S.T.A.L.K.E.R. co-op board game adaptation coming from Nemesis publisher

A board game adaptation of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video game series is being released by the publisher behind the Nemesis franchise: Awaken Realms.

Announced during a livestream event hosted by Awaken Realms, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The Board Game is an upcoming board game that will enable players to explore an alternate Chernobyl populated by dangerous creatures and people affected by strange mutations.

Revealed via a trailer for the tabletop title, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The Board Game will be a co-op board game that will support up to four players and aims to – according to Pawel Samborski, who is head of the project - “distill” the open world of the video game series into a board game. During the game, players will take the role of stalkers – characters who roam the environment looking for ways to survive its harsh climate, monsters and others looking to threaten anyone and everything.

As stalkers, the players will explore the landscape of the Zone, which is the fallout area of a cataclysmic nuclear event, in a similar vein to a dungeon-crawler board game such as Gloomhaven. In the “zone-crawler” players will encounter various enemies that they will engage in tactical combat with. Alternatively, players can choose to sneak around the environment in an attempt to avoid conflict with monsters or other stalkers.

Samborski confirmed that the upcoming game would be “narrative-driven” and would take place over a series of scenarios that will make up “bigger tales”. Players will be able to prepare for scenarios before setting out on them and choose how to approach the different situations they encounter along the way: whether to scope them out first before engaging or avoiding them altogether. Throughout a scenario, players may have to react to unexpected events or encounters forcing them to improvise, as well as make decisions that will impact the overall story.

Besides S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The Board Game and Nemesis, Awaken Realms is responsible for publishing Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon – a fantasy board game that reimagines the classic Arthurian myths in a dark and horror-tinged fashion.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series began with the release of Shadow Chernobyl – developed by GSC Game World and published by THQ – in 2007. The world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. takes place in an alternate version of Ukraine in which a second disaster happens within Chernobyl, following on from the infamous reactor disaster in 1986 – in which a reactor core melted, several explosions happened and radioactive contaminants were released into the air. This mysterious second disaster caused the various flora and fauna – as well as creatures and people – to change in strange ways, leading to the entire zone around Chernobyl being cut off from the outside world. Throughout the series, players explore the forbidden zone as various characters attempting to survive its harsh environment and many dangerous inhabitants.

The Gamefound crowdfunding campaign for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The Board Game is set to be launched in June, with rewards costs yet to be confirmed.