It's been a hell of a ride in the lead up to this one, what with controversy around shipping prices, uncertainty regarding Brexit and a global pandemic thrown in for good measure. In spite of all this the game is finally landing with eager backers, and after cutting my teeth on a fair few sessions now it's time to review this behemoth.
For clarity, I backed the game with an all-in pledge and as such have access to all content. For the purposes of this review, however, I will be focussing only on content included in the core box, not including any stretch goals, Kickstarter exclusives or add-ons.
With that said, let's get to it, good hunters!
Title: Bloodborne: The Board Game
Publisher: CMON Games
Designed by: <PERSON> and <PERSON>
Player count: 1-4 Players
What is Bloodborne: The Board Game?
Bloodborne: The Board Game is a tactical, combat-based and story-driven game set in the universe of From Software's critically acclaimed Playstation game of the same name. The game world takes place in the doomed city of Yharnam, an ancient town with a love of gothic architecture and a ongoing problem with the eldritch. You are a Hunter, arriving in the town in search of the mysterious Paleblood only to find it overrun by vile beasts and the townsfolk driven into a bloodthirsty madness. Whilst the board game doesn't follow the video game exactly the same story beats are here, and if you're familiar with the video game you'll find it ticks a lot of boxes both mechanically and thematically. The addition of the Hunt Track, however, introduces a fail state and time limit that adds tension but might not sit right with everyone.
A round in Bloodborne consists of each hunter taking it in turns to draw three 'stat' cards from a customisable deck of 12 (upgraded throughout the game and persistent throughout the entirety of a campaign), then using these to move around the board, attack enemies, search for treasure to aid them in their quest and complete missions they uncover along the way. 299
How and when you use these stat cards is vital to your success, as a stat card discarded to move can't be used to attack, while a card used to attack can't be used to dodge out of the way should your foe survive the onslaught.
These stat cards are not made equal either, and each one will modify your actions in some way. Some make your attacks stronger, some give you the opportunity to dodge enemy attacks, some heal you and others allow you to draw additional stat cards for use straight away, granting you further actions in a single turn and allowing you to manipulate the action economy to your advantage. How you use these cards, and indeed how you choose to update your deck are key parts of the game, affecting not only how you approach situations but how you react to the situations that approach you.
This level of customisation is present throughout Bloodborne: The Board Game, and decisions you make at every stage impact outcomes throughout each session. Which one of the four trick weapons did you choose? How have you changed your stat deck? Did you help the NPC earlier, or leave them to save themselves? Even your enemies have two different sides to their stat cards with unique attacks and abilities on them, and playing a game with a different combination of these cards can have a major impact on your approach.
From a narrative perspective the game comes with four story-based Campaigns, each comprised of three Chapters that in turn contains a number of Missions. It's unlikely that you'll be able to complete every Mission in a single run, and many missions have choices you must make that affect the outcome. These choices also affect the flow of future missions, as people you helped may come back to aid you further (or even, in some instances, betray you) and different rewards are given based on the choices you make.
So far so good, but how does it play?
Playing the game
As mentioned above, during their turn players will draw three stat cards from their own personal deck of twelve, and these will be used to carry out actions during their turn. These cards come in four flavours, Strength cards that can make your attacks stronger, Endurance cards that allow you to evade damage and dodge attacks, Skill cards that allow you to stagger enemies and interrupt their actions, and Vitality cards which allow you to draw additional cards during your turn.
Prioritising Vitality cards can allow you to carry out four, five or even more actions in the same turn, while Strength cards might mean you can put an enemy down in a single attack, negating the need to spend multiple actions attacking it in the first place. These are simple examples, and the cards often allow more complex additional effects (such as speeding up an attack, healing your hunter or clearing a slot on your weapon to allow you to use it again), but this covers the basics of the system. 884