Roguelikes have taken the video game world by storm as of late. But what about the board game landscape? If you’re looking for a tense, challenging, and strategic gameplay experience with permadeath then take a peek at Necronauts. Currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, this game for 2 to 4 players pits the Necronaut squads against a singular Deity of Death. Therefore, 1 to 3 folks get a squad of their own while only one lucky player gets to control a Deity of their choosing. Game sessions are expected to last from 2 to 3 hours.
The goal of each squad is to explore and survive the Realms of Death – hopefully leaving with new occult knowledge in tow. Each player’s squad starts with four characters and each of great importance. If one is killed then they remain dead for the rest of the game. Each squad is customizable with different classes (soldier, scientist, etc), weaponry, and spells. Survival is challenging but possible against the Deity of Death. The chosen Deity has her own ability card deck and creatures to send out against squads as they traverse through one of five game boards.
Necronauts is an expansive board game and the core set includes a ton of miniatures – 43 in all. Then there are the 5 unique game boards, over 100 equipment cards, various character sheets, 60+ environment tokens and deity cards, 26 dice, and a bit more for good measure. This helps explain the $133 reward tier to grab a copy of the title yourself. Of course, there’s a variety of stretch goals to add more goodies, but let’s focus on reaching their main goal of $88,000 first!
