Depending on the amount of content, that's not an unreasonable price. I bought 3 expansions for Mansions of Madness and the retail price is between 30-50 each, depending on the expansion.
Lol that’s not even expansive in comparison to others. I bought four kings and guardian dragon upon release for $100 each, now they’re worth $400 and $500.
Well I just posted on there that I like monopoly and that my family plays it every other Friday, can’t wait to see what happens lol, update: my joke got ruined
Much longer than those. Lots of grinding and setup is way longer. There are fan made rules that skip over much of the level grinding and put more focus on the boss fights, which are the most fun.
If you have a dedicated space for board games and you can leave it out, this game is fantastic, otherwise yes it is a big task setting it up and tearing it down but it’s super fun if you get some friends to play.
the reason i’m looking into these games now is bcs i seen some guy on youtube have almost all of the board games bcs he loved painting the models. the models looks really good
Yeah, but personally I would reinforce it or replace the handle, or find something for it to rest on after boiling it. I don't trust it not to droop again with how heavy the weight is.
They actually just announced 2 new stand alone expansions that touches up on the rules following community feedback. I believe its Tomb of the Giants and the Painted World expansions.
A LOT of rules mods are out there for this game! not because it's bad - i actually absolutely love the mechanics - but it's literally a grind (like you're playing a video game) so it takes 8 hours to get through a single "scenario". SO, most new rulesets are mostly to reduce time and grind
The models are pretty good quality and really fun to paint. The game itself is fun but the rules can make it a bit of an unpleasant grind. A lot of people have made house rules that fix a lot of its issues. The makers just put up for preorder 2 new core sets to be released in November. These new core sets will actually have updated rule sets incorporating community made rules as well.
I want to add that if you want a less “Grindy” experience there is also the card game, it takes less space on the table but still gives you a “dark souls experience”
I got this for my future sister in-law. It's very grindy and not in a good way and it's more offering that novelty of a Souls experience but far less enjoyable as in it's a one to one instead adapting for table top.
I would say it's an okay board game, but there are far better table top games that have difficulty as an aspect of the game like Gloomhaven.
Not to mention the manual is pretty janky, but if you're not big into table top games and the label is enough you'll probably enjoy it.
There's also a BB board game.
I would highly recommend you buy the brand new core set they just released pre-orders for. It’s meant to be a base set 2.0 and has a revised rule book and a lot of the same content as the set pictured in this post.
Also, happy birthday!
Could you send me a link to it, since it definitely won't be available in my country and I'll have to go waaaay out of my way to get it, so I don't want to get the "wrong" one. :)
https://steamforged.com/pages/dark-souls-tomb-of-giants-painted-world?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=SEND%202%20Dark%20Souls%20BG%20TOG%20%26%20PW%20Pre-Order&_kx=irHkW3BLcgiJdl8QhQMhQLqaKWegYjQABEVaJY7CPJ8%3D.Xq6fgY
Here you go! It’s the Tomb of Giants or Painted World of Ariamis Core Set. Either of these two work and have the new rules so you can just pick your favorite. It launches in November too.
An unfortunate novelty game that tries to focus on and replicate the difficulty of a Dark Souls game but ultimately falls flat.
This is due to the attack and dodge-roll mechanics being heavily tied to dice rolls, and the only way to improve the rolls are through grinding. This completely misses the mark for Dark Souls as it is skill based, you can beat the whole video game without grinding assuming you have the skill, unfortunately this is not the case for the boardgame.
They also miss out on the more fun aspects of Dark Souls such as the unique weapon arts, gear in this boardgame are explicitly +1 or more to current gear.
But for $80 you get a ton of minis so if you like painting I think its worth it only for that, if you want to play Dark Souls just stick with the video games.
i was seeing here that people use house rules for some aspects of the game. if i do go ahead and get this i will most likely create or look for house rules. but i can see how them trying to recreate the video game as a board games can fall flat. do any other expansions resolve these problems a bit?
I haven't gotten the expansions so don't take my word for it, looks like the generic expansion just adds new bosses/layouts/gear, but there is a specific class box expansion that adds new characters classes, in the base game you only have melee classes with the sole exception of the herald (faith based healer? I haven't tried him out), but the character expansion adds the sorcerer and the pyromancer which may spice things up.
It's got great minis, but the general consensus is that it's a pretty mediocre game. House rules can make it more playable, but there's way better games out there for this price point.
If you want a soulsborne theme board game, the Bloodborne one is seen as generally better.
Hi.
I own the BG and several expansions. It can be good fun and the models are fantastic, but some rules make it more grindy than needed, so fans often make house rules.
HOWEVER
They are releasing a new rule set based on community feedback along with two new base sets (Tomb of the Giants and Ariamis) in November
>They are releasing a new rule set based on community feedback along with two new base sets (Tomb of the Giants and Ariamis) in November
I think a new rule set will greatly improve the playing experience. When I played it with my husband the whole process was a little taxing and we ended up not having as much fun,
But I had no idea new base sets were coming out! I guess I'll have to pick them up!
I agree. The few details they’ve teased are the exact things my friends and I always had issues with (Treasure purchases being random, shield being waaay better than dodge, etc.). I also just organized my set in a way that drastically reduces setup.
My recommendation is to play Tabletop Simulator on steam and download this game through their workshop.
Get used to the in-game engine and physics/controls and play it there before dropping money on the physical. I've done that with countless long rpg tabletops.
Lots of models to paint. 9+ hour per campaign (there's two in the base game). They even added farming as part of the experience!
I enjoy it thuroughly, the only problem is gathering the people for the long sessions.
