamforged Games, is well-known in Europe for their tabletop medieval football war game series, “Guild Ball.” Their fame drew the attention of “Souls” video game publisher Bandai Namco, who awarded them the “Dark Souls” license.
“Dark Souls: The Board Game” combines strategy, exploration, combat, beautiful artwork, and gorgeous miniatures. It can be played solo, or cooperatively with up to 3 other players.
Each player selects a character class, then explores locations to collect treasures and battle monsters. And of course, it wouldn’t be a “Souls” experience without giant, challenging bosses. Remember the rage-inducing duo of Ornstein and Smough from “Dark Souls II”? How about the strangely mesmerizing Dancer of the Boreal Valley from “Dark Souls III”? Well, they’re all here to flatten you into a miserable red paste. Again.
Large tiles, which represent locations, are randomly drawn then placed on the table every time you explore. Cards from the Encounter deck then produce the monsters you’ll be fighting. Because of the lack of fixed tile layouts, no two scenarios are ever the same, making “Dark Souls: The Board Game” unpredictable and immensely replayable.
Just like the video game, bonfires play an important role in the board game. Death—which happens a lot as expected of “Souls”—strips you of everything you’ve collected and transports you to the nearest bonfire. Resting at a bonfire allows you to use Souls to grow in strength, but it also resets locations and the monster encounters that came with them.
Combat makes use of a “dynamic positioning system.” This allows players to maneuver around a tile, so that they can circle enemies, move in to strike, and retreat whenever they wish. The direction the enemy is facing, its actions, and more are determined by another deck cards.
And just to remind you that it’s based on the video game, the board game also has item, equipment, stamina, and health management systems.
“You need to think about what you’re doing when you play the game,” Steamforged Games co-founder Mat Hart explained to Polygon. “There are board games that you play where the models come together and then we roll dice until our models get taken off the board. And honestly, if I want to sit down and just do a dice-rolling competition I’ll play a different game.”
The spectacularly detailed miniatures come in different sizes. The tiniest measure around an inch tall, and include the 4 hero characters and minor enemies. The 5 Mini-Bosses are between 4 and 5 inches in height, while the 3 Bosses are even larger.
“Dark Souls: The Board Game” comes with an enormous number of pieces, including 15 colored dice, four distinct decks totaling 162 cards, and over a hundred game tokens.
The game is expected to be delivered to backers by April 2017. Visit its official website for more information.
A special kind of eldritch horror
The phenomenal “Bloodborne,” which we also reviewed, was one of 2015’s surprise hits. While a “Souls” game at its core, “Bloodborne” was infused with enough gore, steampunk weaponry, Victorian Gothic, and eldritch horror to make it a singularly macabre experience.
The designer of “Bloodborne: The Card Game” is none other than the award-winning Eric M. Lang. Tabletop gamers will recognize him as the one responsible for bringing us “DUELYST,” “Chaos in the Old World,” and “Game of Thrones: The Card Game.” He even has prior experience converting a video game into a tabletop game, being the guy behind “XCOM: The Board Game.”
With “Bloodborne: The Card Game,” Lang took the video game’s most iconic feature, the Chalice Dungeons, and developed it into a tactical card game.
Three to 5 players assume the role of Hunters, who enter the Chalice Dungeons in the hopes of finding treasure and glory. While each Hunter begins the game with a standard set of weapons, exploration serves as an opportunity to discover new, more powerful items. Equipment can also be upgraded by entering the Dream.
Hunters must learn to know when to fight, and when to rest and heal. A stack of random cards determines which monster attacks the players every round. By damaging and defeating enemies, Hunters receive Blood Echoes, as well as Trophies that award victory points at the game’s end.
As only one Hunter can emerge from the Dungeons as the winner, players will have to use everything at their disposal to outwit and outplay the competition.
The game features numerous creatures from the video game, such as the panic-inducing Brainsucker and the grotesque Maneater Boar. To vanquish these monstrosities, you’ll also be using the video game’s arsenal of melee and ranged weapons, such as Ludwig’s Rifle, the Stake Driver, and the mighty Kirkhammer.
“Bloodborne: The Card Game” comes with numerous pieces, including 87 cards, 16 cardboard tokens, and 75 plastic Blood Echo tokens. The game takes 30 to 60 minutes to play.
“Bloodborne: The Card Game” will be released this October, 2016. Visit the game’s official site for more information. — BM, GMA News
