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King of Tokyo creator’s next board game turns its players into vampires

Hungry for more?

Stalk the cities in search of unsuspecting victims in The Hunger, an upcoming board game from the designer behind King of Tokyo - Richard Garfield.

In The Hunger, players compete as rival blood-suckers haunting the same unfortunate population of citizens. Once the sun goes down, the game’s cabal of vampires must sneak out of the castle they share in order to feast on the townsfolk, whilst being sure to pick up a few familiars along the way. However, the children of the night will need to be careful, as they’ll need to return to the safety of their coffins before the sun rises.

A deckbuilding game for two to six players, The Hunger challenges players to gradually gain better cards that will enable them to capture the most bountiful humans and acquire the victory points they’ll need to win. Whilst hunting can result in plenty of victory points and benefits, it can make a player’s deck a lot slower to run through - and therefore - extend the amount of time before they can take refuge from daybreak.

The Hunger cards

The Hunger can be played in two different ways - either rookie mode or elder mode - with each one providing a varying level of difficulty. Players will be able to choose from a selection of six different vampires, each with their own special ability, and play all the cards in their hand on their turn. Throughout each round, players will move to various locations on the board. The locations in The Hunger have different benefits and limitations which players will need to be aware of.

As players hunt, they will be able to pick up new cards, which can vary from humans - who hold the all important victory points - to familiars, brand new powers and beautiful roses. Though humans are essential, some will be more valuable than others and several will even have negative side-effects when played. Players will have to be discerning about where and when they hunt if they want to pick up the best cards possible. After a total of 15 rounds, the sun rises and the game ends. Depending on where they are on the board when the game ends, players can either be entirely safe or lose everything - with the player holding the most victory points being the winner.

Cover image for YouTube video

Besides designing The Hunger and King of Tokyo, Garfield is also known for creating popular trading card game Magic: The Gathering, as well as the unique deck game Keyforge and the living card game Android: Netrunner.

The Hunger is being released by Renegade Game Studios, the publisher behind Clank!, both the North Sea and West Kingdom trilogies and several RPGs including the 1980s inspired sci-fi roleplaying game Kids on Bikes and Overlight.

The release date for The Hunger is set for sometime this September, with the game launching at a retail price of $50 (£32).

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The Hunger

Tabletop Game

About the Author
Alex Meehan avatar

Alex Meehan

Senior Staff Writer

After writing for Kotaku UK, Waypoint and Official Xbox Magazine, Alex became a member of the Dicebreaker editorial family. Having been producing news, features, previews and opinion pieces for Dicebreaker for the past three years, Alex has had plenty of opportunity to indulge in her love of meaty strategy board games and gothic RPGS. Besides writing, Alex appears in Dicebreaker’s D&D actual play series Storybreakers and haunts the occasional stream on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel.

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