Few titles in the past ten years have captured the public’s imagination quite like FromSoftware’s Elden Ring. As video games continue to influence the world of board games, it was only a matter of time before this colossal game joined the ranks. Steamforged Games, known for adapting major video game hits like Resident Evil, Monster Hunter World, and Dark Souls, has taken on the challenge. Thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2022, Elden Ring: The Board Game is now almost ready for backers and available for preorder for everyone else. Get ready, Tarnished; the battle awaits you once more.
Elden Ring takes you on a journey through various scenarios in a campaign style, where you and your fellow players develop your characters as the story unfolds. Steamforged Games has crafted three distinct “campaigns” for players to dive into: Realm of the Grafted King, The Weeping Peninsula, and Stormveil Castle. The Grafted King offers the base game experience while the other two serve as standalone expansions. These expansions can be tackled individually or after completing Grafted King, boosting your characters’ strengths as you proceed. Each box provides access to unique classes: the Grafted King box includes Vagabond, Samurai, Astrologer, and Prophet; Weeping Peninsula features Hero, Prophet, Astrologer, and Bandit; and Stormveil Castle packs in Confessor, Prisoner, Samurai, and Vagabond.
A formidable presence on the shelf, Elden Ring arrives in hefty boxes filled with intimidating monster miniatures, countless cards, and an assortment of components like cardboard tokens and scenario guides. It stands as one of the most daunting games I’ve ever owned, and that’s just with one campaign in my possession—I haven’t even added the other two boxes or the bonus boss sets yet. Steamforged has delivered an exceptional level of production value, featuring impressively detailed miniatures and high-quality cards and components.
The game offers a variety of scenarios that keep the experience fresh, ensuring you’re not repeating the same tasks. However, some scenarios perform better than others. Narrative scenarios involve reading chunks of story, making choices, and undertaking skill checks, but they didn’t quite fit my style—if I wanted a deep narrative experience, I’d probably read a book or dive into Dungeons & Dragons.
Exploration scenarios captured my attention, brilliantly embodying Elden Ring’s essence of discovery. Players explore the map by flipping and placing tiles, each potentially revealing enemies, items, or other curiosities. This exploration mirrors the excitement found in games like Betrayal at House on the Hill and Clank! Catacombs, enhancing both discovery and replayability due to the random tile placement. These scenarios strike a balance between combat, story, and exploration—offering the full Elden Ring experience without overwhelming players.
The remaining three scenario types—Gauntlet, Dungeon, and Boss—are all about combat. Gauntlets toss you into challenging fights against mobs with special rules, while Dungeons proceed similarly but culminate in a boss fight. Boss scenarios, where you face the game’s toughest opponents, test your build and team coordination to the utmost. Throughout these encounters, Elden Ring emphasizes combat, but the quality of this aspect makes it enjoyable.
Combat unfolds on grids from the game’s included ring-bound notebooks. Some battles expand across multiple pages, forming a battlefield that requires strategic movement. Attacks have specific ranges that play into positioning, with various bonuses available based on your standing. These battles had us frequently plotting and trying to survive relentless enemy onslaughts, with many of our strategies meeting grim ends—because the foes in this game are no joke.
Basic enemies rely on action cards to explain their moves, making the mechanics relatively manageable after some adjustment to their symbols. Bosses offer a different challenge entirely, with dedicated decks and unpredictable reaction times. These fights are intense, balanced well by player-scalable health pools, ensuring fairness while remaining thrilling and challenging.
Notably, Elden Ring forgoes dice, instead leaning into a card-driven deck-building approach. Your equipped gear dictates the deck, while damage and special effects rely on an Attribute deck filled with symbols representing stats like Strength and Dexterity. This makes the gameplay intricate and immersive.
Character progression is pivotal, and Elden Ring allows you to enhance your abilities and customize gear using a Rune system that tracks your equipment load. Though intuitive, Steamforged’s Rune tracking system—using small cards—is lacking, often resulting in clutter. A straightforward tracker would simplify the process. Even so, the community or Steamforged may yet provide a solution.
My first encounter with Elden Ring was daunting, not due to the game’s mechanics but because I started with the Stormveil Castle campaign. Though standalone, it assumes familiarity with earlier campaigns, leading to a confusing setup for new players. Prospective players should definitely start with Realm of the Grafted King.
Where to Buy
Experience Elden Ring’s rich world firsthand by snagging your copy. Meanwhile, countless other board games inspired by video games await exploration.