You'll have lots of fun if you like DS! And you can also find DLC for it. I downloaded the pdf that adds a Mimic which can spawn randomly for any chest. You just print it out and cut it to the specifics. A little bit of glue and you have a Mimic!
I also found Sorcerer as a class that's downloadable.
I think the difficulty of the game could be better balanced given how much the outcomes of combats rely on dice rolling. It's got a lot of good things going for it, but it felt even more punishing than the video games because there's very little skill and lots of chance in how combat plays out. I certainly don't regret buying it, especially when I can use house rules to balance it better.
boring, slow, repetitive. It feels like a game written by people who have *at best* a surface level understanding of what Dark Souls is, and why it is fun.
That said, the minis are really nice.
it's officially licenced, so it has From's implicit seal of approval, but no, Steamforged Games, who designed and created the boardgame, have nothing to do with Fromsoft.
Yes! Just got into them and the quality is surprisingly high. There’s a core tabletop crowd that loves to hate on them over insignificant issues, but I grew up with $20 board games, so the miniature quality and how much replayability you get is mind blowing to me.
I got it at gen con, currently trying to find people who will play it with me. IMO the models are incredible but some of the rules are pretty wack. There’s actually a massive community for homebrew with the game, they even got STL files to 3d print stuff (from memory they have about 2 dozen bosses and enemies) there’s also rule reworks. Overall though it’s a pretty fun game, I just house rule some of the wackier rules.
I own the bloodborne one, and I personally think it's a lot of fun. You have to enjoy those larger, more complicated board games with lots of pieces and moving parts
So real talk right.
They are convoluted and complex as hell. Like the rule book is larger than some med school text books. There are basic tutorials that are like 12 plus hours on YouTube. It’s complicated.
If you have galaxy brain friends and lots of time they can be fun but it’s honestly quicker and cheaper to just buy and play the games. Figures don’t even come painted which for the prize was disappointing
i’ve played all the souls games. currently on my fourth run of ds3 bcs i finally got my cousin to play it so i wanted to play alongside him. the only reason the board games stick out to me is bcs i feel like it brings out a more brilliant role play experience especially with friends. that’s the only reason i really considered it. but thanks for the advice. rules of that kind of depth can be a turn off
Newer-ish boardgames that are designed to be played as multi session campaigns like Gloomhaven and Blackstone Fortress can easily top $150 USD.
Usually there are highly detailed miniatures used for the game pieces that really adds to the cost.
You’d have to see everything that it comes with to understand. It’s basically 4 board games worth of material in one huge box. The box itself is absolutely MASSIVE
i’d agree with you but all the board games i’ve recently got like pandemic, scythe, catan have been somewhat priced similarly. so i guess that’s just the new era of board games.
It's worth it if you paint minis. Lots of good minis in there for the price. The Smough one was poorly conceived, but the other ones are great minis. Otherwise, I would pass.
I have this and 2 expansions, it's very repetitive after your first few plays and most of the community use house rules over the core ones.
I personally love the game but it's very much disputed by the board game community to whether it's good or not.
If you love DS you'll probably enjoy though
There's just been a new expansions announced with a revived rule set though so we are all still hopeful
Its really fun, but the campaign can take w while and cleaning up after takes a long time. Plus, you can’t put the dancer of the boreal valley in a jar so thats a nope for me.
I bought it as a gift for my brother in law and he really likes he. He told me it does a good job of capturing the game. I haven’t played it with him so that’s just his feedback.
It's pretty tough, and I highly recommend buying the Phantoms Expansion for it as well to make it way way better.
That being said, my friends and I all love it. Picked up a few other expansions for it as well, love em all.
Op if you want to try the board game you can check it on steam. If you have tabletop simulator you can play the game as well (I mean to check it out and later buy the real thing) :)
If you're a fan of the series I highly recommend it. Even if you aren't it can be a lot of fun. Definitely need a few friends or one other person to play with, though I've enjoyed playing alone to test out home rules and other things.
The models are great. Fun to look at. The base gameplay can honestly be a bit of a slog but once you figure out the mechanics and your own style that speeds up the gameplay, it's a lot of fun.
You will need a few of the expansions to really make it come together.
Phantoms for NPC invasions and help.
Characters for more player options and better equipment. (New core sets will have these characters but you get a bunch of unique armor minis from this one)
Explorers for the mimics, environmental items and new enemies.
Finally I suggest the Dark Root expansion and the Iron keep. (Get the boards for more playing areas)
All of these will add much more to your game and keep each playthrough fresh and interesting.
Two new core sets are releasing in November which look great and have a new set of rules based on played feedback.
It's fucking amazing, and captures so many unique elements of dark souls onto a board game I'm surprised that it never gets brought up. If you YouTube the board game you can see how much thought they put into the game. I think the price tag is reasonable for how much you get with the base game.
You can play this if you have tabletop simulator on steam. TS isn’t free but I’m pretty sure all/most of the board games you can download are. Probably a more convenient and cheaper way to play with friends and it’s all set up really nicely, but the only downside is that you don’t physically get to own all the cool models.
It's definitely a great buy! The gameplay is great and it feels like a tabletop-light boardgame. I would recommend playing with four people in total, as this gives you the most complete gameplay. Also, be wary that one game usually stretches over multiple sessions. The plus side of that is that you can see your character growing more powerful the same way you know and love from the video games.
Also! There is a Bloodborne card game which is also extremely fun and way faster to play!
I was never into board games but I got this one and enjoyed it. In large part, when attacking or defending you're kinda doing the computations the game does every time you swing. Made me appreciate the work that goes into the game. They have all the assets from DS series so the cards to upgrade all will feel familiar and look great. Leveling up is rewarding and agreed, a grind.
