The Kickstarter for Elden Ring: The Board Game is now officially live, and the project was unsurprisingly fully backed within minutes of launching. At the time of writing, the Kickstarter has already raised $1.3 million in just the few hours it has been live, well over its modest goal of around $178,000. Steamforged Games is the company behind the project, and support was immediately drummed up when the Elden Ring board game Kickstarter was first announced. The project page answers a lot of questions that fans had since that announcement, including pricing, a video playthrough of the game, and more. The campaign page also gives players a first look at the miniatures that will come with the board game, and they do not disappoint.
Players may recognize the name Steamforged Games from its work on other Kickstarter board games. Aside from Elden Ring: The Board Game, Steamforged Games is also behind the upcoming Monster Hunter World: The Board Game and Dark Souls: The Board Game. This Elden Ring experience is the latest in a line of officially licensed video game to board game adaptations.
Fans can choose to back Elden Ring: The Board Game at one of three pledge levels: Entry Pledge, Core Pledge, and All-in Pledge. The Entry Pledge comes with only the game's stand-alone expansion featuring the Weeping Peninsula. Because it is a "stand-alone" expansion, players can play this expansion even without the full base game. The Core Pledge comes with the base game, featuring the iconic Elden Ring area of Limgrave. Finally, the All-in Pledge contains everything currently available in the Kickstarter, including the Weeping Peninsula, Limgrave, and the Stormveil Castle expansion. It also includes two Kickstarter-exclusive expansions, Flying Dragon Agheel and the Erdtree Avatar.
The game itself features heavy themes of exploration, using a modular hex-based map that expands as players delve into the world around them. Combat takes place in each player's personal quest book, and other players can continue to explore the open world while one is locked in combat. Eventually players will all need to meet up to take on dungeons and bosses, providing both cooperative experiences and individual agency. Differing from Dark Souls: The Board Game, Elden Ring: The Board Game's combat is completely diceless, instead using cards to represent the player's available actions and stamina.
There is plenty to learn about Elden Ring: The Board Game still, and the Kickstarter is only available for 10 days. Though this is only speculation, it seems very likely that this board game will be supported for some time after its Kickstarter campaign, as there is currently no content covering any of the other massive open world areas of Elden Ring. Perhaps the future holds more expansions for areas like Liurnia of the Lakes, Caelid, Altus Plateau, or the Mountaintop of the Giants, but only time will tell.
Elden Ring: The Board Game is live on Kickstarter now and tentatively slated to launch in June 2024.
Source: Kickstarter