Image: FromSoftware
From Steamforged, makers of the Dark Souls, Resident Evil, and Horizon Zero Dawn board games
A tabletop role-playing game based on the Dark Souls video game is on the way from Steamforged Games. Dark Souls: The Roleplaying Game is an officially licensed product produced in partnership with FromSoftware and Bandai Namco, the game’s original developer and publisher respectively. No release date or additional information was made available, save for the brief teaser trailer that we’ve embedded above.
The sequel to the cult classic action role-playing game Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls came out in 2011 and was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Its brutal mixture of dungeon crawling and twitch-based melee combat was critically acclaimed, earning FromSoftware dozens of game-of-the-year awards. It has since spawned two excellent sequels of its own, and paved the way for a whole new genre known as “soulslikes.”
A system of gameplay mechanics has not been announced, but previous tabletop role-playing games published by Steamforged have all been compatible with the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Chief among them is its Epic Encounters line, a series of unique, off-the-shelf adventures sold with exclusive miniatures and double-sided battle mats. It’s also responsible for the beginner-focused Animal Adventures RPG Starter Set, which is also compatible with 5e D&D.
Steamforged Games burst into the mainstream in 2016 with a staggering $5.4 million Kickstarter campaign for Dark Souls: The Board Game. Despite an excellent demo at Gen Con that year, the final game received mixed reviews. That hasn’t stopped the British developer and publisher from pushing forward, leveraging co-founder Matt Hart’s experience in the video game industry to form new partnerships with popular franchises. It has moved from strength to strength over the past five years with a number of crowdfunded projects, including a trilogy of Resident Evil board games, a Horizon Zero Dawn board game, and a Monster Hunter: World board game.
