There’s been many board game adaptations based on popular video game properties over the years from Slay the Spire, Stardew Valley to Elden Ring. These types of board games are some of the most popular in the hobby and a staple of most people's collections.
Today, we are going to have a look at some video game adaptations that are lesser known and hopefully bring some to light that you've never heard of.
Codenames: Blizzard Edition
First up, we have the blizzard addition of Codenames; Codenames is one of the most popular board games among families and friends. There are dozens of variations of code names, but this one in particular is based on the Blizzard Game IP's including Overwatch, Diablo etc.
Playing like an advanced version of the legendary game Guess Who, Codenames is a lot of fun for groups. Giving clues to try and get your teammates to guess the correct cards while not selecting any of the enemy team's cards or hitting the dreaded secret agent, this is a very, very fun game with groups.
This version specifically seems to be very rare, so I figured you've probably not heard of this one and if you do decide to pick one up, this would be great one for a fellow gamer.
God of War: The Card Game
Following the adventures of Kratos, his son Atreyu and friends as they battle through Norse mythology God of War: The Card Game is a cooperative deckbuilding game about positioning and playing cards.
Gameplay consists of drawing scene cards which determine which battles you must complete before you can fight the final boss. Scenes outline which collection of environment cards are placed on the table to set the battle. Environment cards contain enemies and power ups. Each game is played across two scenes followed by a battle with the final boss.
Just like the video game, as you fight you build up rage. Once you fill your character's rage meter, you can go full on sad dad and kick some Nordic butt.
God of War: The Card Game is a great translation of the PlayStation games combat mechanics and works as an enjoyable cooperative game. It’s usually on a decent sale as well.
DOOM: The Board Game
Ever wanted to rip and tear through hell spawn on game night? Well, you can (If you can find a copy) with DOOM: The Board Game. A scenario based tactical combat game pitting you against miniatures of your favourite hell beasts across a number of missions.
Combat is card based, and there is even an invader player mechanic which offers a bit of a change to other games in this genre.
Everything in the game looks and feels just like the 2016 reboot of the classic FPS series. Weapons even have alternate fire modes reflecting the fluid and improvisation of the video games combat loop. All that is missing is the legendary metal soundtrack.
This one seems difficult to find for sale but for fans of the game series this is a must buy in my opinion.
Gears of War: The Card Game
A perfect representation of the PVP mode of the video game Gears of War: The Card Game pits two players, one playing as the COG bad-ass’s and the other playing as the Locust Horde you play through a campaign of scenarios where you use different elevations of cover and play cards to battle.
Emulating the video games cover system, each scenario you lay out cover cards setting the field of battle and as you play you can dip in and out of different types of cover to get an advantage over the other player.
Scenarios aren’t particularly long but great fun and can be replayed with multiple different friends as they will always play out differently dependent on your hand of cards. Content wise though this game is a small box with a lot of content and can be picked up cheap, making it a valuable addition to any collection.
Far Cry: Escape from Rook Islands
Adapted from franchise favourite Far Cry 3, Far Cry: Escape from Rook Islands is a cooperative survival game where you play through scenarios like missions from the video game and fight against pirates, bad guys and the native wildlife.
If you’ve played the video game, you know exactly what to expect, you explore the map, gather resources, craft some items/weapons and then reign down a can of whoopass on the unsuspecting baddies. The mission, to become the ultimate survivalist and apex predator and escape from Vas and his islands of psychopathic henchmen.
For a relatively affordable game, the components of this one are great. You have stat trackers, machete shaped health bars and even a dice tower made to look like an arcade machine.
There was a lot of thought going into this game clearly when it was designed and although there’s complaints about the ruleset once you have a grasp of the mechanics, it’s supposed to be a blast to play solo or with friends.
I wasn’t aware of this one until i started writing this article but immediately added it to my wishlist.
I hope you enjoyed the list and if you have any other suggestions, please let us know. Some of the games included on the list are available on the Zatu store so please check them out and maybe add one to your collection.
