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Forgotten Waters, one of 2020’s best board games, is getting a follow-up in 2023

Spiritual successor to app-powered pirate adventure set to release next summer.

Pirate adventure board game Forgotten Wars has a follow-up in the works, Dicebreaker can reveal.

Speaking at this year’s Gen Con, Forgotten Waters publisher Plaid Hat Games confirmed that a spiritual successor to the acclaimed 2020 board game is in development.

Co-designed by Dead of Winter co-creator Isaac Vega alongside J. Arthur Ellis and Mr. Bistro, Forgotten Waters sees players crew a pirate ship as it sails between islands in pursuit of various quests. While the players must work together to keep their vessel ship-shape, they also have their own individual objectives that can risk mutiny if not managed carefully.

Forgotten Waters board game layout

The game required a companion app to play, which randomised events and encounters, voiced by a cast including Dragon Ball Z actor Christopher R. Sabat. Plaid Hat also released a remote play app, allowing Forgotten Waters to be played over the internet using a single copy of the physical board game.

In our glowing review, Charlie said Forgotten Waters was “not only a great board game, it’s possibly the best tabletop release of 2020”.

“This game is magical. It’s layered in a way that feels seamless. While the application-enhanced portion of play is clearly influenced by Fantasy Flight’s second edition of Mansions of Madness, this is far more hands-off. It allows you to focus on the table and those you share it with. The story, not the vehicle, takes centre stage.”

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Forgotten Waters’ successor will not include Vega on its design team, with Ellis and Mr. Bistro returning alongside new co-designer Donald Shults.

Plaid Hat added that the upcoming board game will not be pirate-themed, but did not confirm the setting or theme for the new game. The studio also clarified that the follow-up would not be a direct sequel, but a spiritual successor.

The currently untitled board game is planned to release at Gen Con 2023.

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Matt Jarvis avatar

Matt Jarvis

Editor-in-chief

After starting his career writing about music, films and video games for various places, Matt spent many years as a technology, PC and video game journalist before writing about tabletop games as the editor of Tabletop Gaming magazine. He joined Dicebreaker as editor-in-chief in 2019, and has been trying to convince the rest of the team to play Diplomacy since.
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