Great Video Games That Made It Onto The Board

The demand for exciting board games has been increasing steadily in recent years and the market is now worth $3.2 billion. It is set to rise to $8.1 billion by 2021 as people across the world are falling in love with the retro pleasures offered by tabletop fun. Once upon a time, popular board games like Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit would be turned into video games, but these days the opposite is happening. Here are seven of the best video games that have made the leap onto the board:

World of Warcraft: The Board Game

Travel across Lordaeron, vanquish monsters, gain power and seize honour in this fantastic adaptation of the supremely popular video game. World of Warcraft: The Board Game is a team-based fantasy adventure that features quests, levels, character classes and all the other components that gamers love.

You can choose from 16 characters, drawn from the eight races and nine character classes and then represent the Horde or the Alliance. The first team to defeat the Overlord or remain standing in the event of all out war wins.

You will need a huge table to house all the equipment, and the materials are all of a high quality. This is not the sort of game you will finish in a couple of hours, as you can enjoy battling it out over the course of an exhilarating afternoon.

Assassin’s Creed: Arena

This board game is based on Ubisoft’s award-winning series and sees players serve as assassins in the ancient city of Constantinople. You must move targets, snatch treasure, move guards, identify targets and send them to meet their maker, all while evading your opponents.

Combat is card based and the gameplay is really fun. There is a strong degree of strategy required, but the pace is quick and it can result in plenty of enjoyment for adults and children alike.

It develops into a tense game of cat and mouse, which does a really good job of replicating the excitement of the video game. This board game has also won awards, and it has received universally positive feedback from gamers.

Starcraft: The Board Game

Starcraft is one of the greatest and most influential video games of all time. It gave birth to the modern esports scene and its sequel, Starcraft II, remains one of the most important titles in the competitive gaming scene, according to Unikrn. It is a national pastime in Korea and it remains extremely popular to this day across the world.

Starcraft: The Board Game pays a great deal of respect to the video game and follows a very similar path in terms of strategy and gameplay. You can take control of the three races – the Terrans, the Protoss and the Zerg – as they battle it out across multiple worlds for interstellar supremacy.

The Zerg Broodlings, and Terran Spider Mines are represented as cards, while the Terren SCV and Dropship, the Zerg Overlord and Drone and the Protoss Shuttle and Probe are tokens. You do not need to know the inner machinations of the video game to enjoy it, but any Starcraft fans will love the attention to detail that has gone into this faithful tabletop game.

Bioshock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia

The year is 1912 and the magnificent floating city of Columbia, intended to be a shining symbol of American glory, has been disavowed by the very nation that created it.

It has erupted into civil war and two sides are battling for control of the most important city on the planet. Players control mobs of combatants as they lock horns against gorgeously designed backdrops.

This board game is a must-have for all Bioshock fans. The units are brilliantly detailed, the artwork on the cards is rich and the gameplay is deep. It can take a little while to grasp, but it is extremely rewarding once you get the gang of it. Bioshock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia is intense, but thrilling.

Gears of War: The Board Game

This tabletop game is based on Epic Games’ beloved third-person shooter, which has delighted Xbox and PC fans for years. Teams of one to four players take control of the COG soldiers across a number of challenging missions as they try to rid the world of the dreaded Locust horde.

This is a really complex and varied game, full of white-knuckle firefights, and strong levels of communication are required to thrive.

Once again, it is a must-have game for all Gears fans. The sectional board adds great variety to proceedings, and you are unlikely to grow bored due to the difficulty of some of the missions.

Halo Interactive Strategy Game

Halo is one of the most popular video game franchises ever made and certainly the most important exclusive that the Xbox team ever secured. This adaptation is by no means a classic tabletop game, as it features a modular 3D board that ensures a different experience each time you play, while an accompanying DVD moves the plot along.

The music from the video game’s award-winning score provides the backdrop as players take control of characters like the Master Chief, John-117 and Cortana. You command armies of 3D miniatures that you will recognise from Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3, and there is the potential for endless battle options.

Dark Souls: The Board Game

Dark Souls: The Board Game is a co-operative dungeon crawl for up to 4 players. It demands strong tactical nous in order to defeat enemies before finally confronting the boss. This is an extremely challenging board game, with an innovative behaviour mechanism ensuring that no two games are ever the same.

If you love the Dark Soles series of video games, you will love this tabletop adaptation. It perfectly encapsulates the dungeon crawler experience and features beautiful tiles and figurines, ensuring the video gaming experience translates really well. Overall this is a really fun game to play by yourself or with friends, and the varied gameplay ensures that you will get your money’s worth after enjoying many hours of fun.

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