When Hobbies Collide – Kings of Ruin like a Video Game?
For a long time now I’ve balanced my free time between playing video games and playing board games. When I first got married, the amount of time I played video games outpaced my time playing board games 4 or 5 to 1. That’s balanced out over the past decade, and now I find myself playing as many hours of board games as video games, and I’m seeing a lot of connections. I’ve jumped back into Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin with my father-in-law, and it feels like a tabletop, video game experience.
The story in Kings of Ruin is absolutely fantastic, and I’m enthralled by all the choices I get to make, the things that may or may not happen in the kingdom – like who did I essentially put on the throne!? – and how my characters are growing. Further to that, I get to meet really interesting characters, I get to level up my character and get new skills. It is like a video game, but on my board game table.
If a board game for the legendary Skyrim game didn’t exist – in fact, there are multiple Elder Scrolls board games – I would say that Kings of Ruin feels like Skryim on the table. As I said above, you get skills, you get experience, you get resources, weapons, mounts, etc. The list just goes on and I kept saying to myself, “I can get that in Skyrim, I can get that in Skyrim, I can get that in Skyrim!”
I see games like Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin being a pretty nice way for video games fans to slide into the board game hobby. While a game like Tainted Grail is very rules heavy, the gradual nature of getting started in the experience lowers that barrier of entry in my opinion. Just like video games have tutorials, a board game like Tainted Grail, or the always fantastic The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era, also have tutorials that ease you into the various aspects of the game: exploration, levels, combat, etc. My core group of friends who play board games also play video games, so I’ve never had the pleasure of drawing a video game player over to the board game darkside. I wish I could though, because I think their eyes would be open to a brand new experience that is so much fun.
What I love about Tainted Grail, and board games in general, is that they are inherently social experiences. When I play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I’m playing a solo experience. I’m not sharing my journey in Skyrim with anyone else; it is just me, my Nintendo Switch 2, and my created character. When you play an epic adventure board game, however, you cannot help but socialize with those around you. These interactions are not only those that happen in person, but the ones that will ultimately happen in the game as well.
If you love video games and wondered if there was a board game you might enjoy, Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin might be a great entry point!
Article By Adam
