Tag Archives: detective: a modern crime board game

Portal Games Reveals Upcoming Games in 2021 including a new Dune Tabletop Game

Dune: House Secrets

Portal Games has announced their publishing plans for 2021 at this past weekend’s PortalCon. The biggest announced was a trilogy of Dune-themed cooperative adventure games using the Detective system. The first game will be released in the fall of 2021. The games come as a partnership between Gale Force Nine, Legendary Entertainment, Herbert Properties, and Genuine Entertainment.

Using the cooperative game system from Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, Dune: House Secrets has players taking on the roles of rebels. They must solve a series of missions with a finite amount of time and resources. Players must cooperate and decide on what regions to explore, follow leads, leverage allies, and overcome oposition. They’ll use a variety of physical and digital components to drive the narrative.

The experience begins with a Prologue meant to introduce players to the world of Dune and then from there are three adventures, each taking two to three hours to complete. Players will level up their characters and unlock new options in future gameplay. Each adventure can be played as standalone experiences. But, if players complete all three episodes, they will unravel a master game narrative that will have a lasting impact on the two future games in the trilogy.

Dune: House Secrets is designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek and written by Przemysław Ryme.


Eleven: Football Manager Board Game

Eleven is the number of players on the pitch at any given time. To be the best in the league, it takes a lot, like an incredible manager. Eleven: Football Manager Board Game is a strategy game where players manage and grow their own football club.

During the game, players hire staff members, including trainers, physical therapists, PR specialists, and directors. They acquire sponsors, expand the stadium infrastructure, and take care of your club’s position in social media. Among many tasks on the list are also transfers of new players, and choosing the right tactics for each of the upcoming matches.

Eleven is a scenario-drive game featuring six different scenarios to challenge players with different starting situations and goals for the season.

The game is designed by Dutch author Thomas Jansen. It’s made for 1-4 players and the game lasts 60-120 minutes, depending on the number of players.


Dreadful Circus

Dreadful is a set collection game where players attempt to create the most successful circus. Over the course of the game, players buy cards that have special final scoring rules. As the game progresses, and more cards are gained, each player develops their own final scoring rules. The result is where every game is unique and no player scores the same way.

Dreadful Circus – designed by industry icon Bruno Faidutti – is for 4-8 players and plays in 30-40 minutes. Gamers will love this extremely clever card game.


Empires of the North: The Wrath of the Lighthouse

Empires of the North: The Wrath of the Lighthouse is a story-driven solo campaign for the award-winning engine-building card game: Empires of the North.

The expansion comes with 15 unique solo scenarios played in the order corresponding with the story included in the Campaign book. When playing the campaign mode, players gain access to the new type of cards including Event cards, Legacy locations cards that last from one game to another, and Lighthouses cards that are shuffled to Island decks. Additionally, each of the scenarios can be played individually, just like the scenarios in the base game.

In story mode, you will play alongside a Campaign book and slowly discover how the plot unfolds. Why is the number of lighthouses on the coast increasing? Why do the people so strongly oppose the cathedral being rebuilt? And those seas constantly assaulted by storms…

Empires of the North: The Wrath of the Lighthouse is designed by Joana Kijanka, co-designer of the base game and all previously released expansions to the game. The expansion includes 55 cards, a Scenario booklet with 15 unique scenarios, and a Campaign book with more than 50 story branches.


Neuroshima Hex: Beasts

Neuroshima Hex: Beasts is a new faction expansion to the best-selling Portal Games evergreen title Neuroshima Hex. The new army represents various animal species that survived Moloch’s attack. These beasts are fierce, and they have but a single goal: to protect their territory. They spare no one, including their own. The expansion introduces a new game concept – friendly fire. Ferocity and wrath are unstoppable and units in the new army can damage their own friendly tiles.

Neuroshima Hex: Beasts was designed by Joanna Kijanka and developed by Michał Walczak, both names highly respected by fans and well known for their work on previous expansions for Neuroshima.

Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game Gets a Game of the Year Edition

Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Portal Games has announced a Game of the Year edition of the award-winning Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game. Portal Games was able to improve the basic game and add additional components to the box.

The new edition includes a set of 30 photos of character portraits, which the players can use during their investigation to make a mind map. The pictures show the suspects met throughout the game, and bring an amazing immersion to the gameplay. The set was previously available for purchase only as an additional promo item at the Portal Games store and during conventions. With the Game of the Year edition of Detective, now all players will be able to enjoy this great tool.

Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game is a fully cooperative, deeply immersive, detective experience for 1 to 5 players taking on the roles of investigators trying to solve a crime. The game has been published in 10 languages and sold over 100.000 copies worldwide. It won many prominent awards and nominations including As d’Or Expert Game of the Year Award 2019, Dice Tower Best Theming Award 2018, nomination for Kennerspiel des Jahres 2019, nominations for Golden Geek Best Game of the Year 2019, Golden Geek Best Cooperative, Best Innovative and Best Thematic Game of the Year 2019.

Dig Deeper with the First Standalone Expansion for Detective

Detective: Dig Deeper

Portal Games is opening up the pre-order for Detective: Dig Deeper, the latest expansion for Detective.

Pre-orders for the game open May 8th, 2020.

Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game is the highly acclaimed cooperative game. Dig Deeper is its first stand-alone case in the Signature Series.

It’s written by Rob Daviau, Dig Deeper will transport players to an American town in the ’70s, where the players’ goal will be to solve the mysterious death of a local politician.

Like the base game, it’s for 1 to 5 players and uses modern tools to enhance the investigation, which now includes an all-new interactive interrogation mechanism!

Set for release June 4, the game retails for $15.