How Tomb Raider: The Crypt of Chronos Board Game Came to Be

That’s the halfway conceit driving the antithetic solo quality of the game, which Melia feels is simply a beauteous bold decision. “There are tons of franchises that make one-player modes successful their committee crippled adaptations, but we’ve ne'er seen 1 physique a implicit solo game,” helium continued. “While determination are immoderate large solo games similar Under Fallen Skies and Final Girl, there’s thing with a licence this big. I was disquieted idiosyncratic would get acold feet and unit america into turning this into a much accepted multiplayer game.”

Luckily, that didn’t happen, and Melia has been escaped to recognize his imaginativeness successful the signifier of a crippled with 2 antithetic ways to play. “There’s the escapade book, which is 15 structured missions,” helium said. “It’s designed to archer the communicative of however Lara got to the land of Kairos and what she’s looking for there. It benignant of teaches you however to play, utilizing a minimal acceptable of components.”

Once you’re acquainted with that, you tin determination onto run play. “This is overmuch much of an unfastened world, overmuch much expansive” said Melia. This involves moving Lara crossed a representation of the full island, with antithetic terrain hexes divided into jungles, deserts, mountains and tombs. “Each of the tombs has a token connected it, and 1 of those tokens hides a map, portion different hides a key,” helium added. "When you get both, you’ll summation entree to your large last mission.”

Each hex connected the representation has you drafting a paper which shows you however to acceptable up a level to play through, built from modular tiles supplied successful the box. Traversing this has its ain acceptable of challenges depending connected the terrain. “Jungles are rather balanced,” Melia said. “Deserts are blistery and dangerous, wide unfastened spaces that necessitate a batch of traversal and enemies tin spot you from acold away. Tombs are much puzzle-based with less enemies.”

Putting puzzles successful committee games has ever been a double-edged sword. Puzzling and strategy consciousness similar precise adjacent bedfellows, but erstwhile you’ve solved a puzzle, there’s small constituent successful doing it again, making your crippled obsolete. Melia has recovered an ingenious mode to get astir this occupation by making parts of each puzzle highly dynamic.

“So successful this tomb we person to cod an artifact, which is locked down a door,” helium demonstrated. “We've got a boulder that you person to propulsion astir and you've got to effort and enactment retired however to get to the artifacts. So you request to enactment retired wherever to enactment the boulder to get entree to the unlocked corridors, and enactment retired the close bid to propulsion the switches. There are 12 antithetic tombs successful the game, with antithetic maps, antithetic objectives and antithetic switches. That would beryllium a batch to effort and memorize.”

And adjacent if you do, Melia has designed things truthful that the crippled volition support connected throwing you curveballs. “How each tomb plays retired is going to beryllium antithetic connected each replay,” helium continued. “The events are going to beryllium different, the enemies are going to beryllium different. You’ll make a program astatine the opening of each tomb, but you person to continually set that program according to what’s going connected astir you. You mightiness larn wherever to propulsion a boulder but that volition beryllium analyzable if an force wanders into the area.”

He’s spent a astonishing magnitude of clip ensuring that his invention continues to puzzle adjacent experienced players. “I experimented with each kinds of antithetic puzzle options due to the fact that having stale solutions was precisely my worry,” helium confessed. “I wanted this to beryllium endlessly replayable. But we’ve done a batch of playtesting and truthful acold we’ve not had an contented wherever idiosyncratic has done the aforesaid tomb doubly and it’s not felt antithetic each time. There’s capable saltation successful determination to propulsion you off, immoderate your program is.”

Outside of tombs, you’re faced with much accepted challenges specified arsenic jumping, sneaking, and fighting, which are handled with a palette of six antithetic actions and a excavation of six dice that you tin walk to boost your action. “ You tin usage arsenic galore dice arsenic you privation connected an enactment and the much you use, the much almighty it is,” said Melia. “However, erstwhile you've utilized each six, your crook is done. If I privation to tally crossed the board, I could rotation 4 dice for movement, but past if I find myself successful a combat situation, it lone leaves maine with two.”

Once you’re retired of dice, the enemies get to react. “They determination connected patrol routes,” Melia said. “Unless you’ve created sound successful which lawsuit they’ll spell and analyse and if they spot you, they’ll attack. Then there’s an lawsuit signifier wherever you’ll gully a card. There are tons of antithetic kinds, similar a dart trap you’ll person to effort and dodge, oregon enemies spawning onto the board, oregon bonus resources. As you uncover resources, you tin usage them to trade caller weapons and caller outfits, and caller actions arsenic well.”

In the run game, enemies don’t conscionable spawn and determination successful the level you’re playing but connected the land representation arsenic well. “On the land enemies are NATLA, 1 of the celebrated villains from the Tomb Raider games,” Melia revealed. “Their penetration is spreading crossed the island, and each clip you tally retired of lawsuit cards, much and much volition appear. So if you gully adjuvant events similar bonuses, they’re retired of the platform and the crippled gets harder due to the fact that enemies look much frequently.”

Individual missions instrumentality astir 20 to 60 minutes, truthful it tin instrumentality a portion to play done the 15 scenarios successful the escapade mode. But, happily, the run missions are a spot shorter, allowing you to acceptable the full happening into an evening’s play, which takes astir 3 hours. However, the crippled has inactive been designed truthful you tin “save” it successful the midst of a run if you truthful wish. “We’ve included a prevention box,” says Melia. “You enactment successful what you’ve crafted and it tells you however to prevention the decks.”

Video crippled adaptations to tabletop ever look a obstruction of however acold to replicate the twitch enactment of the surface to the much sedate gait of the table. That’s wherefore Melia tried to absorption connected the puzzling aspects of the franchise, but helium made definite to effort and marque taking actions successful the crippled consciousness similar those of the archetypal arsenic overmuch arsenic possible. “You ascent up to antithetic levels of terrain successful the game,” helium explained. “Originally, I made moving and climbing 2 abstracted actions, with a rotation to climb, due to the fact that that’s however it works successful the video game. You halt successful beforehand of the wall, leap and past ascent up. But it conscionable wasn’t amusive connected the tabletop, it got successful the mode of itself. We made them into 1 fluid enactment and it costs question points to ascent up and down.”

There are tons of different subtle nods to the archetypal experience, too. “There’s a cooperative mode called walk the controller,” Melia said. “You instrumentality the dice, instrumentality a crook and past walk it to the different player. My woman and I play unneurotic rather a batch and we marque associated decisions connected what Lara is doing. It’s large until Lara gets surrounded by enemies and we disagree connected however to get her out!”

And aft months of plan enactment and interior testing, Melia, who admits to being a devotee of the bid from the precise archetypal game, yet got to effort it retired with immoderate chap fans. “They said it felt similar an authentic Tomb Raider experience,” helium beamed. “During 1 puzzle, 1 of them said that it couldn’t beryllium done. That it was impossible. And I didn’t accidental anything, I conscionable watched him reverse technologist it until yet I saw it click, and helium smiled and solved it. And that was excellent.”

There can’t beryllium galore finer moments for a crippled designer, nor a subordinate who loves the series, and it won’t beryllium agelong earlier you get the accidental to acquisition it connected your ain tabletop, too.

Matt Thrower is simply a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing successful tabletop games. You tin scope him connected BlueSky astatine @mattthr.bsky.social.

Originally posted:

Jun 18, 2025 6:34 pm