Dark Souls The Sunless City board game review: Prepare to Die (again)

The Dark Souls board game lineup has had a complex rollout, and that might be being generous. The first game racked up over five million dollars on Kickstarter but was bogged down with some weird design choices before being amended with the help of the community.

All good, right? Well, sadly, no - the revised editions seemingly hit a lower quality control bar than the original, but the Sunless City's new content is available as a free download for existing players to add to the original so you can bring your existing set up to date. You'll want to, as well, because the latest Core Set (Steamforged Games wanted me to be clear that it's not an expansion) is very fun to play, and a great place to start your adventure if you didn't pick up a prior version.

Die & die again

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It's worth stressing that Sunless City is essentially a redux in many ways of the original boxed product, dragged up to date with the updated ruleset of 2.0 - or so I'm told. I'm relatively new to board games, so this is my first visit to Dark Souls' Lordran in the tabletop format.

Still, in doing my research, there's a lot here that's not new if you've already got the original set or the revamped one. Much of what is on offer here lines up with the contents of prior versions, meaning this is less one for the hardcore fans and an easier, slightly cheaper way of diving into things fresh without hunting for the increasingly rare original.

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In the box, you'll find fifteen miniatures, including iconic bosses Ornstein and Smough, over 200 tokens, almost 200 cards, bespoke dice, and much, much more. In fact, opening the box is as much of a 'wow' moment as it is a little terrifying for a board game novice like myself.

If you're a more experienced Dark Souls player, you can combine it with prior sets, too, but everything you need for a solo or co-op campaign is right here.

Draw cards & swords

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Players take on one of three classes (Warrior, Herald, or Pyromancer) to navigate Anor Londo, the Sunless City. Your goal is to kill the aforementioned bosses, and you'll do this by working through encounters. Death sets you back to your bonfire, and while there you can improve your skills and level up.

Unlike the games, though, bonfires have a limit to how many visits you can make to them. That adds an extra element of pressure on top of the already tricky systems that you won't find in the video game. Death also causes enemies to respawn, too, so early losses can lead to almost insurmountable odds.

Encounter cards range from clashes with standard-fare soldiers to the Titanite Demon, and my favourite part is that all of them feel worthwhile in some way. While clashes against the big boys of Anor Londo felt tense, it's just as easy to be slain by a bog-standard Crossbow arrow.

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That feeling of randomisation is offset by a robust gear system. Will you look to stay mobile with light armour and use stamina to dodge? Or go for the heavy plating to absorb damage and strike back? Preparation is important because enemies move and act first, so you're constantly on the back foot.

Add to that a variety of traps and modifiers per encounter, and nowhere feels safe - and nothing feels easy.

Miniature Threat

While I appreciate there have been some inconsistencies with prior models, I can only speak for my set here and each of the included characters looks fantastic. Whether it's the dynamic duo of Ornstein and Smough, or the player classes, they all look fantastic.

The unboxing experience was great, too, with everything nicely laid out (there was one section of the packaging that was left empty which threw me off, but it's supposed to be like that it seems).

The Verdict

Dark Souls is a slow, methodical video game, and I'm pleased to say that Sunless City matches its tone and allure.

It'll be a tough sell if you've invested already, but if you've never played a Dark Souls board game (as I hadn't) it's well worth a look.

4/5

Review unit provided by the manufacturer.