Cyberpunk 2077: The Board Game Preview

boardgamequest.com:

Note: This preview uses pre-release components and rules. What you see here may be different from the final, published game.

Despite its rocky launch, Cyberpunk 2077 is one of my favorite video games of all time. I’m not sure where it would fall in my top 10 video games list, but probably somewhere near the top. According to my stats on Steam, I’ve got about 145 hours played in the game across my different playthroughs. So whenever a new Cyberpunk board game is announced, I’m definitely keen to give it a try.

This actually isn’t the first board game set in Cyberpunk 2077, see Gangs of Night City, but  I haven’t tried that one, so I can’t comment on how it plays. However if I’m going to be controlling the gangs on the streets, I’d rather be playing Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone. But in a new game from publisher Go On Board, we finally get a chance to control the legends of Night City. V, Jackie, Pan Am, and Judy are controllable characters in a tabletop game in Cyberpunk 2077: The Board Game, coming soon to Gamefound.

Cyberpunk 2077: The Board Game takes place in an alternate timeline from the video game. In this world, V and Jackie never took the Konpeki Plaza job that altered their fates forever. Instead, you’ll be writing your own legend in Night City.

For a preview, Go On Board sent us a demo copy of the game that contained just the prologue. So we really only got to experience the beginning of the gameplay. But here are the basics.

Each player starts with one of the aforementioned characters and their specific deck of cards. Each game is based around a mission, which is further divided into a series of rounds. The game uses an optional timer app, but players are free to skip that app and just use any kind of timer they want. The app adds in a voice-over story, music, and timekeeping for the players.

The first part of each round is handled in real-time. On a player’s turn, they first make a combat roll if there is an enemy in range. They roll two dice and take