Asmodee Digital’s video game adaptation of critically acclaimed dungeon crawler board game Gloomhaven will be entering Steam Early Access next week, on Wednesday 17th July.
The original Gloomhaven, by designer Isaac Childres, was enormously well received when it released in 2017, and has been hovering near the top of BoardGameGeek’s Hotness chart ever since. It’s a richly designed experience that employs a staggeringly flexible RPG system, featuring a vast array of characters, items, and scenarios (which account for the game’s 1,500+ cards) that slowly unlock across a campaign that can last well over a hundred hours.
Asmodee’s video game adaptation is interesting for a number of reasons. Quite aside from the fact that it’ll be considerably cheaper than its £100+ physical version, and less fiddly (I’m still sleeving those damn cards, six months after I bought it), Asmodee, with assistance from Childres, is initially creating a new experience, inspired by Gloomhaven’s theme and mechanics, rather than delivering an exact digital replica of the original.
Gloomhaven – Early Access Gameplay Trailer Watch on YouTube
The video game version offers turn-based tactical dungeon crawling for parties of 2-4 mercenaries, and promises a wealth of classes and card-based customisation options. A more thorough explanation of the game’s adapted systems can be found in the video above.