World War 2 deckbuilder Undaunted: Normandy lands in Early Access on PC

The digital adaptation of deckbuilding wargame Undaunted: Normandy has launched into Early Access on PC.

Undaunted: Normandy looks to be a faithful port of Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson’s first instalment in the acclaimed series, which melds together tactical troop placement across tile maps and deckbuilding gameplay as players use the cards in their hand to command their units. The game follows squads of American and German soldiers as they battle during a series of scenarios set during the D-Day landings.

Since its release in 2019, Normandy has since been followed by standalone sequels following WWII campaigns in North Africa and Stalingrad, as well as an aerial spin-off in this year’s Battle of Britain.

Developer Bookmark Games’ digital adaptation of Normandy turns the WW2 board game’s tiles and tokens into 3D terrain and troops, but otherwise stays true to the tabletop experience in allowing two players to take command of the opposing sides. The video game also features the option for a single player to take on an AI opponent, with the game featuring an experimental computer player powered by machine learning alongside a more traditional AI spanning three difficulty levels.

Undaunted: Normandy’s Early Access version on Steam includes a tutorial and all of the scenarios from the board game, plus two additional scenarios made available after its original release.

While the scenarios can currently be tackled as standalone missions in single-player and local hotseat or online asynchronous multiplayer, the game’s campaign mode will be implemented in its full release planned for 2024. A mobile release for iPad is also planned, with a release date yet to be announced.