Dark Fantasy has been all the rage for a while now. Ever since the early seasons of Game of Thrones took the world by storm in the 2010s, just about every medium out there has been hunting for something that would capture the same vibe.
One example of this phenomenon, containingcontributions from George R. R. Martin himself, is Elden Ring, the latest game from FromSoftware, the publisher behind the equally dark, equally fantastic Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. If you’re a fan of any of those titles and are looking for board games that will carry the same vibe, this list is for you.
Dark Souls The Card Game: Core Game
Captures The Dark Souls Spirit
Based on the quintessential work of dark fantasy in the video game medium, Dark Souls The Card Game translates the harsh but satisfying spirit of some of the difficult games into a tabletop format.
There are a couple of games that are actually adapted from FromSoftware’s titles, including games based on some of the company’s other titles aside from Elden Ring.
Designed to take the complex and hardcore gameplay of the Dark Souls games and translate them into a comparatively simple tabletop format, this cooperative card game allows you and your friends an opportunity to work together and overcome great challenges in the dark fantasy world.
Bloodborne: The Board Game
Your prey shall be slaughtered
Another adaptation of a FromSoftware game, this title takes the brutal monster-hunting action of its source material and morphs it into a dynamic and satisfying tabletop experience.
Another cooperative game with a significant amount of card play, this adaptation of Bloodborne hasyou working together to hunt monstersand save the city of Yharnam from them.
This game is complex and challenging, but its cooperative nature allows you and your friends to face this challenge together and also allows more experienced players to aid new ones to keep the game enjoyable for all. Hunters have a variety of cool, transforming weapons that they can upgrade as the game goes on, and there are loads of cool monsters from the game to do battle with. Expansions to the game contain additional hunters to provide greater variety and enhance replay value.
Descent: Legends of the Dark
One Of The Genre’s Definitive Works
One of the most definitive works in the Dungeon Crawl genre, Descent: Legends of the Dark, is as rich as an entire Tabletop RPG campaign but manages to fit all of that awesomeness in a single box with no game master.
A pillar of the dungeon crawling genre, an iteration of a foundational classic andone of the best fantasy board games out there, Descent: Legends of the Dark is the most recent core version of the Descent Dungeon crawling board game series. It’s also an extremely intricate and well-crafted masterpiece with a complex and evolving story.
This game has an entire TTRPG campaign’s worth of content, with about fourteen hours of adventures playable in single-hour sessions.
Frosthaven
A Staggering Amount Of Content
This tabletop game, which is playable standalone or as an expansion of the equally exceptional Gloomhaven, has an enormous amount of dungeon crawling content for you and your friends to enjoy.
Remember just a second ago when we praised Descent for having fourteen hours of content? Of course, you do. Well, Frosthaven has one hundred. Yes, really. There are one hundred scenarios in this game, which, depending on how many players you have, translates to as many hours of gameplay, if not more.
Of course, all of that content is excellently made, with each scenario telling a story in the bleak but engaging Gloomhaven universe and making the colony of Frosthaven an extremely fleshed-out locale. This game’s staggering amount of dungeon-crawling content is on top of the backward-compatible original game, which contains a similar amount of content, all of it in an engaging dark fantasy setting full of awesome adventures.
Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion
Even More Gloomhaven Content
This prequel to the original Gloomhaven game contains even more scenarios that can stand on their own or be mixed and matched with both the original game and its spin-off.
Another completely standalone expansion on the original Gloomhaven, this prequel campaign has another twenty-five scenarios that link together into a unique story with its own protagonists. The adventures in this campaign can be played individually or in sequence, and when you’re done with them, you can take the heroes of this story and lead them through all of the other packages of Gloomhaven content.
If you do manage to get your hands on all the Gloomhaven content out there, you’re going to encounter a lot of scenarios. There are 95 from the original game, Frosthaven’s 100, this game’s 25, and the additional 20 from theForgotten Circles expansion. That’s a total of 240 scenarios and about as many hours of content. If you played this game in four-hour weekly sessions, it’d take you more than two years to run out of material.
Mage Knight: Ultimate Edition
For Gamers Who Like A Challenge
One of the most intricate dark fantasy board games out there and also one of the best solo experiences on the market, this game allows your mage knights to work at odds or together to conquer the realm.
We’ve been focused on Dungeon Crawling games for a bit now, and for good reason. Fantasy adventure is a major element of Elden Ring. However, the game is specifically distinctly aboutdarkfantasy adventure, and if you want something dark,something that lets you play as the villainand bring ruin to the realm, Mage Knight is right for you.
This extremely intricate game has tons going on. There are mechanics for just about every aspect of your evil overlord’s arsenal and all of the many different ways cities will try to resist being conquered by you. you’re able to work as a single conqueror, team up with similar friends, or compete against them in the game’s various different modes.
FAQ
What is the most similar game to Elden Ring?
Each of the games on this list are somewhat similar to Elden Ring itself. Once it comes out, the Elden Ring tabletop game will likely be more similar to it than any of these items, but, for the time being, the Bloodborne board game here might be the closest experience.
Does Elden Ring have a board game?
Yes. It’s been on Kickstarter for a few years now and is currently available for pre-order.
