Video games have long been heavily inspired by physical games, from chess and Scrabble to Dungeons & Dragons. The deck-building collectible card game, for example, has become immensely popular in digital form, thanks to hits such as Slay the Spire, Marvel Snap and Balatro. Now, an increasing number of games are going in the opposite direction, trading pixels for pieces and screens for spinners. Here are six of our favourites.
Company of Heroes 2nd Edition (Bad Crow Games, £119.70)
The second world war-based series of video games uses the well-tested real-time strategy elements of conquest, resource management and levelling up to create ever-changing battlefields. The board game replicates these mechanics with fistfuls of custom dice and a range of miniatures to plonk a hectic war zone on to your kitchen table. When played using extra vehicles or terrain from the expansion packs – and there’s a mouthwateringly expansive range – it’s a board game that not only plays like the original but looks like it too.
Slay The Spire: The Board Game (Contention Games, £91)
Mega Crit’s hugely successful deck building roguelike game has players fighting their way up the titular spire, facing off against bizarre creatures by playing, trading or redrawing their initial hand of cards to improve their abilities. It’s testament to the simple, rock-solid core gameplay that the board game changes none of this. While monster encounters are perfectly translated to colourful cards, the game’s dungeon path is represented on a large board, where tokens are used to add random stops such as shops or campfires. The board game also adds four-player co-op, introducing a tense team element (that’s also going to be part of the video game sequel). Currently one of the highest-ranking video game adaptations on boardgamegeek.com, it’s worth the steep price tag.
The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era (Chip Theory Games, £138.14)
The Elder Scrolls role-playing adventure games have been winning fans and awards since the 1990s, so physical spin-offs were inevitable. Betrayal of the Second Era is perhaps the most notable, a co-op adventure with a core set box jammed with a 90-plus-page rulebook, 167 dice, neoprene map mats and bags of enemy and spell tokens. These replicate the video games’ open worlds to provide an intricately conceived sandbox offering hours of play. Five “gazetteer” books, for example, allow players to choose multiple branching interconnected adventures that each take an hour or two. Supported by expansions, it’s less a board game, more a way of (fantasy) life.
Stardew Valley: The Board Game (Concerned Ape, £49.94)
Based on the beloved rural life simulator, Stardew Valley: The Board Game challenges one to four players to make their valley a better place by farming, fishing and forming friendships. While the original has few prescribed goals, the board game puts tractor pedal to the metal by providing just a single game year to complete an often bewildering range of socially virtuous tasks. The laidback original’s pace is traded for an ultra-thematic, cooperative approach. Either you all work together or you all lose. Still, the colourful cards, board and tokens all capture the cosy aesthetic of the video game, so you won’t feel too stressed.
Portal: The Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game (Cryptozoic Entertainment, out of print, available on eBay)
While Portal and Portal 2 take place in the abandoned laboratories of Aperture Science, the board game focuses on the twisted pseudo-science of the company’s glory years. A board formed from interlocking isometric rooms creates an ever-changing conveyor belt that shunts rooms – and their occupants – towards clinical incineration. Players place worthless test subjects and valuable industrial-grade cake slices on portals, with the aim of strategically eliminating one and hoarding the other. Unusually for a board game, this was designed by the video game’s creator, Valve. As such, it’s rich with the same snarky humour.
This War of Mine (Awaken Realms, £54.99)
Released in 2014, This War of Mine is a gruelling but gripping survival game inspired by the siege of Sarajevo where the goal is to keep a group of civilian characters alive in a scarred, dangerous war zone. Considered a high-water mark in screen-to-table adaptations, the board game faithfully duplicates not only characters and events but also the core game mechanics of each day/night cycle. Central to this is the Book of Scripts, full of choose-your-own-adventure-style scripted moments. It’s so close to the original, you arguably only need to play one version, but long-term fans will appreciate the chance to experience the tense, engrossing world with up to five friends.
