Black Souls

Picture this: you are applying for a job at a well known game studio. Not just any job, but the chance to design levels for Black Souls, the hardest video game ever made. The task sounds simple, but it is not. You have to build a level that is brutally hard, yet still fair. Too easy and nobody feels the tension. Too hard and all your playtesters die. Only the best designer gets the job. The game falls into two parts. First you build your own level out of tiles, fighting over the best pieces with hidden bid cards. Every bid card has its own trick, from placing a temple to taking your whole bid back. Numbers that end the same mean you join the back of the line, so you have to think carefully about your timing. Then comes the real moment: you send your party through the level you just designed yourself. Fighters, mages and healers take on the challenge one by one, and you decide who faces the danger. The tougher your level, the more points you earn. But only if your party reaches the finish. And believe us, entire groups falling halfway through is quite normal here. That is part of the deal, because this is Black Souls. You can play it solo or with up to six people at the table, and the challenge feels different every time. A board game about making a game, how special is that?