Asmodee Digital has announced that it's working on a video game adaptation of the hugely popular (and also huge) board-game-of-the-moment, Gloomhaven.
Designed by Isaac Childres and first released last year, Gloomhaven is a truly, and somewhat terrifyingly, vast fantasy dungeon crawler. It's described as "a game of Euro-inspired tactical combat in a persistent world of shifting motives" and features loads of characters, items, and scenarios (making for a staggering degree of flexibility), all of which gradually unlock over the course of a sprawling, 100+ hour campaign.
Gloomhaven has made quite a name for itself in board game circles (it's been lingering near the top of BoardGameGeek's Hotness chart for a good long while now), partly because it's a thrilling, richly designed, and all-round fantastic RPG experience - but also because it comes in a box that could comfortably accommodate a small-to-mid-sized family. I bought a copy relatively recently and there's a very good chance I may be sleeving its 1,500+ cards until the day I die.
News of a Gloomhaven video game adaptation is genuinely exciting for several reasons. Firstly, it's likely to be quite a bit cheaper than the £100+ box edition, and secondly, a digital version is significantly less likely to put your back out when you're forced to lug it home from the post office because you were out when it was supposed to be delivered.
What's particularly interesting, however, is that Asmodee hasn't opted to produce an exact replica of the source material in digital form, as is common practice. Instead (in much the same vein as its upcoming Mansions of Madness adaptation), it's creating a brand-new video game experience that's using Gloomhaven's theme and mechanics as a jumping-off point.
Asmodee says that it's working with original creator Isaac Childres and "channelling Gloomhaven's quintessential spirit" for its adaptation - which it summarises as "deep tactical mechanics, battle preparations... and also dying". The video game version will, just like its inspiration, be a turn-based (and hex-based) tactical dungeon crawler, and promises to offer a huge variety of hero classes and customisation options.
The only disappointing thing in all of this right now, is that the Gloomhaven video game will, despite letting you control a party of heroes, be a strictly single-player experience at launch - a real shame given that the board game shines even more when played co-operatively.
Gloomhaven will, according to its newly launched Steam page, release sometime in 2019.
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