HEL: The Last Saga is a Viking survival-horror board game from Time of Legends: Joan of Arc studio
Don’t Look Norse.
Time of Legends: Joan of Arc and Solomon Kane studio Mythic is back with its latest Kickstarter behemoth, ‘Viking survival-horror’ board game HEL: The Last Saga.
HEL: The Last Saga is a co-op board game built around a campaign that spans multiple connected scenarios, following the players’ party as they struggle to survive on a quest to find their missing king and clan.
The upcoming board game’s narrative is split into 13 story boxes and driven by chunks of narrative read by the players as they explore the hostile world, fight mythical monsters and trigger events. The second half of the campaign is said to take place in darkness, introducing extra gameplay challenges, rules and threats.
Each of the player characters has a unique place in the group, with different abilities and the ability to gain new hero cards based on decisions made during each playthrough. Characters can be killed during the campaign, with failed missions having to be replayed - albeit in a “unique way” that Mythic suggests adds to the story.
Gameplay involves fending off attackers in combat, managing the group’s limited resources to survive the cold and attempting to uncover the mystery behind the rest of the clan’s disappearance. Maybe little surprise given its dark world and grim tone, the horror board game is described as being suitable for those aged 18 and up.
Behind HEL: The Last Saga are designer David Rakoto and art director Christophe Madura, who were previously responsible for steampunk board game SMOG: Rise of Moloch from Zombicide marker CMON.
Each session of HEL is said to take around 90 minutes, making the entire campaign approximately 20 hours long. It plays with up to four people, or can be tackled alone as a solo board game.
HEL: The Last Saga is live on Kickstarter now, where it’s already breezed past its initial target of $150,000 and has raised over half a million dollars in a matter of hours. The Kickstarter campaign will run until May 26th.
Mythic has confirmed that HEL: The Last Saga will be exclusive to Kickstarter, with the crowdfunding campaign the only way to get the game. The publisher said that the retail price required to sell the game in shops would be “prohibitively” expensive. The Kickstarter edition of HEL will set you back $129 (£106), without shipping.
HEL: The Last Saga is expected to arrive with backers in June 2021.