Having a Lord of the Rings version of anything is pretty cool. What’s cooler is a version of Exit: The Game based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium. The co-designer of the award winning escape room board game, Markus Brand, teased the LOTR version, along with another installment.
“Autumn is casting its shadow ahead ... and a very big one over all of Middle-earth. In addition, Dr. Arthur Funbeq, our host from the abandoned hut, returned. We're really looking forward to our two new titles,” reads Brand’s translated tweet, which was spotted by Dicebreaker.
The LOTR inspired version of the board game is titled Schatten über Mittelerde, which translates to Shadows over Middle-earth. The box also sports the German logo for The Lord of the Rings. According to German board game magazine, Brettspielbox, Shadows over Middle-earth is a beginner level game which will have players protect Frodo and save Middle-earth from Sauron.
The second box teased by Brand is called Die rückkehr in die verlassene Hütte, translating to The Return to the Abandoned Hut. The designer has confirmed that it is a sequel to Exit: The Game - The Abandoned Cabin; it will also see the return of antagonist Dr. Arthur Funbeq. This one is at more of an advanced level and will have players return to the hut to solve puzzles and prevent Dr. Funbeq from escaping.
Exit: The Game is quite popular with the worldwide board game community, selling over four million copies by 2019, according to publisher, Kosmos; a number which has definitely grown since then. It also netted the ‘Kennerspiel des Jahres’, or the Expert’s Game of the Year in 2017. The title gave rise to a number of spin-offs, with Shadows over Middle-earth being the first licensed one.
As per Brand’s tweet, both games seem to be aiming for an Autumn release. However, there have been no official announcements on the English translated versions.
From fantasy to anime; a collectible card game based on My Hero Academia has been announced by Jasco Games. The card game will task players with building up unique decks and battle it out using popular characters from the franchise, including Izuku Midoriya, All Might, and Katsuki Bakugo.