Video games always had a lot to do with tabletop games. They have adapted franchises from each other and systems like Dungeons & Dragons worked as the basis for modern RPG video games. It’s hard to imagine the modern world of digital entertainment without these.
Board games that adapt popular video games are getting more and more popular on Kickstarter. Successes like Dark Souls the Board Game or The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls show that popular brands make backers more interested and the worlds of digital entertainment and more traditional games often have a shared fanbase.
In today’s article we’d like to show you 3 titles from 2020 that adapt popular video games. Let’s go!
Darkest Dungeon The Board Game
Darkest Dungeon is an insanely popular dungeon crawler, and has amassed a colossal number of fans since its launch back in 2016. The game allows players to control a team of heroes who explore a mysterious mansion and areas that surround it. The place belongs to the so-called Heir who, trying to discover its secret, ended up waking up some ancient evils that lurk all around the estate now. The video game by Red Hook Studios got tons of great reviews, many prestigious awards and most importantly: millions of gamers have fallen in love with it.
The board game adaptation that got funded on Kickstarter a few months ago was a huge success and ended up as the fourth most funded campaign in the “tabletop” game category in 2020. The publisher responsible for the game is a popular studio called Mythic Games, and many of you know them from tabletop games like Time of Legends: Joan of Arc, Super Fantasy Brawl, Reichbusters: Projekt Vril and many more.
The gameplay in Darkest Dungeon The Board Game is always constructed like a campaign consisting of 11 episodes, some ending with a difficult boss fight. After completing all of these you get to the titular Darkest Dungeon and face final and hardest challenges. The content of the dungeons is randomly generated, there are many classes to choose from so the game won’t get boring too fast. It also has a fantastic artstyle with minis based on the video game sprites. The campaign ended up with $5,657,479 pledged by backers.
Frostpunk The Board Game
The second huge success of 2020, when it comes to tabletop adaptations of video games, was a board game based on Frostpunk. The campaign ended up collecting $3,027,347 on Kickstarter. The original is an unusual city building video game with a huge focus on storytelling and a heavy atmosphere. The game was created by 11 Bit Studios known for This War of Mine. Frostpunk tells a story of a world where an eternal winter reigns, and the remains of civilization are trying to survive close to the colossal Heat Generators. That’s where the players build their cities. Numerous challenges arise from the fact that you’re dealing with actual people with names, and that often makes your choices morally complicated.
The board game version of Frostpunk takes a lot from the original video game. The rules were designed by Adam Kwapiński, the creator of Nemesis. Frostpunk The Board Game merges euro strategy games with a surprisingly high amount of story. The game is fully co-op and can be played in a group of 2 to 4 players. A solo mode also exists. The gameplay is made of scenarios where we create new buildings, improve the infrastructure and try to answer to the needs of certain people. There are many ways to reach the finale. A player can act like an ice cold tyrant, an ally of the people, a scientist obsessed with new discoveries and much more.
Resident Evil™ 3: The Board Game
This Japanese survival horror by Capcom needs no introduction. The video game franchise achieved numerous successes since its launch in 1996. Since then it keeps being stellar at scaring many generations of gamers.
Zombie apocalypse started by a mysterious Umbrella Corporation is the central story element of the entire series. Through the years we played as many characters, some returning and some not. Resources like bullets or healing herbs were often limited and made the smallest decision more complicated. As the time went by, the game became more of a shooter only to go back to its roots and offer a more classic adventure in its seventh installment. Gamers who were brave enough could even play the entire RE7 in VR.
The board game adaptation of Resident Evil 3 (a video game from 1999) was created by Steamforged Games. It’s not their first adaptation as previously they have worked on Dark Souls, Horizon Zero Dawn, Devil May Cry, and most importantly: Resident Evil 2.
The newest tabletop game by Steamforged is fully cooperative. A small team of players ventures through the streets of Raccoon City – a place that often ended up as the stage of many important events in the series. The campaign is made of various scenarios which can be, interestingly, completed in any order. Each character has their own and unique abilities. Careful exploration of the city and smart use of resources will be vital to survival and victory.
The Kickstarter campaign of Resident Evil 3: The Board Game got $1,142,461 in pledges and the game should ship to backers sometime in summer next year.
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