Kickstarter is becoming the go-to place to discover new and emerging tabletop games. Gaming publications and other nerd culture outlets use the website to determine some hot new releases. Card games, board games, tabletops like Dungeons & Dragons – many of them have planted a place in both nerd and mainstream culture.
Many of these popular titles offer great rewards for pledges, promises great adventures and has something different than the other. Video games are not the only thing heating up for an exciting and packed release schedule next year; here are 10 tabletop games from Kickstarter that enthusiasts should keep an eye on before 2020 comes.
10 A Time for Sacrifice: A Call of Cthulhu Adventure
Want a Cthulhu-based tabletop? Look no further than A Time for Sacrifice, a licensed product from Chaosium. This is a 7th edition adventure book set from New Comet Games. So far, it has quadrupled its initial goal of $2,000. Pretty impressive!
The game will be set in South America during the 1920s, including a couple locations in Mesoamerica and Mayan society respectively. The artwork is by Edoardo Campagnolo. With each stretch goal reached, New Comet Games adds a new adventure. They also noted, “Each of the included missions are stand-alone. However, a creative Keeper could easily stitch them together into a campaign.”
Time for Sacrifice: A Call of Cthulhu Adventure is scheduled for release in May 2020.
9 Spire’s End
What’s special about this story-driven card game is that one person developed it. Greg Favro is an art director and graphic designer based in Los Angeles. His goal was $8,500, but he raised over $40,000 for his passion project. He was inspired by the tabletop games of his childhood such as Zork, Dungeons & Dragons and Planet of the Apes.
Spire’s End is marketed as a “high-stakes horror game” to be played solo or between two people. Two of the biggest appeals of the card game are high-quality art and distinctive design. There is no bookkeeping or character sheet involved; players can just jump in with the cards, dice and cube markers.
Spire’s End is scheduled for release in July 2020.
8 Village Attacks: Grim Dynasty
For those unfamiliar with the original Village Attacks, the premise is that the one to five players become monsters! It’s role reversal: instead of the player raiding mortals/humans, they are raiding the monsters! The game is a full, cooperative experience, and Grim Dynasty is a Chinese-themed expansion.
The artwork for some of the monsters and villagers are simply stunning, and they offer many perks and rewards for backing the project. It has over 2,000 backers and more than doubled its goal of $100,000. The original Village Attacks was reviewed by various tabletop game enthusiasts and YouTubers, including Who Dare Rolls and The Dice Tower.
Village Attacks: Grim Dynasty is scheduled for release in June 2020.
7 Beyond Humanity: Colonies
Another space colonization game, Beyond Humanity: Colonies raised $230,000 so far; their initial goal was $45,000! The goal of Beyond is to explore “unknown and dangerous” exoplanets and set up colonies using worker placement strategy. Most Kickstarter tabletops come with miniatures, but Beyond has something the others don’t: electronic minis! There’s also a companion app!
Beyond Humanity: Colonies is scheduled for release in September 2020. It’s important to note that this game is a Kickstarter exclusive and has no plans for retail distribution.
6 Titan
Titan has raised almost $60,800, and their original goal was over $27,000. Another sci-fi adventure tabletop, this game is more geared towards space exploration than battles for the fate of humanity. With an art style reminiscent of 1960s American propaganda, Titan invites two to four players to become a Freelancer and journey to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon on a resource expedition.
There’s a specialized board the players use during the game. According to Titan’s Kickstarter page, the objective is to use “network building, resource management and worker placement… to retrieve as many resources as possible.” While it is technically not an RPG game, what fun would it be to interject characters in this interesting world built on the height of space exploration of the 1960s?
Titan is scheduled for release in November 2020.
5 Haunted West
Now it’s time for something a little different. Haunted West is a Spaghetti Western action game, but it also operates as historical fiction. Funded in less than three hours, this RPG game has almost raised $50,000. Their initial goal was $10,000.
Haunted West aims to subvert the expectations of people’s idea of the American Wild West. Created by Darker Hue Studios, the development team “Haunted West aims to tell many of those stories, to shine a light on the proud people who shaped America and fought for her just as much as those people whose stories are central to widely-known American folklore.” The game also brands itself as a “Weird West” tale, approaching alternative history with three tiers of play.
Haunted West is scheduled for release in July 2020.
4 High Frontier 4 All
This will be the 4th edition of Phil Eklund’s acclaimed High Frontier series. The goal of the project was $10,000. Sierra Madre Games raised over $200,000 with over 2,500 backers and counting. That’s insane!
Space exploration is the goal of the game, giving one to five players the freedom to do as they please. Industrialization and colonization are eventual realities if the player goes about it strategically. According to the game’s Kickstarter page, factories are also an important part of the game.
Sierra Madre Games are also aiming for the game to be more friendly to beginners. There is a tutorial, helpful illustrations, “introductory games” and other aids to help new players. A big community component will also be available; as more real-world technological advances are made, players are free to integrate these changes into their modules.
High Frontier 4 All is scheduled for release in November 2019.
3 Infinity Defiance
This sci-fi adventure was created by Corvus Belli to be a dungeon crawler experience. So far, this tabletop game raised over $510,000, and their initial goal was $111,086. Defiance is the next installment in the Infinity universe created by Corvus Belli, who has been involved in the wargaming and miniature industry for 18 years.
The game allows “up to four players [to] control a commando unit of four elite soldiers in the Infinity Universe.” Like any other RPG, they can gain skills, equipment, weapons and other gear to increase their stats. The story follows a group of humans on a ship called the Defiance. These “heroes” fight against the Combined Army Forces, aliens who aim to conquer the last vestiges of human civilization. The game also has a modular board.
Infinity Defiance is scheduled to be delivered in July 2020.
2 Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood
Talk about hype! This game has a whopping $1,680,000 funded, and it keeps going up! It’s original goal was $50,000 and almost has 9,500 backers. Oathsworn is a grimdark fantasy tabletop game that has already gotten multiple reviews and playtests.
One to five players can come across hundreds of different weapons with their own unique abilities; according to the page, this can allow the player to customize their playstyle. The combat, called the Battleflow System, utilizes dice, chance and cards to shape out the outcome of combat. The game also offers realistically proportioned figures so players can grasp the scope of the monsters they face.
Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood is scheduled to be delivered in December 2020.
1 Zombicide 2nd Edition
Over $2 million raised. Over 13,000 people have backed this game. One of the first games a prospective buyer sees when they search “tabletop games” on Kickstarter. Zombicide is one of the bigger tabletop games making waves right now.
The second edition brings back same high-octane gameplay as the original. It also comes with “all-new art, miniatures, updated rules, fast setup” and the Washington Z.C. Expansion for the campaign. New characters and choices are available for players to decide the fate of the story. There is also a new RPG element separate from the actual game, where players can portray and “develop” the survivors of the apocalypse.
Zombicide 2nd Edition is scheduled for release in November 2020.
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