Shin Megami Tensei, Atlus Games’ weirdo fusion of horror adventure and JRPG, is coming to the tabletop with a new board game adaptation raising funds on Kickstarter right now. Promising 72 “high quality and detailed demon figures”, the game seeks to recreate the demon-capturing and fusing action that has made the RPG series so popular for over 30 years.
Shin Megami Tensei: the board game is being created by Japanese creative agency Icrea, which doesn’t have any strategy board games to its name so far, but does boast a 15 year history making a variety of licensed products including figures and merch.
They should be a safe pair of hands for the physical production, though whether they have the best board games rules designers on staff is another question.
The Kickstarter is open until 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm GMT on Friday December 13. All that plastic doesn’t come cheap: the game costs $400 (¥60,000), plus postage. The campaign estimates it will deliver rewards very promptly, this December in fact, but standard caveats about the risks associated with Crowdfunding apply.
The first Shin Megami Tensei videogame launched on the venerable Super Famicom (the Japanese SNES) in 1992, and the series has been going strong ever since. Set in modern day Tokyo that’s been overrun by demons, gameplay is a bit like supernatural (and distinctly NSFW) Pokémon: not only are you fighting demons, you can convert them to your side, and even merge them to create more powerful monsters.
The board game will capture some of the key mechanics from the game, with your attempts to recruit demons handled via a choose-your-own adventure style interaction. With so much language dependence, the quality of the English translation will have a major impact on the game overall.
Of course, for some people, the prospect of 72 Shin Megami Tensei demon miniatures will simply be too good an offer to pass up. If you’re a JRPG fan who’s never painted a mini before, check out our guide to painting miniatures.
If you’re a board gamer with cash to burn and you want something massive, you owe it to yourself to check out our Frosthaven review before you pull the trigger on a massive Kickstarter purchase.
Source: Wargamer
