Elden Ring: The Board Game Review

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After experiencing Dark Souls: The Board Game at a cafe some years back, I was confident that an Elden Ring sequel from Steamforged Games would be a massive success. But upon closer look, Elden Ring evolved Dark Souls in so many aspects that aren’t easily adaptable to the tabletop setting, making me question my initial conviction when I finally played it.

How about reimagining Dark Souls’ combat style using deck mechanics for boss battles, but consider the challenge of handling an expansive open world in its sequel? Also, pondering over the logistics, how would Steamforged scale up their production to accommodate figures as large as Margit and Trolls, given that the largest miniature in the original Dark Souls game was Smough?

There’s no need to fret; Elden Ring: The Board Game provides an enjoyable experience for those seeking the FromSoftware feel on a tabletop. Despite some of its solutions appearing somewhat clumsy, I can overlook that aspect since nothing embodies FromSoftware better than a touch of roughness.

Elden Ring The Board Game: What’s In The Box?

Just as anticipated from Steamforged, Elden Ring: The Board Game arrives in a spacious container, jam-packed with content. Notably, the rulebook is concise and straightforward, yet the substantial scenario book and four essential encounter books result in an abundance of reading material. Additionally, you’ll find several token sheets and rather flimsy player dashboards (it would have been better if they were sturdier cards instead). Lastly, you’ll discover the miniatures once you’ve navigated through these components.

In the Realm of the Grafted King expansion, you’ll find 51 miniatures. These range from standard rats and Godrick Soldiers, all the way up to an imposing Tree Sentinel, not forgetting Margit, the Fell Omen. The miniatures come in secure packaging, but a few may have tumbled during shipping. Luckily, they were unharmed, and overall, everything appears quite robust, save for a handful of slightly bent swords. Given Elden Ring’s reputation, this minor sword-bending is fitting.

I find it incredibly tough to resist transforming these Miyazakian creatures into Warhammer 40K bio-mechanical monsters, especially for my Dark Mechanicus. The only factor keeping me from doing so is the power of the game itself.

Exploring Elden Ring

Instead of being concerned about the open-world freedom, it’s skillfully demonstrated through a tiled system where exploration involves unveiling fresh tiles and constructing the map on the fly. This way, each gaming experience is unique and every new corner of Limgrave you discover feels thrilling.

As an ardent admirer, I can’t help but express my excitement at the prospect of Steamforged continuing their exploration of the Lands Between. The expansions encompassing Stormveil Castle and the Weeping Peninsula are captivating, yet I eagerly anticipate delving deeper into the remaining territories.

In this game, every aspect is handled through card decks. You’re provided with a set of exploratory tiles cards, another for events and quests when discovering new locations, a combat deck, and a hardship deck featuring potential obstacles like rockslides or enemy incursions that could slow your advancement. Each Tarnished (playable from one to four) has three actions per turn, drawn from options such as exploring, moving, interacting, trading, crafting, or using your flask. However, be cautious, as stepping onto an occupied enemy tile triggers combat and ends both your turn and that of any other Tarnished who opt to assist you.

In the Lands Between narrative, the scenario book seems to follow a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure structure, providing vivid accounts of the setting that draw you in before asking you to include specific cards in your collection or directing you to a particular section. While this works well for individual players, it could become tedious if you’re reading it out loud to a group of friends. To prevent voices from becoming tired, consider taking turns during the reading process.

Although I was eager to explore how the board game adapts Elden Ring’s expansive world, it’s the unexpected interactions with NPCs and terrifying enemies that truly breathe life into the experience. These characters consistently astound and intrigue, while the intense battles accurately reflect the game’s combat style.

Grid Combat

In contrast to my initial expectations, Elden Ring’s combat style differs significantly from Dark Souls’. Instead of engaging in combat with an opponent and experiencing it similarly to previous games, you navigate to a specific page in an encounter book when combat begins. Your character transitions from the tiled overworld into a grid layout, where enemies are strategically placed according to the visual representation. Once set up, you’re free to engage in combat and start attacking.

In this game, similar to Dark Souls, battles are card-driven, but they operate distinctly. To start, you position your Tarnished miniatures on the battlefield grid and arrange enemies as directed. Next, each combatant takes an initiative card (or multiple, depending on the number of participants) and mixes them together. Each player also has a personal deck of cards; this deck is determined by the equipment you’re using, your attributes, and memory, armour, talisman, and trait cards.

In this game, you’ll learn which cards to incorporate into each monster’s deck. Each turn, you should draw from these cards in the order of initiative to engage in combat with one another. It becomes quite intuitive once you get used to it, but its simplicity and strategic depth make it feel akin to Soulsborne combat.

Learning to decipher all the symbols that indicate an enemy’s actions during each turn may take some time initially, but once you grasp it, these automated opponents demonstrate cleverness comparable to any AI-driven adversary in a game. On the bright side, this also allows you to predict and outmaneuver them, making them beatable; a testament to the core design philosophy of FromSoftware beautifully translated into tabletop gaming.

In combat, while decks may be significant, the grid is truly crucial. The grids include lateral and medial movement options that determine who can attack whom and allow for position changes respectively. Being in the front row near the opposition offers critical hits, the middle row lets you adjust your marching order (initiative) after it’s been set, and the back row encourages a defensive stance to better deflect incoming attacks. Moving further away doesn’t affect an enemy’s reach or evasion; it’s merely a visual indicator of the stance you’re assuming.

As a devoted admirer, I can confidently say that this game delivers an exhilarating combat experience that seamlessly embodies the essence of Souls-inspired mechanics. It’s not just about precision and strategy; it also throws in a touch of unpredictability. You’ll find yourself equally penalized for prudence as for arrogance, making each encounter a test of both skill and nerve.

For supervisors, it’s not just flipping through one encounter book. Instead, you open the same page simultaneously across all four encounter books. Arrange these four bound booklets in a square shape to create a combat grid, serving as your battlefield.

I mentioned an imperfect approach earlier, one that’s not very smooth due to empty spaces in the grid layout and navigating through four separate booklets can be quite tedious, especially when playing alone. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a more suitable alternative. Large individual pages the size of four A4 sheets would be difficult to handle, too large for the game box, and prone to damage with minimal handling. Making them smaller might make them unworkable for the big boss miniatures we have. Oh, hold on, that’s a different game I was thinking about.

Though it’s not flawless, it manages quite well. In a sense similar to Elden Ring, which features the deliberate, cumbersome combat characteristic of FromSoftware’s games. Some adore it, others like me dislike it, but the developer remains dedicated to making it function effectively.

It’s refreshing that Steamforged opted for a slightly cumbersome setup as well, since when engaged in a prolonged battle with The Fell Omen during round five, one becomes so immersed in the conflict that the board, which consists of four books arranged side by side, no longer seems clunky or awkward.

Translating To The Tabletop

This extensive game requires several plays to finish (without additional content), and it’s well-known that coordinating players and setting a time for cooperative board game sessions can be the hardest part. My friends are as unpredictable as a Mary Berry pastry, so I might have to complete the whole campaign alone. Fortunately, Elden Ring supports solo play, and playing on my own feels just as fair and effective as playing with others.

The Elden Ring Board Game is an exceptional representation of the video game world, intricately designed. Just like any game from FromSoftware, it has some minor imperfections, yet these add to its charm and authenticity. This will undoubtedly become a treasured addition to any board game enthusiast’s collection. It’s a grand adventure on an immense scale, designed for extended gaming sessions similar to D&D games, but the experience is truly rewarding.

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2025-02-20 19:36