3-6 Players   45-90 mins Gameplay
Prologue
Something is amiss as a group of unsuspecting strangers find themselves drawn toward a Gothic Castle in a hellish landscape with a dark and macabre purpose…
This is all uneasily familiar to them and so it should be, as this is no band of heroes but rather a cast of villains who’s souls are caught within the depths of hell itself; damned to perpetually resurrect at dusk and battle to survive the night until only one remains.
Damnation: The Gothic Game
As part of our Halloween showcase, Blackletter Games have provided a stunning prototype in advance of their Kickstarter Campaign.
For the uninitiated, The Gothic Game is a classic and hard to find board game. But like its vampire protagonist it’s risen again in the form of Damnation: The Gothic Game; a dark reworking from Kris Rees.
We’ll give an insight into the setup and mechanics of the game and our thoughts on what looks to be a very different type of gaming night ahead of us.
In this game 3-6 players will roam a macabre castle in a battle royale where the last person standing claims victory until their nightmare begins once more at dusk in a perpetual game of damnation.
But this castle is far from empty and what lies deep within is a whole host of pain, torment and death; including gruesome traps, deadly torture chambers and even the servants of your host… Dracula!
Who will survive?
Well this is not a case of bravery and daring, but a battle of cunning and malevolence where only the most sinister opponent will last the night… if at all!
Chapter I: Just one simple rule…
In a battle of villains who’s souls are damned to murder for eternity, the games format is on the surface extremely simple: survive by killing every opponent and be the last one standing at the end of the night.
But under that basic objective is a series of mechanics which provide each player with unique and sinister abilities.
Selecting the right character may be the difference between life and death…
When combined with powers of control and manipulation over other players the tools at your disposal to eliminate players makes for a variable and fiendishly fun game that brings long-standing friendships to the test as you clash head-to-head in tortuous and devlish ways.
Throw in an arsenal of weapons and artifacts… well now there’s a vastly varied way to eliminate opponents.
Sure you can simply hack them to pieces, but how about using Powers of Adjacency to push them into one of the castles many traps? Perhaps use cunning to shove them into a deadly torture chamber or even worse the path of Dracula as fodder to aid in your escape…
There’s so many methods and mechanics at your disposal here that the limit is how far you are willing to go!
To add to the mix, let’s not forget that you can even awaken the Prince of Darkness and stalk the halls as a nigh indestructable vampire albeit for a limited time…
Think a blood thirsty Pacman and you’re on the right track!
Chapter II: A game by any other name…
The game revolves around a gothic castle represented by a fantastically detailed board instantly setting the scene and is reminiscent of artists such as Mike Mignola… dark & menacing, but beautiful & immersive.
Around the board each room awaits you with dark purpose and menace but even between rooms there is no respite as a maze of corridors and traps lay before you.
With that in mind the first part of the setup is to distribute cards for each room and to set traps at the marked spaces.
As both cards and traps are shuffled and face down, each play-through is completely random and while all traps should be avoided, some will cause injury and some can send you back to the start of the board as you lay trapped inside the moat hoping to roll your dice to freedom.
Alongside rooms and traps you will also set out Death Knell cards which are turned over as each player expires and can drastically change the rules and atmosphere of the game…
Finally your players will choose their characters from a sinister roll call of 6 damned souls. Each has 4 talents to call upon and 2 of which are unique to add further personality to this rogues gallery.
With characters selected the game begins…
Chapter III: A Survivors Guide…
Movement
With the roll of a dice you’ll begin to explore the castle and movement mechanics are straight forward; simply move the amount of spaces and your rolls can accumulate as you hit a Six and re-roll to move that total number of spaces.
Where an element of tactics begins is with a concept called the “Power of Adjacency” which means if you are next to a player you have the option to control their movements on the next turn.
In someways this means the leading player is at a disadvantage as you can stalk them along the corridors and if in proximity you can claim this power and control their next move by sending them into the path of traps, deadly rooms or even Dracula.
Cards: Events, Actions & Weapons
Throughout the corridors you will come across rooms and on entering a room you will draw a card and test your fate as some cards can be rewarding and most are very malicious!
Rooms
The rooms are varied and each offer their own trials, but then there are rooms with darker purposes such as “The Torture Chamber” which contains instant death in the form of the Iron Maiden.
(The rules themselves suggest for first-time players it’s a room to sensibly avoid because once you are dead you are out of the game permanently and that’s not a great first experience…)
Special Rooms: Glory or Instant Death
There are also special rooms in the form of “The Dark Tower” that can only be entered if you’re in possession of a soul other than your own – such is the price of glory!
Equally however is “The Great Spiral Staircase”, the heart of the castle which draws you into the depths of hell and instant death if you can’t escape with the roll of a Six and instead continue down its path…
The reward for this endeavor is worth the challenge as you will receive a soul for your effort and as you know this grants access to greater things!
Dracula: Waking the Dead
Finally there is “The Vault” where Dracula lays waiting in slumber…
If entered the Player takes a hit to their health as they are possessed and take on his form to terrorize the castle for a limited time.
Sounds a great experience to cause carnage yes?
Well fail to return to your coffin and you’ll crumble to dust and meet your end; not great for you, but Dracula simply returns to his slumber awaiting to rise again.
Gameplay
Slowly but surely you will literally whittle down your opponents using tactics or pure aggression and on each expiration a Death Knell is rung and a card flipped that will impose restrictions to further tighten the game.
Winning
With one surviving player the game ends… Well, until the players rise as their tormented souls begin all over again in a game of Damnation: The Gothic Game!
Epilogue: Final Thoughts…
Damnation: The Gothic Game is traditionally old school in all the best ways of roll & movement and feels so fresh and varied as you determine the method of eliminating your opponents.
Even when fate turns against you at the flip of a card, it draws you further into the story and this is the beauty of the game! As each player succumbs the Death Knells ensure the story is brought closer to its chilling conclusion and the game begins to feel frantic and claustrophobic as the goal is in sight and death is at every turn.
It’s fair to say the pure fun of this game lies completely in the ability to dispatch opponents in all manner of ways – from hack and slash, to well timed pushes or simply guiding them into the path of doom. It’s a game that simply brings out your darker side, as family and friends are whittled down by your cunning or manic actions.
But even there Blackletter Games have catered for the less sadistic among us and provided rules to allow resurrection and team-up modes which further diversifies gameplay and replayability.
While our experience is drawn from a review copy of the game, it has to be pointed out that even as a prototype the quality of production is fantastic.
The artwork and atmosphere created by the game is phenomenal and all credit to the artists (Anca Albu and Hueala Teodor) the experience and improvements over the original is as clear as night and day.
Combined with a rich backstory in collaboration with Ross Daniel Bullen, Damnation: The Gothic Game is a perfect game that evokes tension, dark humour and aspects of strategy; it’s a great addition to any game night and a perfect fit for a Halloween gathering…
Just like it’s protagonist Dracula, Damnation is a truly gothic game that’s back with plenty of bite in a fang-tastic dark reboot and we love it!
Available on Kickstarter during October we highly recommend sinking your teeth into this game.