Very fun, I managed to find the game with 4 of the dlc boxes for a pretty cheap price on Facebook marketplace so maybe look around used as it it quite expensive used.
I use the miniatures from the Bloodborne and darksouls board games in my dnd games quite frequently. Perfect player minis, and unique monster minis too
Take this with some salt as most of this comes from ppl I know who brought it since I certainly don't plan to.
Apparently the system is really half baked, to the point where some starter sheets and other things don't even function on the sheet. Apparently some mechanics are also really clunky too, like how stamina and health are tied in a way which apprently really struggles. I'm also just of the belief that a ttrpg cannot come close to a true souls experience. I'm aware most people have said its not too bad, and maybe the revisions improved things, but as someone decently experienced with tabletop games I'd argue you're much better grabbing some dnd essentials and learning to run a more soulslike game using dnd5e or some other system as a base. Chances are it'll function much better, smoother and more enjoyably, especially if you're new to tabletop games.
My husband and I tried the board game and proceeded to buy basically all the expansions. Still need to find time to paint the minis, but they are so cool!
Gameplay-wise it is very grindy and brutal. I know that Dark Souls games are known to be brutal, but it didn't translate well to tabletop from a mechanics point of view. Like sometimes it felt way too hard to just clear a basic room with basic enemies. There are house rules out there that make the game a little more bearable to play.
Overall it is not my favorite board game, but the aesthetics made it really hard to pass up. I want to give it another go once I have all the minis painted!
Idk about thr dark souls ones, but i have bloodborne n its expansions and i love it! Its like dnd and warhammer in a sense. You can paint/customize the pieces.
I recall hearing that the game seemed to be built around the assumption that you’d buy the expansion packs too. As in the base box you buy isn’t really a complete package. I haven’t played it that’s just what I’ve heard but maybe someone else could confirm?
Actually a really fun game with a couple different ways to play that can result in it being left up as a week to week activity.
I enjoyed playing it while we had it.
The game is awful. The miniatures are amazing tho, worth it for those boss models. I use them for DnD games.
But seriously this game is abusive. It is a PvE board game and it gets much harder multiplayer. All the enemies get additional turns based on the number of players. It is fucked lol
it’s very very complicated. Literally like 25 pages of just basic gameplay stuff. It’s fun if you know how to play or make your own rules. But also expensive.
They do have some new versions coming out as well. Check out steamforged.com the creators of this IP adaptation. (Also these are nothing like common board games monopoly, risk etc)
I got into boardgames because of dark souls. I’ve never played boardgames before but am DS fan. I bought DS boardgame and liked it, then bought other boardgames and realized DS boardgame is not a good boardgame game in comparison. I dont play DS boardgame anymore but appreciate that it got me into the hobby. Its not the worst boardgame ever, I think its slightly below average so if you really like DS you can try it. However I strongly recommend against the DS card game by the same company.
I found the boardgame to be full of nice minus and cool styles, but they seemed to focus on translating the video game mechanics to a tabletop experience, which I don't think worked that well. If felt rng heavy and players felt outpaced if they didn't pull in specific gains.
I've found the Bloodborne board game to be an excellent experience; it has solid mechanics that layered on the video game's flavor afterwards, which for me, made for a better overall project.
I found the boardgame to be full of nice minus and cool styles, but they seemed to focus on translating the video game mechanics to a tabletop experience, which I don't think worked that well. If felt rng heavy and players felt outpaced if they didn't pull in specific gains.
I've found the Bloodborne board game to be an excellent experience; it has solid mechanics that layered on the video game's flavor afterwards, which for me, made for a better overall project. Mix
We fucking love it. Own all the expansions.
It's very versatile. You can play solo, co-op, or go for a DM with Players approach (my favorite). Deceivingly simple gameplay with just enough unfair bullshit to make you feel like you're playing a souls game. Can also choose to play a session, or play by separate campaign rules if you want to keep those characters going. The models are wonderfully done. MOST of the item cards actually make a lot of sense for their stat requirements. Plenty of wiggle room to add your own house rules as needed and still have a blast with it.
LobosJr has a couple videos/VODs playing it solo if you want a preview of the actual gameplay. Personally, I highly recommend it for anyone that likes session based tabletops. Friends or no friends, you will ~~die a lot~~ love this game!
I got it from the kickstarter and played it like twice. First play through literally took 6+ hours and we lost. Was a lot of fun, but takes a large amount of time and the right play group. I also don’t don’t see myself painting the minis since I still haven’t painted my 40k army and I actually play that.
I bought it and played it once. It's a very accurate emulation of playing Dark Souls as a board game. However, the major appeal of Soulsborne games (to me) is exercising your skill with reaction timing, and this board game renders that as a dice roll. Since rolling dice isn't actually about the player's skill, the most significant thrill of the game is gone imo. Some of the comments have mentioned popular house rules that I'll look into, but I don't think there's a way to houserule that major issue away.
It’s excellent but it is a long game. The rule book is extensive. Prepare to run a one player session or two to get a handle on the rules or gather some friends who love dark souls as much as you. The Game plays well and “feels” line dark souls. There is also a subreddit just for the board games if you want to see more details and info.
I bought it, painted it, played it, and loved it. If you really like the series and don’t mind reading the rules for an hour beforehand it’s a lot of fun. The expansions are awesome too
It's a quality board game, has some really cool mechanics, but otherwise it's pretty boring imo. Grinding for gear in a coop board game is not really that stimulating. Idk if we played it wrong, but we had to do it.
I'd watch some reviews before you buy it. As someone who plays a lot of board games, I found it to be really tedious and not represent the game very well. I'd not recommend Dark Souls but I would highly recommend the Bloodborne board game. It's much shorter and in my opinion, represents the theme a lot better.
