Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game is now available for you to back on Kickstarter from the mighty Mythic Games. If you're a fan of the brutal video game or like your dungeon delvers with a twist then this is well worth a look.

Check Out Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game On Kickstarter

In Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game you take on the role of a band of adventurers descending into the depths in order to fight terrifying monsters, cruel and dangerous bandits and face down terrible bosses. Throughout all of this, you'll be growing and developing your characters, levelling them up and trying to avoid being dragged down into the depths of despair.

Painted Miniatures // Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game

This marks a change from the video game by Red Hook Studios where you take on the role of someone guiding the fates of the various mercenaries and heroes you can persuade to fight the terrors beneath your town. The board game embraces a more personal side to Darkest Dungeon where you are stood in the leather boots of these individuals.

Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game is an entirely cooperative affair where you and three other players take control of a band of four characters and venture deep into the darkness. In an interesting twist, you will always play with four characters, regardless of the number of players. This means if you're taking on the game solo then you'll be marshalling all of the characters at once.

Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game Gameplay

If you're interested in delving deeper into the gameplay behind this board game adaptation then we do have a Let's Play which you can watch below.

Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game Let's Play // Mythic Games

However, we can also talk about some of the highlights of gameplay here too. One element of the game that impressed me most was the way it handles the cooperative experience. All of the decisions we were making during our demo and Let's Play felt like they had real consequences and made things easier or harder for the other players.

Gameplay Set-Up // Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game

The game is packed with interesting choices as to when is best to use certain resources and which creatures to attack when. Game turns during combat are handled by an initiative deck and also determined by the place that the heroes and villains are placed on two different tracks. As well as working out when your characters can attack, this also works out your stance which works out what actions you can take during your turn and also who the monsters attack.

This is where Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game feels like the video game. The positioning of your party, the items you're using up and the way you tackle each encounter to try and make the most of every inch feels like the Darkest Dungeon game that you can play on PC or console.

Watch Our Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game Interview

Whilst the game features moments of brutal combat there is also more to Darkest Dungeon. Much like in the digital game you also spend some of your time down in the dungeon exploring, searching for loot, avoiding traps and more. You'll move through a small map and have to deal with the trials and tribulations of travelling, managing your torch to keep a light burning, all whilst scouting ahead (if you have the time!) to plan your next move.

The Characters & Miniatures Of Darkest Dungeon

In looking to make this analogue experience feel as close to the digital one as possible the team at Mythic have produced an array of miniatures which match the artwork exceptionally well.

Bounty Hunter // Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game

Chris Bourassa's impressive style has translated well into the characters, monsters, cards, tokens and more that you get with this game. This is pretty impressive and as you'll have seen by the painted miniatures featured above (work by Seb Lavigne) this is something which I think Darkest Dungeon fans are going to adore.

Crusader // Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game

One of the things that makes Darkest Dungeon a fun experience for a group is also the amount of depth given to each character. Regardless of who you pick, you've got something interesting to get your head around mechanically.

Hellion // Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game

For example, if you're playing the Bounty Hunter then you have the ability to yank your foes around and reposition them for better strikes. You also have the ability to mark them for death, giving you bonuses to your next strike. In contrast, the Hellion is also a combat fiend but she focuses on striking lots of foes at once and leaping around in the stance queue to get the most from her abilities.

Jester // Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game

By comparison, the Vestal (who you'll see below) is the party healer and is able to make her presence known in combat and when simply exploring.

Vestal // Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game

This all comes together to produce a game which is packed with asymmetrical characters who you need to combine together in order to overcome your foes. I love dungeon-delving games which produce a puzzle for you to solve. It's one of the things that I love about Gloomhaven and Mythic Games have done a great job in generating a fascinating puzzle for you to solve here in Darkest Dungeon too.

Plague Doctor // Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game

Hopefully, you've seen that we had a great time playing Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game and if this ticks any of your boxes then make sure to go and check out the Kickstarter Campaign on the various links featured here.

Check Out Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game On Kickstarter

As with all of Mythic Games' Kickstarters, there are sure to be plenty more things for you to experience once the campaign begins. You can also find out more from Mythic Games themselves here...

• Darkest Dungeon - The Quest Begins 
• Darkest Dungeon - Heroes & Stances
• Darkest Dungeon - Questing & Exploration
• Darkest Dungeon - Combat
• Darkest Dungeon - The Hamlet

Stretch Goals and more will no doubt be in the works so keep an eye out and we'll be checking back to feature anything awesome that they throw into the mix!

Are you going to be backing this campaign?