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CMON have created a classic story by accidentally turning a Wikipedia joke into a full on game character, while UBoot invites you to get very stressed indeed.
A Wikipedia joke turned a New Zealand farmer into a CMON character
Rising Sun is an Eric Lang / CMON game which raised over $4m on Kickstarter, including a wealth of stretch goals. The theme is Japanese mythology, and the game came with all sorts of characters from that country’s folklore… and one which amusingly isn’t.
Rising Sun managed to get all the way through design, Kickstarter and production with a stretch goal based around Kõtahi, a creature Wikipedia described as “a Manawa Bradford, a spirit monkey that is very hairy and gets engulfed in rage.”
Only when an eagle-eyed gamer called Yoshiya Shindo wondered why he’d never heard of this before did the truth emerge: there is no Kõtahi in Japanese folklore, it exists only as a joke Wikipedia entry added about a chap from New Zealand, who is hairy and gets in rages.
CMON have admitted they were fooled and are sending the real Kotahi-Manawa Bradford a copy of the game. He thinks this is awesome, and loves the artwork based around, well, him.
Matt Leacock’s Forbidden series gets a third entry
Given the reception Pandemic received it’s easy to forget that designer Matt Leacock has another series of co-operative games, both Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert. Now there’s going to be a third one, and it’s in the air: Forbidden Sky.
Sadly that’s about all we know because the teaser video just shows an electrical storm, the familiar art style, the subtitle Height of Danger and very little else. We assume it’ll be a co-op where the peril ramps quickly up and another entry into a great series.
Uboot takes your Das Boot fantasies / nightmares and makes them real
Have you ever wanted to command a submarine? Not in real life where the claustrophobia will become massive very quick, but in a game? Is this your nightmare? Uboot looks like being the best and most intense simulation yet, as it uses an app to take a co-operative team of players into the world of WW2 German Uboats.
Physically you have boards, charts and a 90cm model submarine to move around, but it’s the app which simulates weather, encounters and even looking through the periscope, at which point an officer has to explain to a captain what he or she has seen, and the captain then has to issue orders… but give too many orders and the crew get stressed with you.
It’s on Kickstarter now and has already funded what looks a very deep experience.
Team behind Rory’s Story Cubes rebrand as board game company
The Creativity Hub, aka the people behind Rory’s Story Cubes, have re-branded themselves as Hub Games. The switch supports a move from being educational to all out tabletop game design, or as they put it:
“Hub Games aims to publish games that foster discussion between players at the table and beyond; games with heart… By encouraging self-expression through play and having gamers reflect on the choices they make, Hub Games looks to push past the idea of games being simple entertainment.”
No word yet on what these games will be, but it’s worth noting that the Story Cubes were used in an RPG, so it could be anything.
City of Gears rescued from development hell
It’s fair to say City of Gears has had a difficult gestation. Chris Leder, of Roll For It fame, initially designed it in 2012, inspired by steampunk and the concept of applying dice mechanics to Lords of Waterdeep.
Having been signed to a studio the game floundered and then vanished from the radar, but recently Leder worked with Daryl Andrews of Sagrada fame to perform necromancy, and now Grey Fox Games are going to bring it to Kickstarter. The campaign kicks off in a few weeks.
Great Western Trail gets Rails to the North expansion
This is a bit of a thin news story, because not much is known. The Board Game Geek team have noticed that Pegasus Spiele have listed a Great Western Trail expansion for the middle of 2018, which inspires a lot of thoughts about how the cattle moving game will be enhanced with rails (and northern America), but further details and an official announcement are for the future.
Way of the Fighter brings videogame battles to the table
Way of the Fighter is basically Street Fighter the board game, and if you think we’re reading too much into this the game is coming out as two standalone releases labelled Super and Turbo much like… you get the idea. Use cards and dice to battle two cardboard standees on a playmat in a vicious close quarter combat. Get both Super and Turbo, with five characters in each, and you can use a four player mode.
Release date is February 14, but may we suggest something more romantic for that occasion.
Clank is going to the Pyramids
Clank is coming back from space and going into the past, because their new expansion sees you plundering pyramids. Yes, The Mummy’s Curse is a new expansion for the base Clank game, and as the title suggests there’s some bandaged baddies wanting to stop your thefts. Oh, and there’s another dragon. You’re looking at a spring release date.
The Deadpool team are rumoured to be making a Cluedo movie
Movie rumour time: a new adaption of Clue/Cluedo is in the works, and not only is Ryan Reynolds believed to be involved, so are his Deadpool writing team. Now Deadpool wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea but it was an undoubted hit, and the mind boggles as to what they’ll do with the source material.
Okay there’s not much source material, but this could be hilarious.
Wizkids take us Beyond the Edge
Wizkids and Ken Shannon last combined on Appraoching Dawn: The Witching Hour, and are uniting again for a sci fi themed campaign game. Beyond the Edge is set in the far future after much of the galaxy has been destroyed, and promises an innovative campaign to tie your games together. However, not only will you carry forward the results of your games, the system will let you drop into friend’s games with your existing force. April 2018 is the target date.