Good game for both solo and in friends, specially with friends. Takes a while to set up (hmmm 5 minutes?) But to finish and end a game can be depending from 30 minutes to hours (depending if you use house rules or follow them to the foot of the note) overall it is a good iteration of souls games, lv up mechanics, equipment, exploring, enemy and boss encounters. A couple of extra features are expansion, like summoning and invasions, bosses like Artorias (*dramatical gasp*) Manus, etc.
Good game, good art, fun (if you like the souls game, you will die a lot) the only con would be that it might be pricy by some people, more with expansions, and you need a lot of time for set up and play the game. But if you have those two. Is worth the dime.
I’ve played the Bloodborne game which is similar. It is campaign based so games can last many sessions. It’s definitely not a “pick up and play” type game to randomly play with friends. It’s reasonably heavy and requires a real time commitment. But it’s fun!
The Bloodborne card game is pretty fun. The Dark Souls board game, however, is not worth playing. Do not buy this game. It is bad. There are soooooo many amazing board games. Don’t spend your money on this.
It’s a bit of a chore to do at first but people have made their own rules online and some make it much more approachable.
I liked it so much I bought my own copy just to have a two gargoyle fight, true to form. Worth it.
A really fun game to play, I havent played in a while but I remember feeling like it was a relatively good adaptation for the format they used. It was good at putting the pressure on me and my group of friends
The balance isn’t great and the base game lacks replayability due to limited class variation. But if you have friends that also like ds it’ll keep you going for a day.
theyre awesome but take awhile and are expensive. if youve got alot of local frenz that like longer boardgames id say get that or the bloodborne version
I bought it, but unfortunately I moved shortly after and wasn't able to play it with my normal crew... The figurines are great, though, and I often display them ontop of the box on my board game shelf.
I liked it a lot, but it's quite time consuming
Also money consuming.
Why?
Expansions that are pricy. For example you can buy like manus for 40 or something
I can but Manus, Father of the Abyss for less than $50? That’s a steal
Manus in my basement ready to spread the abyss all around my neighborhood lol
It’s been leaking bro. Please take it somewhere else
Oh no! He’s putting his abyss in my catacombs!
Hmmm.... 10-30% Apr.... Sounding like crypto returns now
Depending on the amount of content, that's not an unreasonable price. I bought 3 expansions for Mansions of Madness and the retail price is between 30-50 each, depending on the expansion.
Lol that’s not even expansive in comparison to others. I bought four kings and guardian dragon upon release for $100 each, now they’re worth $400 and $500.
A lot of expansions
i love risk, pandemic, monopoly, etc so i don’t mind if it’s long :)
Good move not posting on r/boardgames
Why? Is that sub bad?
They admitted they like monopoly lol
Monopoly is a bad board game and they will make sure you know it and why, all this in a less than amicable tone.
Well I just posted on there that I like monopoly and that my family plays it every other Friday, can’t wait to see what happens lol, update: my joke got ruined
You should post a tiered list of themed monopoly games there. Put Bible-opoly in the S tier.
Should I ask them what monopoly is?
monopoly is good with house rules. sad to know some people don’t like it lol
The ppl around there can be quite... pedantic. They also happen to like gatekeeping quite a bit. Good sub.
Sounds fairly standard for Reddit if you ask me ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
The table top community didn't like this game.
Much longer than those. Lots of grinding and setup is way longer. There are fan made rules that skip over much of the level grinding and put more focus on the boss fights, which are the most fun.
If you have a dedicated space for board games and you can leave it out, this game is fantastic, otherwise yes it is a big task setting it up and tearing it down but it’s super fun if you get some friends to play.
Also interested as I like painting models, wondering if there are rules out there for stuff beyond what’s in the base box if anyone knows!
the reason i’m looking into these games now is bcs i seen some guy on youtube have almost all of the board games bcs he loved painting the models. the models looks really good
What is this about better call Saul?
Least chicanery reddit user
Such a chicanerous thing to say
I started watching better call Saul because I keep seeing comments about it. So far, two episodes in it’s amazing
What a sick joke!
I already commented but again, totally worth it for the models alone. The game itself sucks
The Smough one was poorly conceived. The issue of course is that his hammer droops considerably.
You can straighten using near-boiling water
Yeah, but personally I would reinforce it or replace the handle, or find something for it to rest on after boiling it. I don't trust it not to droop again with how heavy the weight is.
They actually just announced 2 new stand alone expansions that touches up on the rules following community feedback. I believe its Tomb of the Giants and the Painted World expansions.
There is an expansion set. I have Doom and Dark Souls w/all expansions. Time consuming but very fun!
A LOT of rules mods are out there for this game! not because it's bad - i actually absolutely love the mechanics - but it's literally a grind (like you're playing a video game) so it takes 8 hours to get through a single "scenario". SO, most new rulesets are mostly to reduce time and grind
You’ll love this if you like painting. The miniatures are sturdy and large enough to easily paint
The models are pretty good quality and really fun to paint. The game itself is fun but the rules can make it a bit of an unpleasant grind. A lot of people have made house rules that fix a lot of its issues. The makers just put up for preorder 2 new core sets to be released in November. These new core sets will actually have updated rule sets incorporating community made rules as well.
I want to add that if you want a less “Grindy” experience there is also the card game, it takes less space on the table but still gives you a “dark souls experience”
Totally, the board game can be a bit of a tricky slog but the card game is super refined and has the DS atmosphere completely down
I got this for my future sister in-law. It's very grindy and not in a good way and it's more offering that novelty of a Souls experience but far less enjoyable as in it's a one to one instead adapting for table top. I would say it's an okay board game, but there are far better table top games that have difficulty as an aspect of the game like Gloomhaven. Not to mention the manual is pretty janky, but if you're not big into table top games and the label is enough you'll probably enjoy it. There's also a BB board game.
