Deep Rock Galactic is becoming a frantic co-op adventure board game
Deep Rock Galactic, the four-player cooperative first-person shooter, is getting the board game treatment. Initially announced in October, franchise creators Ghost Ship Games are partnering with Mood Publishing to bring the tabletop version to market. The next step is a crowdfunding campaign, which launches on Kickstarter later this month. Polygon spoke with lead designer Ole Steiness and Ghost Ship CEO Søren Lundgaard to learn more.
Deep Rock Galactic launched on Steam in 2018 as an early access game, quickly earning a dedicated fanbase ahead of its formal 2020 launch. The Left 4 Dead-like co-op game puts players in the role of hard-bitten dwarf miners working an asteroid in deep space. Barring the way between them and untold riches is a diverse range of insectoid enemies. Players either make it back to the drilling platform with armloads of loot, or die horribly underneath a tsunami of chitinous claws.
First-person shooter video games are traditionally a challenge to translate to the tabletop. It seems that for every excellent adaptation — like the original Tannhauser or CGE’s Adrenaline — there are four terrible releases. One excellent example served as Steiness’ inspiration: Jonathan Ying’s Doom: The Board Game, published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2016. It blended medium-complexity gameplay with gorgeous production values. Ghost Ship and Mood are headed in the same direction, including large, detailed miniatures and quality of life upgrades like dual-layer player sideboards.
“[Doom] was the framework,” Steiness told Polygon. “That was kind of the same tabletop presence we were looking for. We knew it was going to look awesome with all the miniature dwarfs running around. We could have some custom dice, and you can
Read more on polygon.com
