Dark Souls is a video game series that is extremely well-loved by scores of gamers. The name alone is enough to evoke powerful images in the minds of players who have spent hours upon hours exploring the series' memorable worlds, fighting powerful enemies, and dying over and over again in an effort to overcome the difficult challenges that the games present. From numerous deaths to the need to persevere, learn enemy behaviors, and improve your skills after those deaths, as well as level your character and search out ever more powerful weapons and armor, all of the games share certain themes and mechanics that really make each Souls games feel like a Souls game.
Enter Steamforged Games. Best known for their extremely well-received tabletop miniatures game Guild Ball, they took to Kickstarter shortly after announcing they would be translating the look, feel, and gameplay of the beloved video game series into a tabletop board game. Based on the popularity of the video game series, Steamforged Games raised £3,771,474 over the duration of the campaign and unlocked a staggering amount of content via stretch goals. Gameplay details have remained hard to come by though, and so we jumped at the opportunity to sit down with D.C. of Steamforged Games to talk a bit about the game as well as take a direct look at how one of the game’s boss fights will play out.
Based on what I played, I am very excited to get my hands on the game. The fully cooperative play should really appeal to gamers across all spectrums, and the game systems seem straightforward enough for tabletop gamers to easily pick up while still retaining the familiar feel that the video gamers have come to know and love. The way that the boss deck is constructed seems very reminiscent of the way that the monster AI decks are constructed in Kingdom Death, which, regardless of whether it was inspired directly by Kingdom Death, was a great choice. The AI deck mechanic works very well in this setting, and it allows players to become familiar with the timing and order of the boss move sets, which is vital if players want to succeed.
For gamers who missed out on the Kickstarter, Steamforged Games is keeping late pledges open until mid August, with plans to have the game in the hands of the backers in April of 2017, with copies hitting retail shelves shortly afterwards.