Sunderfolk shakes up the board game night in a surprising way

When Secret Door invited me to play Sunderfolk at its Irvine office last month, I didn't know what to expect. The pitch was “a unique spin on the RPG genre” with “tabletop DNA”, which is about as vague as the pitch could get.

In fact, I didn't even know the title of the game until I saw it at the studio. And while I always get a lot of nondescript pitches for indie games, Sunderfolk stood out thanks to its remarkable pedigree.

Blizzard co-founder and former CEO Mike Morhaime announced his new game company back in 2020, with the newly-founded Secret Door as one of its two studios. The team is made up of game industry veterans with credits on Warcraft 3, StarCraft 2, and League of Legends, just to name a few. I didn't need to know what Sunderfolk was to know it was going to be something special.

'Special' is a huge understatement. Sunderfolk isn't just a unique spin on RPGs, it's an entirely new type of game. It's a co-op strategy RPG in the vein of Gloomhaven, but instead of gathering around a table to play a board game, you and your friends gather around the TV and use your phones as controllers. By mixing elements of tabletop games, strategy RPGs, and (of all things) Jackbox, Secret Door aims to reinvent game night with a whole new kind of experience.

Chris Cigatti, Secret Door's studio head, is an avid board game player and fan of games like Gloomhaven, but sees some barriers to entry that sometimes keep people from playing. The elaborate setup and cleanup is time-consuming, the rules are difficult to learn, and keeping track of progress between sessions can be a challenge. Sigati was inspired to create a game that captured the excitement and collaboration of tabletop gaming in a more accessible way than traditional tabletop games.

What I love about Sunderfolk is how it makes tabletop gameplay so manageable without detracting from the experience. Its mission-based gameplay offers crunchy turn-based co-op strategy, player progression, and collaborative storytelling – all the things that make tabletop RPGs so interesting, packaged in a way that anyone can pick up and play.

By taking all the board game elements – character sheets, dice, items, bestiaries, etc. – and organizing them into menus that everyone can access on their phone, Sunderfolk can offer all the depth without being intimidating.

It cannot be overstated that using your phone as both a database and a controller can transform the tablettop experience. Even if you've never played Gloomhaven or a tactical RPG before, if you're a smartphone user – which is practically everyone – you have a basic familiarity with Sunderfolk. It has a simple control method that lets you swipe the screen to move your character around on a grid that's both novel and intuitive, leaning into the way people are already used to operating their phones to further reduce the constraints typical of this genre.

Also, it keeps people from using their phones to play games
off
Their phones, which are usually the downfall of any good game night.

As a board gamer myself, I'm impressed by how transformative the Sundarfolk experience is. Requiring only one hand to hold the phone as opposed to a two-handed grip on the controller makes it more casual and social than a low-impact video game like Mario Kart, which is important to maintain the nighttime vibe of the game. You still have a free hand for snacking, grabbing a cocktail, or, more realistically, pointing and yelling at your friends as they crash into the party.

It is much more comfortable and convenient for everyone to spread out on the couches instead of hanging on the board at the kitchen table. The presentation is always clean and perfect, and you can use the lighting to set the mood because you don't have to worry about the visibility of the small text on the card.

There's definitely something to be said for the tactile quality of a board game—not to mention the benefits of not looking at a screen for once in your life. I don't think that's what Sunderfolk offers good than playing an actual board game, but it can be a great stepping stone for people who feel intimidated by them.

That's exactly what Sunderfolk wants to be, and it does a lot of little tasteful things to bring in the tabletop elements. For example, the Game Master, who serves as the narrator of the story, voices all the NPC characters you meet. A real GM would be. There are also random opportunities for players to name enemy minions you encounter, which will be permanent throughout the campaign whenever your group encounters that enemy. Sunderfolk was created by people who love tabletop as a way to bring more people into the hobby by showing them how easy and fun roleplaying can be.

I'm excited to share my love of board games with my friends and family who don't really get it either. The problem with mash-up games is that instead of appealing to one type of fan or the other, they usually only appeal to fans of both. Sunderfolk is a video game/board game that has a lot to offer people who don't play video games or board games. Secret Door sets out to reimagine game night, and Sunderfolk does just that.