The tabletop hobby has been long migrating towards gaming systems and vice versa. The latest to get a digital adaptation is Osprey Games’ brilliant Undaunted: Normandy, deemed as one of the best war board games of all time.
Players who may be interested in experiencing their favorite tabletop title in a digital format will be happy to find out that an early access version for PC is already available. The computer version follows the original created by Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, the games and series’ acclaimed designers.
Essentially, this is another game about conflict set in World War II with the American troops descending on Europe and fighting the German soldiers in the battle of Normandy. The gameplay is driven by a deck of cards, which is why Undaunted: Normandy is also deemed one of the best deckbuilding games as well.
Regardless, Normandy has spawned a mini-cult among war gamers who are generally a fussy lot and prefer “dudes-on-map” type of games, but who have taken kindly to the intricate design and rewarding experience that is Undaunted since the first game was introduced in 2019. Since then, the designer duo has worked on a number of standalone chapters, including Undaunted: North Africa, Reinforcements, Stalingrad, and most recently, the Battle of Britain.
As to the PC version of the game, it’s developed by Bookmark Games, a company with a fairly low profile, which previously introduced Pavlov’s House, another board game adaptation also designed by Thompson. Pavlov’s House, though, was remarkably well-received on Steam. In the PC adaptation, players can play against one another or play against an AI opponent who will give you a proper challenge and can be calibrated based on its difficulty level.
Undaunted Normandy by Bookmark Games is now available on Steam and you can purchase the game on Steam for about $18 with an early access discount available through Friday, August 4. The current version of the game is a fairly trimmed-down option for the time being as the full release of the game is planned for 2024. A mobile version for iPad devices is also in the works, and the game will also feature a campaign mode once it is completed by Bookmark Studios.
Recently, Asmodee confirmed that its popular Legend of Five Ring card game will also receive a video game adaptation, part of the synergy-synching within Embrace Group.