- home
- guides
Board games are more popular than ever, so if you're trying to find the right one for you, these ones based on video games could be for you
Author:
Ryan Woodrow
Publish date:
No matter how big the digital gaming market gets, it will never kill off board games. In fact, over the past decade or so, tabletop gaming has grown more than ever, becoming a thriving hobby in its own right. Sitting down with some friends and playing a board game is such a different experience from sitting in an online lobby together, but one that can create just as many memorable moments.
If you’re a video gamer wanting to get into the hobby, or a seasoned board gamer trying to lure over your friends, it can be useful to go with what you know. Plenty of video games have board games based on them, but they can often be a little hit-and-miss in terms of quality. We’ve gone through and picked out the very best that manage to adapt the games they’re based on in a way fans will appreciate, while still appealing to veteran board gamers.
The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls
This game isn’t as punishing as the video game, but you’ll find it has a lot of the same charm. After picking your character, you’ll have to battle your way through floors of monsters, gathering coins and items along the way that all have unique abilities. Like the video game, you’ll find items that combo up in ridiculously powerful ways, but you’ll have to be wary of other players getting in your way.
Also, if you’re playing this for the first time, it’s probably a good idea to have BoardGameGeek on standby, as the rulebook isn’t the best at explaining things.
Minecraft: Builders & Biomes
Several Minecraft board games exist, but a lot of them suffer from being aimed at kids, meaning they won’t have much in store for your average hobby gamer. Builders & Biomes is an exception in this regard though.
You’ll move around the board revealing structures to build and monsters to fight. Your goal is to manage your actions to fill up your personal board with the right types of structures and bonuses to slowly build up victory points. You have to do a lot of forward planning to get the most out of it, making it an enticing game. Plus, your resources are represented by a massive cube of little wooden blocks that you slowly “mine” out during the game.
XCOM
Although there is likely a very good board game in XCOM’s tactical mission-based gameplay, this goes in a different direction. Instead, you and your team will be working to oversee everything XCOM does. You’ll be using an app to track your decisions and progress as you combat UFOs, assemble squads for missions, conduct research, and gather funding – all as a ticking timer heaps on the pressure.
Bloodborne
Serving as somewhat of a sequel to the Dark Souls board game, Bloodborne removes some of the frustrations and enhances what worked about the first game. As you make your way through the game’s scenarios and campaigns, you’ll have to slowly make your way from room to room, always wanting to push your luck, but never knowing when you’ll go too far.
It’s a great adaptation of the slow but motivating progression of the video games, with every fight carrying the potential for disaster.
Sniper Elite
If you want tension in your board games, then hidden movement games are about as intense as it gets. These games will see one player writing down their movements in secret as they try to reach objectives, while everyone has at the table has to try and track them down.
Sniper Elite is one of the best in this genre, as the complex maps force you to hide uncomfortably close to those trying to hunt you down. In true Sniper Elite fashion, actually using your rifle is the biggest risk of all, as even if you land a shot, you risk exposing your location and starting a fight you can’t win.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice
With a price tag of $170/£140 and a box the size of a small dog, this game is only for those who are really invested in the hobby, but it’ll be worth it if you’re an Assassin’s Creed fan.
This is what’s known as a “legacy” game, which is designed to be played over many sessions by the same group of players as you progress a campaign. Each mission will have you and your fellow assassins clambering over rooftops, up towers, and into hiding spots, as you attempt to stealth your way around the map and complete your objectives.
Inevitably you’ll mess this up at some point, at which point the board will begin to swarm with enemies, leaving you with only your wits and what few tools you brought with you to make it out alive.
This War of Mine
If you’re looking for a tabletop game that is as close to the video game experience as possible, This War of Mine is a good one to go for. Virtually all of the game’s mechanics were translated in a satisfying way to the tabletop version. You’ll need to gather resources, set up a base of operations, and recruit survivors to help you work.
The harsh realities of war are still there too, as you’ll need to defend yourself from raiders and be faced with some tough moral decisions to keep your group alive until the hostilities cease.
Talisman: Kingdom Hearts Edition
This is a slight cheat, as Talisman wasn’t originally based on a video game. However, it’s one of the best adventure games you’ll ever play in tabletop. The Kingdom Hearts Edition brings everything together in a neat package for fans of the series, but the strange discoveries, tense encounters, and freeform exploration from the original are still there in spades. If you’re not a Kingdom Hearts fan there are also Batman, Harry Potter, and Star Wars versions, plus the original with all its expansions.
Skyrim: The Adventure Game
Like Assassin’s Creed, this is a legacy game that will have you take on several different campaigns. However, what makes this more interesting is that you can do what you should do in any good RPG – get endlessly drawn off course by dungeons and side quests. Go into towns and encounter strangers, delve into caves in the world to fight monsters and level up, plus you can invest your skills in any way you want.
Stardew Valley
Making a cute farm life for yourself has never been so intense in this Stardew Valley board game. You’ll have the full town to explore with the ability to mine, fish, farm, forage, make friends, and fill up the museum – and you’ll need to do all of these things to restore the community center and win the game.
With the seasons ticking away and only one in-game year to complete everything, it’s surprisingly difficult to pull all your resources together. Every movement and action matters, and you’ll have long discussions with your co-op partners over what needs to be prioritized every turn. It’s a challenge, but extremely rewarding when everything comes together.
