Dedicated board game fans have probably heard about developer Xplored. This is the studio behind a new digital tabletop hardware platform that they call Teburu, essentially a giant smart device that runs a board game as an app. The players move pieces on the board while the game keeps track of everything else. It originally started as a collaboration with tabletop publisher CMON, got some attention with a project at Essen Spiel, and has even signed a deal to make official World of Darkness games on the platform. Now, Xplored have announced another partnership with another tabletop studio, Ares Entertainment.
According to the official press release, the Xplored partnership with Ares Entertainment is for the development of a new entry of the Swords and Sorcery series for Teburu. Swords and Sorcery, released in 2017, is a cooperative epic fantasy board game where 1-5 players work together to fight off some evil force. The enemies are controlled by the game and the players complete story quests in order to level up and improve their skills. Given the nature of the Teburu platform, an installment on it is fitting, something that Roberto Di Meglio, Director of Production at Ares Games, agrees with.
“Expanding the S&S range with a Teburu-based ‘phygital’ version is a great opportunity to simplify the game experience and make Sword & Sorcery easier to learn and faster to play, while enhancing further the key strengths of Sword & Sorcery's deep combat system and sophisticated AI. The digital/physical combination will allow us to bring the system to its full potential, allowing us to enhance gameplay beyond the limits of a purely physical game, and make it even deeper and more immersive.”
As for when this Sword and Sorcery game will be available thanks to the Xplored partnership, that has yet to be determined. This is mostly due to Teburu's very first project, The Bad Karmas and The Curse of the Zodiacs, has yet to go live on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. That campaign will go live March 15. Nevertheless, given how much confidence Xplored has in this project to have already partnered with Ares Entertainment and Paradox Interactive, they appear to be in for the long haul.