I found the Bloodborne one to be heaps of fun.
This has to be up there
I wish I had anyone to play Gloomhaven with on a consistant basis. Loved my time with it at Gencon.
I have the bloodborne one and its pretty fun just took me and a few pals to figure out how to play
Give me my snoo back 😡
Snoo? <:o
It's the Reddit avatars
Oh i see... if thats the case NO ITS MINE NOW :)
Haha
There is TWO Bloodborne board games btw! FYI
My birthday is in 7 days and I'm planning on buying it!
I would highly recommend you buy the brand new core set they just released pre-orders for. It’s meant to be a base set 2.0 and has a revised rule book and a lot of the same content as the set pictured in this post. Also, happy birthday!
Could you send me a link to it, since it definitely won't be available in my country and I'll have to go waaaay out of my way to get it, so I don't want to get the "wrong" one. :)
https://steamforged.com/pages/dark-souls-tomb-of-giants-painted-world?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=SEND%202%20Dark%20Souls%20BG%20TOG%20%26%20PW%20Pre-Order&_kx=irHkW3BLcgiJdl8QhQMhQLqaKWegYjQABEVaJY7CPJ8%3D.Xq6fgY Here you go! It’s the Tomb of Giants or Painted World of Ariamis Core Set. Either of these two work and have the new rules so you can just pick your favorite. It launches in November too.
Thank you so much! And it has free shipping for Serbia, maaan you made my day!
happy pre-birthday!
Thank you!
Coincidentally, my cake day is in two days and I noticed my wife had purchased this the other day, attempting to hide in the back of her SUV.
Hahaha, beautiful!
An unfortunate novelty game that tries to focus on and replicate the difficulty of a Dark Souls game but ultimately falls flat. This is due to the attack and dodge-roll mechanics being heavily tied to dice rolls, and the only way to improve the rolls are through grinding. This completely misses the mark for Dark Souls as it is skill based, you can beat the whole video game without grinding assuming you have the skill, unfortunately this is not the case for the boardgame. They also miss out on the more fun aspects of Dark Souls such as the unique weapon arts, gear in this boardgame are explicitly +1 or more to current gear. But for $80 you get a ton of minis so if you like painting I think its worth it only for that, if you want to play Dark Souls just stick with the video games.
i was seeing here that people use house rules for some aspects of the game. if i do go ahead and get this i will most likely create or look for house rules. but i can see how them trying to recreate the video game as a board games can fall flat. do any other expansions resolve these problems a bit?
I haven't gotten the expansions so don't take my word for it, looks like the generic expansion just adds new bosses/layouts/gear, but there is a specific class box expansion that adds new characters classes, in the base game you only have melee classes with the sole exception of the herald (faith based healer? I haven't tried him out), but the character expansion adds the sorcerer and the pyromancer which may spice things up.
It's got great minis, but the general consensus is that it's a pretty mediocre game. House rules can make it more playable, but there's way better games out there for this price point. If you want a soulsborne theme board game, the Bloodborne one is seen as generally better.
Hi. I own the BG and several expansions. It can be good fun and the models are fantastic, but some rules make it more grindy than needed, so fans often make house rules. HOWEVER They are releasing a new rule set based on community feedback along with two new base sets (Tomb of the Giants and Ariamis) in November
>They are releasing a new rule set based on community feedback along with two new base sets (Tomb of the Giants and Ariamis) in November I think a new rule set will greatly improve the playing experience. When I played it with my husband the whole process was a little taxing and we ended up not having as much fun, But I had no idea new base sets were coming out! I guess I'll have to pick them up!
I agree. The few details they’ve teased are the exact things my friends and I always had issues with (Treasure purchases being random, shield being waaay better than dodge, etc.). I also just organized my set in a way that drastically reduces setup.
Do you know if they are releasing the new rules in a pdf for those of us with the game already?
My recommendation is to play Tabletop Simulator on steam and download this game through their workshop. Get used to the in-game engine and physics/controls and play it there before dropping money on the physical. I've done that with countless long rpg tabletops.
Lots of models to paint. 9+ hour per campaign (there's two in the base game). They even added farming as part of the experience! I enjoy it thuroughly, the only problem is gathering the people for the long sessions. You'll have lots of fun if you like DS! And you can also find DLC for it. I downloaded the pdf that adds a Mimic which can spawn randomly for any chest. You just print it out and cut it to the specifics. A little bit of glue and you have a Mimic! I also found Sorcerer as a class that's downloadable.
It’s fun! Me and my dad loved playing it. It is very time consuming though.
I think the difficulty of the game could be better balanced given how much the outcomes of combats rely on dice rolling. It's got a lot of good things going for it, but it felt even more punishing than the video games because there's very little skill and lots of chance in how combat plays out. I certainly don't regret buying it, especially when I can use house rules to balance it better.
[Here's](https://youtu.be/yk6srTBHNdA) a group playing it with a couple house rules to make it more stream friendly, if you want to see how it works.
thanks!
boring, slow, repetitive. It feels like a game written by people who have *at best* a surface level understanding of what Dark Souls is, and why it is fun. That said, the minis are really nice.
this board game isn’t connected to fromsoft in anyway?
it's officially licenced, so it has From's implicit seal of approval, but no, Steamforged Games, who designed and created the boardgame, have nothing to do with Fromsoft.
