The blockbuster success of Dark Souls means that FromSoftware’s action RPG classic has been imitated countless times. “Soulslike” clones range from The Surge’s “sci-fi Souls” formula to 2D reimaginings like Salt and Sanctuary, and the game’s DNA can also be found in modern Metroidvania titles like Hollow Knight.
However, few of these games have captured the hopeless, melancholy, cyclical feel of Miyazaki’s trilogy quite as well as Steamforged’s board game adaptation. The Dark Souls board game is an essential experience for any Souls fans looking to slake their cravings for more challenging combat and punishing boss battles ahead of the release of Elden Ring in the new year.
How Dark Souls Was Made into a Board Game
Like a lot of video game to board game adaptations, Dark Souls – The Board Game was successfully crowdfunded, and released in April 2017 by British-based Steamforged Games. Despite seeking only to achieve around $66,000, the game ended up raising just under $5 million in funding, testament to the staggering popularity of Dark Souls.
Designer and co-founder of Steamforged, Mat Hart, was able to negotiate the Dark Souls license thanks to a contact at Bandai Namco, to whom he successfully pitched his idea for a board game adaptation. His goal was to replicate the notorious difficulty of the Dark Souls games, as well as their relentlessly bleak tone and aesthetic, but to also maintain a sense of fun.
The game includes beautifully crafted miniatures which fans have greatly enjoyed collecting, depicting iconic characters and bosses from all three Dark Souls games. Ornstein and Smough, from the original Dark Souls, are included alongside the Dancer of the Boreal Valley from Dark Souls 3 in the base game, while other bosses are available in the form of expansion packs. The game has over ten of these, featuring popular enemies like the Gaping Dragon and Manus, Father of the Abyss.
How The Dark Souls Board Game Perfectly Replicates the Video Games
Dark Souls – The Board Game ingeniously replicates the games’ recursive nature by challenging the player to defeat a series of enemy encounters on their way to a boss battle. If the player survives all of these skirmishes, they can attempt the boss, but are highly likely to die – just like in FromSoftware’s infamously difficult titles. A better strategy is to cash in the souls the player has acquired from these battles to increase their character’s stats, which also gives them access to better weapons and armor. However, this action will also regenerate the slain enemies, forcing the player to repeat the cycle before the boss can be attempted.
Not only does this approach perfectly mirror the Soulslike formula, but it also increases the play time of the board game adaptation despite relatively simple mechanics and a small play space. Furthermore, it builds a sense of anticipation and excitement for the final encounter with the main villain, which can be selected from any of the available base game bosses or expansions.
This roster of enemies is perfect for fans of the games, as it features characters from across all three Dark Souls titles, including some that fans might consider somewhat obscure. Although it’s no surprise to see fan favorites like Artorias the Abysswalker make an appearance, it is perhaps less predictable to find the Executioner’s Chariot and Vordt of the Boreal Valley receiving a full expansion pack adaptation.
The challenging nature of the game’s battles – even the minor encounters en route to the boss can prove deadly for players – is also entirely appropriate for Dark Souls. Players can find themselves infuriatingly dying despite thorough preparation, with a single mistake often harshly punished. Although such mechanics might not normally be considered appropriate for a board game, here the brutal difficulty setting is not only tolerable, it is necessary.
Dark Souls – The Board Game is a great board game in its own right, perfectly balancing challenging mechanics with the “just one more run” addictiveness of FromSoftware’s classic games. However, it is undoubtedly designed to appeal to fans of the video games themselves, and Dark Souls players satisfied with the board game adaptation will surely be hoping that Steamforged continue to release more expansion packs in the future.