Sunderfolk makes game night quick, accessible, and fun for pretty much all levels of player.
You’re likely familiar with the somewhat recent resurgence of the Jackbox series of games. Silly, funny, and often crude small scale games that anyone can play in person or remotely so long as you can see the game screen and have a device like a phone or tablet. It’s a smart system that allows non-gamers to join in with a video game without the need to deal with controllers or difficult mechanics. Other games have tried to make use of this system, like Hidden Agenda, but that really didn’t land well at all. Sunderfolk does something a bit different, by essentially working as a Dungeons & Dragons style adventure without the need for a dungeon master or heaps of set up. Grab a phone, scan the QR code, and you’re in.
The story of Sunderfolk is pretty standard fantasy fare. Your village of anthropomorphic animals comes under attack from ogres, and you and your merry band of heroes have to repel them before finding out what has set them against you suddenly. There are a couple of light twists and turns here and there, but for the most part the plot is fairly predictable. I did laugh at the mysterious fantasy land you reside in being named Sunderlands. I’ve lived in Sunderland. It’s not fantastical at all.
At the start of the campaign, once all the, at most four, players have signed in, you use your phone to choose one of six different animals. Each is a different class that fits one of the classic fantasy RPGs, like the polar bear berserker that acts as a tank, or the weasel rogue. Sunderfolk is kind enough to point out if a class is difficult to play as so less experienced gamers can pick out something more accessible.
After a preamble about the world, you’ll be flung into a tavern where you’ll get a very gradual tutorial over the course of three missions. This is really quite slow, which benefits people who game less, but may drag a little for those who have a history of turn based games. Still, it allowed my wife and daughter to get into the game without much need for hand holding, and we were off into the game proper before long.
The mechanics work really well once you get going. You have the players’ turn and the monster’s turn, and the players can go in whatever order they like, which means you can really plan ahead if the feeling takes you or you’re playing on a higher difficulty. Whoever is taking their turn will choose one of three cards on their phone and carry out the actions from top to bottom, skipping actions if they choose.
Initially, they’ll be as simple as moving, attacking, throwing, pushing, and the like, but before long you’ll be doing five or more actions on a single card, including dragging enemies around, applying status effects, and activating points of interest. These elements are introduced quite gradually, so you never feel overwhelmed, and if you’re using a simpler class there will be even fewer elements to consider. Upon attack, you’ll draw a random Fate card that will modify your attack for better or worse before someone else takes their turn. Once everyone has had a go, the monsters attack, and then things cycle around until you complete your objective or fall in battle.
Control works very nicely too, with everything being done on your phone screen. When moving, you drag your finger across your screen and you can see the path your character will take, following your finger around the hexes. It’s a little clunky at first, but doesn’t take long to get the hang of, though it is better on larger screens than smaller phones. You select targets and throw destinations in the same way and it all feels really quite intuitive. I liked the inclusion of a cursor you could drag around the screen to point things out to allies rather than having to physically prod the TV. You can even pull up info on enemies you highlight on your personal device. This side of Sunderfolk has been really well thought out.
Between missions you return to the town of Arden. I’ve been to Arden in real life, it’s quite nice but also isn’t a fantasy setting. More devs need to check place names. Anyway, here, you speak to local people to gather quests, items, and cash, as well as expand the town. You can only speak to a set number of characters, and interestingly, you speak to them individually on your phone rather than as a party on the screen. This means different people will learn different things. There are even some character specific conversations to be had which is nice, pushing forward your own mini storyline.
You can also level up here, which takes the form of you changing your weapons and items, but more importantly the cards you have equipped. You always have three cards available, and you can change what these are in town. Levelling up gives you more options to equip, and these aren’t randomised each turn, meaning you always have access to what you’ve prepared. You can also manipulate your Fate deck, meaning you can put in cards that give you a chance to land a specific effect, although this is luck driven. You always have to have some negative Fate cards as well, so it becomes more about mitigation than it does preparation.
Honesty, I think the Fate deck is a bit of an irritating addition. I get the inclusion of an almost dice-like system to mimic tabletop RPGs, but we often found that we had planned for something to work a certain way, and the Fate cards either gave us a bonus which had little effect, or a hindrance that we’d planned for. I’m not sure what system I’d replace it with, mind, so maybe this is the best way to add that random element.
What I did like though, was how much the devs had planned for what you might do. There are plenty of fun ways to manipulate the enemies to cause them damage without you having to directly attack them. The first time we realised we could throw an enemy over a ledge to instantly kill them was practically a revelation. We loved planning around the use of environmental hazards, with my wife using her ranger to push an ogre onto lava so it would die at the start of its turn, freeing me up to focus damage on another foe without worrying about being attacked myself. When it works well, Sunderfolk is really satisfying.
It is worth pointing out though, that if you’re a frequent gamer and you’re playing with non-gamers, it’s easy to kind of take over using your experience to play in what you see as the most effective way. Be prepared to put your gamer brain away and let people have fun with it! This is more an issue with tabletop gaming, but I could see it being an issue here too.
Whilst I’m stacking praise on Sunderfolk, it’s worth talking about the presentation too, as this is excellent. The art style is lovely, and whilst the graphics themselves won’t blow anyone away, they suit the game well, and give that bright fantasy setting “pop” that you’d hope for. The sound effects are fine, but the music is excellent, and the voice work by vocal legend Anjali Bhimani is outstanding. As far as I can tell, she voices all the characters as any GM would, and all of them sound distinct. My family commented how good she was throughout, and I’d absolutely agree.
Sunderfolk is an excellent tabletop game by way of games console, that allows for a light Dungeons & Dragons style adventure without the lengthy setup and planning often required to run a tabletop RPG. Whilst there are a fair few keywords to pick up, these are introduced at a rate that will gradually allow players to become familiar with them, making this very accessible. There are higher difficulties for those who want a stiffer challenge, and you can even play this solo, controlling multiple heroes if you want. The only thing I‘d ask for is a skirmish option from the main menu, to allow for a quick scrap with some enemies, but that’s a small complaint to make. Gather your party, and give this one a go.
Sunderfolk is available now on Xbox Series X/S, PC, Playstation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