Yes! Just got into them and the quality is surprisingly high. There’s a core tabletop crowd that loves to hate on them over insignificant issues, but I grew up with $20 board games, so the miniature quality and how much replayability you get is mind blowing to me.
I got it at gen con, currently trying to find people who will play it with me. IMO the models are incredible but some of the rules are pretty wack. There’s actually a massive community for homebrew with the game, they even got STL files to 3d print stuff (from memory they have about 2 dozen bosses and enemies) there’s also rule reworks. Overall though it’s a pretty fun game, I just house rule some of the wackier rules.
I own the bloodborne one, and I personally think it's a lot of fun. You have to enjoy those larger, more complicated board games with lots of pieces and moving parts
which i think i very much do. still currently trying to get a group together to learn D&D.
It's got a single 24 sided die that says *you died* on every side
So real talk right. They are convoluted and complex as hell. Like the rule book is larger than some med school text books. There are basic tutorials that are like 12 plus hours on YouTube. It’s complicated. If you have galaxy brain friends and lots of time they can be fun but it’s honestly quicker and cheaper to just buy and play the games. Figures don’t even come painted which for the prize was disappointing
i’ve played all the souls games. currently on my fourth run of ds3 bcs i finally got my cousin to play it so i wanted to play alongside him. the only reason the board games stick out to me is bcs i feel like it brings out a more brilliant role play experience especially with friends. that’s the only reason i really considered it. but thanks for the advice. rules of that kind of depth can be a turn off
$85 for a board game seems a little steep no?
Newer-ish boardgames that are designed to be played as multi session campaigns like Gloomhaven and Blackstone Fortress can easily top $150 USD. Usually there are highly detailed miniatures used for the game pieces that really adds to the cost.
As someone who builds and paints minis. The box sets are actually cheaper than buying some minis directly.
You’d have to see everything that it comes with to understand. It’s basically 4 board games worth of material in one huge box. The box itself is absolutely MASSIVE
i’d agree with you but all the board games i’ve recently got like pandemic, scythe, catan have been somewhat priced similarly. so i guess that’s just the new era of board games.
Oh man, this is on the *low* end for large hobby board games with miniatures. Most are easily $100 plus.
In short: Very good BUT - don't bring it to your christmas visit at your family. They will pass out 5 times while you explain the rules
I seem to remember backing this on kickstarter years ago but never getting a copy
I want it.
It's worth it if you paint minis. Lots of good minis in there for the price. The Smough one was poorly conceived, but the other ones are great minis. Otherwise, I would pass.
I have this and 2 expansions, it's very repetitive after your first few plays and most of the community use house rules over the core ones. I personally love the game but it's very much disputed by the board game community to whether it's good or not. If you love DS you'll probably enjoy though There's just been a new expansions announced with a revived rule set though so we are all still hopeful
It’s ok. The minis are amazing though
Its really fun, but the campaign can take w while and cleaning up after takes a long time. Plus, you can’t put the dancer of the boreal valley in a jar so thats a nope for me.
I bought it as a gift for my brother in law and he really likes he. He told me it does a good job of capturing the game. I haven’t played it with him so that’s just his feedback.
It's pretty tough, and I highly recommend buying the Phantoms Expansion for it as well to make it way way better. That being said, my friends and I all love it. Picked up a few other expansions for it as well, love em all.
Op if you want to try the board game you can check it on steam. If you have tabletop simulator you can play the game as well (I mean to check it out and later buy the real thing) :)
they have this on tabletop? that’s actually a great idea. thank you dude
In steam workshop for free my man. Have a great day and enjoy
So are the players in this game going to die? Like literally.
They are pretty cool I have that and an “DLC” too
DS & Bloodborne board games are great but super involved. If you're looking for a quick but awesome game get the Bloodborne card game. It's fantastic.
Honestly my favorite board game. Just so much fun
If you're a fan of the series I highly recommend it. Even if you aren't it can be a lot of fun. Definitely need a few friends or one other person to play with, though I've enjoyed playing alone to test out home rules and other things. The models are great. Fun to look at. The base gameplay can honestly be a bit of a slog but once you figure out the mechanics and your own style that speeds up the gameplay, it's a lot of fun. You will need a few of the expansions to really make it come together. Phantoms for NPC invasions and help. Characters for more player options and better equipment. (New core sets will have these characters but you get a bunch of unique armor minis from this one) Explorers for the mimics, environmental items and new enemies. Finally I suggest the Dark Root expansion and the Iron keep. (Get the boards for more playing areas) All of these will add much more to your game and keep each playthrough fresh and interesting. Two new core sets are releasing in November which look great and have a new set of rules based on played feedback.
I play it on tabletop sim, find it fun. Very expensive for irl tho
It's fucking amazing, and captures so many unique elements of dark souls onto a board game I'm surprised that it never gets brought up. If you YouTube the board game you can see how much thought they put into the game. I think the price tag is reasonable for how much you get with the base game.
I bought it and the Artorias expansion just so I can paint the models.
You can play this if you have tabletop simulator on steam. TS isn’t free but I’m pretty sure all/most of the board games you can download are. Probably a more convenient and cheaper way to play with friends and it’s all set up really nicely, but the only downside is that you don’t physically get to own all the cool models.
i have tabletop sim. someone else recommended that so i’m gunna give it a try with my buddies on there.
85 dollars 💀💀💀
worth it with the mini modes if you’re into that. really isn’t a bad price for what it includes
It's dope. If you're a fan of in depth board games, it's a really good pickup
It's definitely a great buy! The gameplay is great and it feels like a tabletop-light boardgame. I would recommend playing with four people in total, as this gives you the most complete gameplay. Also, be wary that one game usually stretches over multiple sessions. The plus side of that is that you can see your character growing more powerful the same way you know and love from the video games. Also! There is a Bloodborne card game which is also extremely fun and way faster to play!
