Twilight Imperium Spin-Off Game Revealed

Fantasy Flight Games has announced a spinoff of their popular Twilight Imperium tabletop game. Twilight Inscription is a new roll-and-write style game set in the Twilight Imperium universe. While roll-and-write games are known for their simpler gameplay, it appears that Twilight Inscription will be decidedly more complex. When announcing the game, FFG head of studio Chris Gerber said that “Twilight Inscription is to roll and writes what Twilight Imperium is to board games. Make some room. You’re going to need it.” Although Fantasy Flight did not reveal too many details about Twilight Inscription, they did note that it would use a 4X-style mechanic in which players balanced navigation, industry, warfare, and expansion during gameplay. The game was “teased” during a stream as part of Twilight Imperium’s 25th anniversary, with game designer James Kniffen noting that more announcements would be made a later time.

Twilight Imperium is a massive space opera-style game created by Fantasy Flight Games founder Christian Petersen. Each player controls a specific alien faction that vies for control of the galaxy, scoring victory points through a mix of public and private objectives. In addition to having combat, exploration, and fleet-building options, Twilight Imperium is also unique in that it has a politics system in which players vote to make rule and mechanic changes at different points in the game. The game is known for its long gameplay, with an average game taking 6 hours or more to complete depending on the number of players. 

Roll-and-write games involve rolling dice and marking the results of their roll on a scoresheet of some kind. Players usually have to make choices about what they mark off with each roll, which can impact their choices in future rolls. The best known roll-and-write is Yahtzee, although the genre has grown in popularity in recent years.

Twilight Inscription will be officially released sometime in 2022. The game will be formally announced at a later date.