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Kickstarter has been hogging the limelight for board game news this week with hugely successful campaigns, exclusive offers and new announcements from 7th Continent, Batman and Resident Evil 2 board games.
Meanwhile, Fantasy Flight are bringing an old RPG back to life with the return of The Legend of the Five Rings, and a chance for players to return to the world of Rokugan.
7th Continent Returns to Kickstarter
The wildly popular choose-your-own-adventure inspired board game, 7th Continent, returned to Kickstarter this week with a second print-run of the first edition alongside the launch of a brand new expansion. At the time of writing Serious Poulp are about to hit the two million dollar mark for money raised from backers, crushing their original goal of $40,000. Yet for players, it’s a rare chance to get hold of the original game, first created back in 2015, and there's still 20 days to go for fans still hoping for their own copy of 7th Continent's classic adventure.
The new expansion: ‘What Goes Up Must Come Down’ will consist of two new curses, promising new gameplay elements as well as fresh adventures for players to explore. ‘A Prison of Clouds’ will pitch you into the sky aboard a hot air balloon, whilst ‘The Veins of the Earth’ plunges beneath the Continent to pit its adventurers against all-consuming Evil.
The expansion will bring an additional 250 cards to 7th Continent’s already staggering near-1000 card total from the base game. If an adventure book-style board game for 1-4 players that combines tense survival mechanics with the promise of ever-evolving exploration sounds like it’s for you, check out 7th Continent’s Kickstarter as well as their exclusive backer rewards before October 19.
Batman: The Board Game will be Kickstarter-Exclusive
Monolith’s new Batman board game was announced back in February, however, they have confirmed this week that the game will be exclusive to Kickstarter due to the cost of bringing their product to retail. It raises questions surrounding the cost of board game production, with Monolith claiming that if a retail deal was struck ‘the game would be sold around $250 in your local store’, or be forced to compromise on content.
Fans familiar with Kickstarter campaigns’ frequent struggles with production deadlines and distribution costs may be concerned by announcement, but with Monolith’s previous success on the platform publishing games like Mythic Battles: Pantheon backers are sure to be in safe hands.
Batman: the Board Game will be coming to Kickstarter in early 2018, and Monolith have promised that there are plans in store for future reprints and expansions. The game itself will host 2-5 players, with one player acting as a super-villain and pitting their gang of henchmen against the rest of the players’ superhero team.
Batman: the Board Game will be similar to players familiar with Monolith’s Conan gameplay, and offer brilliantly detailed miniatures of a host of DC heroes and villains from the Joker to Black Canary.
Resident Evil 2 comes to Kickstarter
Steamforged Games, creators of the controversial Dark Souls board game, have returned to Kickstarter with plans to bring Resident Evil 2 to the table. They reached their funding goal within the first hour of the campaign and have since been unlocking stretch goals of disgustingly zombified miniatures.
Resident Evil 2: The Board Game promises to bring the classic co-op survival horror to 1-4 players who will take on the roles of Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Robert Kendo, and Ada Wong. The game promises to balance intense resource management with a wildcard Tension Deck to turn any move into a potential disaster. Explore rooms, uncover clues, and gather all-important equipment to survive the growing zombie hordes gnawing at the doors.
Only time will tell if the Resident Evil 2 Board Game campaign will overtake the Dark Souls Board Game's eye-watering 3.7 million dollar record, but we'll be more interested in seeing if the gameplay stands up to the hype as well.
Legend of the Five Rings RPG Returning
Fantasy Flight have confirmed that the popular card game The Legend of the Five Rings will be seeing its first new edition since 1997. Legend of the Five Rings was an RPG following the wars of seven samurai clans in the feudal world of Rokugan. In the new game, the Chrysanthemum Throne is once again at threat and only the samurai of the Great Clans can restore honour and peace throughout the land.
The Legend of the Five Rings is remembered for its complex roleplay elements, where players face the conflicts of reconciling their emotions (ninjō), and their obligations to society (giri), with the duties of being a true samurai. Players struggle between acting for their own happiness, or for the good of the clan as they train in the secret powers of the elements, and decide on the future of their people.
We don’t know much else about the changes to Legend of the Five Rings' original format, save that ‘mortal schemes, natural calamities, and celestial turmoil alike have disrupted the political, military, and spiritual equilibrium of the land’. New samurai will surely have formidable powers to face, but for now Final Fantasy are inviting players to sign up for an open beta and give feedback on their plans for the future of Rokugan.
Helen Jones is a writer, journalist and games enthusiast, you can read more of her stuff @BarnacleDrive on Twitter.