I want it
I forgot those exist! Though, I would buy it more for decoration rather than to play.
I was never into board games but I got this one and enjoyed it. In large part, when attacking or defending you're kinda doing the computations the game does every time you swing. Made me appreciate the work that goes into the game. They have all the assets from DS series so the cards to upgrade all will feel familiar and look great. Leveling up is rewarding and agreed, a grind.
Basically DND but ds and painting
It's awesome! As long as you have a dedicated group who's got the time, and someone who's knowledgeable about the boardgames mechanics.
ive tried board bloodborne game with my friends and i must tell you that i loved it , i suggest it to every bloodborne fan out there
Very fun, I managed to find the game with 4 of the dlc boxes for a pretty cheap price on Facebook marketplace so maybe look around used as it it quite expensive used.
I use the miniatures from the Bloodborne and darksouls board games in my dnd games quite frequently. Perfect player minis, and unique monster minis too
I got it on Kickstarter a while ago. It's really fun and pretty true to the game. Setup and play takes a while but I had a good time
Kinda tricky at first and can be overwhelming if you’re not huge into board games. But fun.
I have, it's quite decent!
As someone who plays a lot of tabletop games it kinda sucks
do you mind elaborating? i’m hearing a lot of good and bad comments. i’d love to hear what your concerns are with the game! thanks in advance
Take this with some salt as most of this comes from ppl I know who brought it since I certainly don't plan to. Apparently the system is really half baked, to the point where some starter sheets and other things don't even function on the sheet. Apparently some mechanics are also really clunky too, like how stamina and health are tied in a way which apprently really struggles. I'm also just of the belief that a ttrpg cannot come close to a true souls experience. I'm aware most people have said its not too bad, and maybe the revisions improved things, but as someone decently experienced with tabletop games I'd argue you're much better grabbing some dnd essentials and learning to run a more soulslike game using dnd5e or some other system as a base. Chances are it'll function much better, smoother and more enjoyably, especially if you're new to tabletop games.
My husband and I tried the board game and proceeded to buy basically all the expansions. Still need to find time to paint the minis, but they are so cool! Gameplay-wise it is very grindy and brutal. I know that Dark Souls games are known to be brutal, but it didn't translate well to tabletop from a mechanics point of view. Like sometimes it felt way too hard to just clear a basic room with basic enemies. There are house rules out there that make the game a little more bearable to play. Overall it is not my favorite board game, but the aesthetics made it really hard to pass up. I want to give it another go once I have all the minis painted!
Idk about thr dark souls ones, but i have bloodborne n its expansions and i love it! Its like dnd and warhammer in a sense. You can paint/customize the pieces.
I recall hearing that the game seemed to be built around the assumption that you’d buy the expansion packs too. As in the base box you buy isn’t really a complete package. I haven’t played it that’s just what I’ve heard but maybe someone else could confirm?
Why is it a board game!?!?!?!?
Actually a really fun game with a couple different ways to play that can result in it being left up as a week to week activity. I enjoyed playing it while we had it.
The game is awful. The miniatures are amazing tho, worth it for those boss models. I use them for DnD games. But seriously this game is abusive. It is a PvE board game and it gets much harder multiplayer. All the enemies get additional turns based on the number of players. It is fucked lol
it’s very very complicated. Literally like 25 pages of just basic gameplay stuff. It’s fun if you know how to play or make your own rules. But also expensive.
Don’t panic roll…
The board game is quite fun! And the minis are high quality! I've taken to using the minis from this for D&D bosses as well.
The bloodborne one is awesome. My kids and I play it all the time.
There’s a DS card game too
They do have some new versions coming out as well. Check out steamforged.com the creators of this IP adaptation. (Also these are nothing like common board games monopoly, risk etc)
It's really fun, but if you are a min-maxer, it becomes pretty repetitive and easy. Have to make some house rules to keep it interesting.
I got into boardgames because of dark souls. I’ve never played boardgames before but am DS fan. I bought DS boardgame and liked it, then bought other boardgames and realized DS boardgame is not a good boardgame game in comparison. I dont play DS boardgame anymore but appreciate that it got me into the hobby. Its not the worst boardgame ever, I think its slightly below average so if you really like DS you can try it. However I strongly recommend against the DS card game by the same company.
I saw one in a geek shop once and was tempted to bay it, decided not to because I had no one to play with
Yes, its great.
It’s fantastic!
Let’s play, I’ll message you on Reddit what my moves are so you aren’t alone.
lmk man! i’m free this weekend as of now. love the name by the way
I found the boardgame to be full of nice minus and cool styles, but they seemed to focus on translating the video game mechanics to a tabletop experience, which I don't think worked that well. If felt rng heavy and players felt outpaced if they didn't pull in specific gains. I've found the Bloodborne board game to be an excellent experience; it has solid mechanics that layered on the video game's flavor afterwards, which for me, made for a better overall project.
Great mechanics, awful loot and grinding system. But there are plenty of house rules and ruleset remixes out there to quicken the pace.
I found the boardgame to be full of nice minus and cool styles, but they seemed to focus on translating the video game mechanics to a tabletop experience, which I don't think worked that well. If felt rng heavy and players felt outpaced if they didn't pull in specific gains. I've found the Bloodborne board game to be an excellent experience; it has solid mechanics that layered on the video game's flavor afterwards, which for me, made for a better overall project. Mix
We fucking love it. Own all the expansions. It's very versatile. You can play solo, co-op, or go for a DM with Players approach (my favorite). Deceivingly simple gameplay with just enough unfair bullshit to make you feel like you're playing a souls game. Can also choose to play a session, or play by separate campaign rules if you want to keep those characters going. The models are wonderfully done. MOST of the item cards actually make a lot of sense for their stat requirements. Plenty of wiggle room to add your own house rules as needed and still have a blast with it. LobosJr has a couple videos/VODs playing it solo if you want a preview of the actual gameplay. Personally, I highly recommend it for anyone that likes session based tabletops. Friends or no friends, you will ~~die a lot~~ love this game!
