Dark Tower Board Game Returns For a New Reign of Terror

A prestigious team of game designers are bringing back the popular board game Dark Tower for another reign of terror. Earlier today, Restoration Games launched the Kickstarter for Return to Dark Tower, a remake of the popular "electronic" board game Dark Tower. Originally produced in 1981, Dark Tower was immensely popular due to its dark fantasy setting and the use of a battery-powered tower that served as both a DM of sorts that controlled enemies and represented the final goal of the heroes. Return to Dark Tower will feature a new version of the Dark Tower, complete with LED lights, multiple motors, and a speaker, that syncs to a mobile app.

The objectives of Return to Dark Tower are slightly different from the original game, which involved unlocking the tower by finding three keys and then racing to destroy the tower first. In Return to Dark Tower, players have two goals - gain access to the Tower and then defeat the adversary. However, the game offers multiple adversaries and ways to unlock the tower, and players can either choose their goals in advance or have them randomly selected. During the game, players will gather warriors and spirit to use in battle, while also moving across the land to battle foes that spawn from the Dark Tower itself. The Dark Tower will also randomly drop skulls onto different kingdoms that can destroy buildings, and will reveal glyphs that force players to spend spirit to use certain actions.

Return to Dark Tower was designed by Isaac Childres, the creator of Gloomhaven, and Rob Daviau, the designer of Betrayal Legacy and the creator of the popular "Legacy" format of games. Because of the prestige of the game designers and the major nostalgia factor, Return to Dark Tower will likely be one of the biggest tabletop Kickstarters of the year. A core pledge will cost $125, with an "all-in" pledge costing $225.

You can find more details about Return to Dark Tower on its Kickstarter page, and you can read a draft form of the rulebook here. The Kickstarter will be open until February 4th.