Pandemic studio’s next title is a deckbuilding battle game featuring dinosaurs and Hollywood stars
A new challenger approaches!
The studio behind co-op board game Pandemic, Z-Man Games, is set to release a new title that combines deckbuilding with card battling.
Challengers is an upcoming board game for one to eight players that features a collection of strange characters from a variety of genres and environments. The card game contains over 70 different characters from across locales such as outer space, prehistoric dino times and even Hollywood. Using cards from each deck, players will form their own unique decks with which to duel their opponents with, with each victory pushing them closer to ultimate win.
As a deckbuilding game, players will start each playthrough by gathering cards from the available marketplace in order to build a deck. Players will form different decks depending on which cards have been included from the game, with players able to update and change their respective decks after each match. Every character card provides their own unique abilities, purposes and advantages, with players needing to carefully curate their decks in anticipation of what their next opponent might throw at them.
Though Challengers supports up to eight players each match involves only two, with players progressing through a tournament comprised of the winners and losers of every duel. Players will use their decks in order to take down their opponent in a “capture the flag” style competition, with the group being able to play up to four duels simultaneously. Whichever player manages to come out on top then advances through the tournament, with the final match being between the most successful opponents.
Players will be able to customise their games using the four different playmats for Challengers, with each game taking around 45 minutes to complete – depending on the player count. There is also a solo game mode included in Challengers that has players facing off against an AI robot character in order to obtain victory.
Besides Challengers and Pandemic, Z-Man Games is known for publishing tabletop titles such as the tile-laying game Carcassonne – a board game that sees players attempting to gather points by forming a collaborative tableau – and Citadels, a game featuring role cards and a construction marketplace. Challengers was co-developed by 1 More Time Games, an indie tabletop studio based in Vienna, Austria.
Challengers is set to be available at this year’s Essen Spiel convention, which takes place from October 6th to 9th in Essen, Germany. Otherwise, the title will be released in the US, Canada, UK, France and Germany in November at a retail price of $39.99 (£34.50).