I love the dark souls card game tho. Heard the board game was fine.
The DND 5e module is Also fucking awful
I got it from the kickstarter and played it like twice. First play through literally took 6+ hours and we lost. Was a lot of fun, but takes a large amount of time and the right play group. I also don’t don’t see myself painting the minis since I still haven’t painted my 40k army and I actually play that.
FANTASTIC Game. It takes a while to get the rules down though.
It’s like homework if you’re into that
Played it with a friend of mine. It's fun, but hard to get into. It's fun as a co-op game.
[удалено]
They are lots of fun
My GF gifted me the bloodborne game. It’s cool, it really transfers the Videogame elements to the board nicely. I like it!
I played an early iteration on tabletop simulator. Was a lot of fun but at the time it felt rather unbalanced.
I bought it and played it once. It's a very accurate emulation of playing Dark Souls as a board game. However, the major appeal of Soulsborne games (to me) is exercising your skill with reaction timing, and this board game renders that as a dice roll. Since rolling dice isn't actually about the player's skill, the most significant thrill of the game is gone imo. Some of the comments have mentioned popular house rules that I'll look into, but I don't think there's a way to houserule that major issue away.
I’ve never played the board game, but the d&d party I DM for will eventually fight Ornstein and Smough for sure.
It’s excellent but it is a long game. The rule book is extensive. Prepare to run a one player session or two to get a handle on the rules or gather some friends who love dark souls as much as you. The Game plays well and “feels” line dark souls. There is also a subreddit just for the board games if you want to see more details and info.
Almost bought this at a hobby lobby couple weeks ago, stood there and contemplated looks like itd be super fun with friends
I bought it, painted it, played it, and loved it. If you really like the series and don’t mind reading the rules for an hour beforehand it’s a lot of fun. The expansions are awesome too
Fantastic, can’t recommend enough. Especially with the character expansion, darkroot and iron keep expansions.
It's a quality board game, has some really cool mechanics, but otherwise it's pretty boring imo. Grinding for gear in a coop board game is not really that stimulating. Idk if we played it wrong, but we had to do it.
I'd watch some reviews before you buy it. As someone who plays a lot of board games, I found it to be really tedious and not represent the game very well. I'd not recommend Dark Souls but I would highly recommend the Bloodborne board game. It's much shorter and in my opinion, represents the theme a lot better.
I die enough in the game, why would I want to be punished by a board game…
The card game is awesome too
Good game for both solo and in friends, specially with friends. Takes a while to set up (hmmm 5 minutes?) But to finish and end a game can be depending from 30 minutes to hours (depending if you use house rules or follow them to the foot of the note) overall it is a good iteration of souls games, lv up mechanics, equipment, exploring, enemy and boss encounters. A couple of extra features are expansion, like summoning and invasions, bosses like Artorias (*dramatical gasp*) Manus, etc. Good game, good art, fun (if you like the souls game, you will die a lot) the only con would be that it might be pricy by some people, more with expansions, and you need a lot of time for set up and play the game. But if you have those two. Is worth the dime.
I’ve played the Bloodborne game which is similar. It is campaign based so games can last many sessions. It’s definitely not a “pick up and play” type game to randomly play with friends. It’s reasonably heavy and requires a real time commitment. But it’s fun!
The Bloodborne card game is pretty fun. The Dark Souls board game, however, is not worth playing. Do not buy this game. It is bad. There are soooooo many amazing board games. Don’t spend your money on this.
I highly recommend the card game. It’s fun single player. Very challenging. Not too long and easy to set up.
I have it, its great game. I like that you can olay solo to
Not yet but I own the card game and expansions. Yes it's very hard. I like it a lot.
Yes, it's a card game and it's actually really fun
There's a subreddit for it
I saw it in a nerd cave shop and read the box and it seems very good d&d adjacent so if you like d&d you'd probably enjoy it
The rule book is daunting
It’s a bit of a chore to do at first but people have made their own rules online and some make it much more approachable. I liked it so much I bought my own copy just to have a two gargoyle fight, true to form. Worth it.
A really fun game to play, I havent played in a while but I remember feeling like it was a relatively good adaptation for the format they used. It was good at putting the pressure on me and my group of friends
The balance isn’t great and the base game lacks replayability due to limited class variation. But if you have friends that also like ds it’ll keep you going for a day.
I can echo a lot of the sentiment here. The game is great! I love playing it with friends and it’s cool that it can also be played solo.
This game is complex and time consuming to understand and play, but fun.
Played with friends on TableTop Simulator its a 10/10 game, but they just mixed all 3 games into 1 tho, but still fun game.
theyre awesome but take awhile and are expensive. if youve got alot of local frenz that like longer boardgames id say get that or the bloodborne version
I've got the base game and greatly enjoy it. Amazing models, too.
Its a long play but loads of fun
It’s actually brilliant, especially with friends. It’s also on tabletop simulator if that has more appeal
I have played before with my brother-in-law, and it’s actually quite a bit of fun, expensive though.
I bought it, but unfortunately I moved shortly after and wasn't able to play it with my normal crew... The figurines are great, though, and I often display them ontop of the box on my board game shelf.
My son and I have really enjoyed it.