Every self-respecting gamer knows that Dark Souls is a game in which you die a lot, just to get back up and try again until you either succeed or run out of patience and quit. Steamforged Games has that exact same approach to the franchise, announcing its most recent attempt at turning Dark Souls into a board game masterpiece – Dark Souls: The Board Game – The Sunless City.
This latest edition promises new community-driven rules, a whole new encounter system, backwards compatible rules – so older Dark Souls: The Board Game core sets can be included – and the addition of free downloadable encounter and event cards to further spice up the gaming experience. Additionally, Steamforged Games have announced that The Sunless City will be a cooperative gaming experience for 1-3 players that can play as the Herald, Pyromancer, or Warrior. Additionally, there is an option of a fourth player inclusion to the adventure, when you add an additional core set to the game.
The Dark Souls Board Game Community Cracks Down on Steamforged
All this sounds good on paper, but the community was quick to point out their frustrations with Steamforged Games – those changes aren’t exactly what the community had wanted, which puts a major crack at their “community-driven” claims. This also highlights another worrying tendency with Steamforged’s take on the Dark Souls genre – they have amazing campaigns that wow spectators and backers, generating a lot of hype behind the project. That is, until the time for distribution comes along.
Perhaps the most notable example of the above-mentioned issues was the launch of Dark Souls: The Roleplaying Game, which disappointed players with its myriad of issues, ranging from simple spelling mistakes to game-breaking rule inconsistencies that rendered the game nigh unplayable. Steamforged Games did issue a formal apology on the matter, but the damage was already done.
Dark Souls: The Board Game – The Sunless City’s inclusion of fan-favorite bosses like Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough didn’t manage to make the fans take the hype train. The game’s official Facebook post is riddled with feedback, suggestions and requests by fans directly to the developer. Fans have been pretty vocal about their desire for an update pack for existing backers, but there have been no such plans from Steamforged as of yet. That’s not to say they won’t listen, but no one knows what the future holds.