Elden Ring: Realm Of The Grafted King officially announced

Steamforged Games Ltd has officially announced Elden Ring: Realm Of The Grafted King, the first of many sets for an incredibly impressive new tabletop experience based on FromSoftware’s hit 2022 game.

You’ve probably heard of Steamforged before (or if you haven’t, you should sit up and take note). They’re the same team of virtuosos that put together the massively popular Dark Souls: The Board Game, a set so popular that it smashed its funding goal on Kickstarter in no time at all. I’d wager the shiny new Elden Ring: The Board Game will be an even bigger hit.

If you’re worried Steamforged has cobbled this Elden Ring board game together in less than a year to make a quick buck from the game’s huge success, don’t be. The team explained during a recent preview event that they were actually invited to see an early build of Elden Ring years ago, meaning they’ve had plenty of time to work out how to distil the essence of the original game into this new format.

The result? A board game that looks and feels genuinely open world. Players can explore, take on quests, fight bosses, and ultimately try not to die in a massive world filled with surprises and genuinely innovative ideas.

Realm of the Grafted King comes with a whopping 15 quests, with the idea being that each of these main quests can be played over one 90 minute session. You can of course play more in a night if you want to smash through the entirety of the 20-hour campaign, but you should probably pace yourself, you animal.

Steamforged

The majority of the game is spent exploring, fighting, and generally making your way towards the final fight so that you can complete the quest. There’s a huge focus on character customisation and entirely unique experiences, meaning that while we all have the same 15 quests to play through, how we get from A to B is entirely up to us. There are also side quests to find and optional enemies to fight, although while this can reward players with rare gear and secrets that could make bosses easier to best, straying too far from the path could have dire consequences.

“In a vast, sprawling world of decaying grandeur that unfolds through your exploration, you’ll embark on a huge and varied adventure, visiting iconic locations and crossing paths with familiar enemies and characters. Play solo, or with up to three other Tarnished,” reads the game’s description.

​​“Experience the video game’s characteristically challenging fights recreated through intelligent, dice-free combat, where you’ll need to strategies and adapt your plans in each encounter - whether that be a lowly Godrick Soldier or the Grafted King himself.”

GAMINGbible

The plan is to release multiple sets with their own (gorgeous) figures, cards, and more. The first set, Realm Of The Grafted King, will take place entirely in Limgrave. This is because Steamforged wants every region in The Lands Between to get the care and attention it deserves. This first set will end with a fierce battle against Stormveil Castle’s Margit, the Fell Omen, mirroring our own first experiences with Elden Ring at the start of 2022. Steamforged will then release “several” more core expansions that will cover all of the bosses and areas from the video game. The plan is to support players with new releases for “years to come”, and you’ll even be able to level up your very own character and progress with them from the first set all the way through to the very end.

Elden Ring: The Board Game’s Kickstarter campaign will offer Realm of the Grafted King as its core pledge tier. If you’re feeling particularly spicy, there’s also an all-in pledge tier that includes the core game and all available expansions, plus a ‘mega dungeon’ map for Stormveil Castle that includes dreaded boss Godrick the Grafted, the Flying Dragon Agheel and Erdtree Avatar sets. You can find out more here!