Fraser McFetridge, Lead Designer, Shares Excitement for a Fully Cooperative, Narrative-Driven Adventure
Steamforged Games has officially announced their upcoming tabletop venture, Horizon Forbidden West: Seeds of Rebellion. The new board game is set to launch its Kickstarter campaign on November 21, 2023, and builds upon the critically acclaimed Horizon Zero Dawn board game, taking players into the untold mysteries of the Forbidden West.
A Closer Look at Horizon Forbidden West: Seeds of Rebellion
This new installment allows for 1-4 players and promises a fully cooperative, narrative-driven experience. The game is set in a far-future Earth, where colossal machines dominate the landscape and humans live in pre-industrial tribes. Players become Marshals venturing into the Forbidden West, a land governed by the warlike Tenakth tribe. As Marshals, they must quell a brewing rebellion among the tribe’s clans and maintain a fragile peace, all while surviving encounters with deadly, evolving machines.
For those who felt the previous board game lacked a storytelling element, Seeds of Rebellion aims to remedy this. Steamforged Games has collaborated with Guerrilla’s Narrative team to deliver an official, canonical story that unfolds within the Horizon universe.
Fully Cooperative Gameplay
The game evolves the semi-cooperative combat engine from Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game into a fully cooperative adventure. This will include new gameplay features, which will be further detailed in upcoming design diaries.
The game will introduce new machines from the Forbidden West, each carefully designed to provide unique challenges and behaviors. These new features will test players’ ability to adapt and strategize during gameplay.
A new narrative engine will enable players to explore the vibrant world of the Forbidden West, making impactful decisions along the way that could alter gameplay mechanics.
For existing fans of Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game, Seeds of Rebellion will offer a free backwards compatibility pack for returning backers, allowing them to incorporate miniatures from their existing collections.
What’s Next?
Lead designer Fraser McFetridge announced that starting in mid-October, he will be sharing weekly design diaries detailing all aspects of the game. Gameplay videos will also be released in the lead-up to the Kickstarter campaign.