Board game juggernaut Gloomhaven is getting a videogame adaptation

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The digital version is on its way to Steam Early Access.

One of the most popular board games right now, Gloomhaven, is coming to Steam thanks to Asmodee Digital. Gloomhaven has been an unqualified success, consistently selling out as quickly as designer Isaac Childres’ Cephalofair Games can print copies. It has generated a cultish buzz in the board gaming community, with praise addressing every aspect: Its combat, stories, legacy-style mechanics, and sheer box size. Gloomhaven digital will be developed by Flaming Fowl Studios, a studio composed primarily of former Lionhead employees.

Is this exciting to me? It is. Gloomhaven is on PC Gamer’s best co-op board games, best solo board games, and just plain best board games lists. It's currently the top-rated board game of all time on hobby board gamer bellwether BoardGameGeek.

Gloomhaven digital won’t be a direct translation or 1:1 recreation of the tabletop game, but instead an adaptation of the experience like Mansions of Madness: Mother's Embrace. Expect the developers to take advantage of the Early Access model to take community feedback into account on what elements from the analog edition need to be in.

There's not much else in the way of information on Gloomhaven digital other than an atmospheric trailer. What we do know for sure about is this: Instead of a third-person tactical game it’ll be a first-person dungeon crawler, though Asmodee says it will retain the original's turn-based combat. It won’t launch with multiplayer, but the developers aren’t ruling that out.

Asmodee Digital will be working with designer Childres on the adaptation. It'll initially launch on Steam in Early Access, and has a Steam page URLalready, though it doesn’t seem to be live quite yet.

Jonathan Bolding
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Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.