Czech Games Edition

Get this competitive, strategic hack-and-slash title at a store near you in February 2020 … Or at Essen Spiel ‘19.

The spineless King Yurik succumbed to the ancient evil that whispered in the catacombs beneath his once-great city. Now, who will fulfill the prophecy and destroy the demon king who sits atop the burning throne?

Choose a character: The rightful heir, the vengeance seeker, the disgraced king’s guard, or the trained evil-slayer.

Defeat the Lord of Demon’s minions to build up your character. Choose the right monster fights at the right times to get the gear and stat upgrades you’ll need to find the perfect strategy.

But beware! The fights get tougher as you go. Encountering the Demon Lord himself will be the ultimate test …

Only one hero is truly destined to purify the Sanctum.

Is it you?

Overview

Sanctum is a competitive epic adventure game for 2 to 4 players.

Expect Sanctum in stores worldwide in February 2020 … Or you can come by Booth Hall 1, F-145 at Essen Spiel ‘19 to get your hands on a copy earlier.

Estimated playtime: 60–120 minutes
Ages: 12+
Price: €60.00

Preorder your Spiel copy through October 21.

In the meantime, you can see the full rulebook or take a look at our BGG Sneak Preview Article Series. (And once you’ve read up on the game, take our BGG quiz! Four lucky winners will win a free copy.)

The game is inspired by hack-and-slack RPG video games, and there are plenty of dice rolls … but don’t let that fool you. This is a highly strategic game.

Gameplay

Players can take one action on their turn, and there are three kinds of actions: Move, Fight and Rest. They’ll Move steadily across the maps to reach the boss fight with the Demon Lord, FIghting demons along the way to gain Items and Skills. Occasionally, they must Rest in order to refill their resources and equip gear.

Here is a little more detail on each type of action.

Move takes you along the path toward the Demon Lords. Moving is also when you pick up demons to fight later by placing them on your Battle Board. The choice of what demons to pick up is exciting, since you have to choose the color of demon that corresponds to the Skills you want to unlock, but you also want to be sure the demon you choose drops some Items you are capable of equippint, too.

The Fight action is where you roll your dice to kill your demons. You’ll need the die faces showing on the demons on your Battle Board in order to destroy them. Skills you’ve already unlocked and Items you’ve equipped can help you spin and set your dice, so Fights are only a game of chance if you don’t choose the right Fights, the right gear, and the right Skills.

After a Fight, you gain level ups that correspond with the power levels of the demons you slayed. Spend level-ups by moving Skill gems on your 3x3 Skill board up one level. Be careful: You don’t want to move gems off the strongest skills, which are on the bottom row, too early -- because you’ll move them onto your other skills and make them harder to unlock. But then again, maybe you want to start the game with your most powerful Skill … The choice is yours.

Another thing to consider is that the Skill gems become your fuel for equipping Items once you move them off of the Skills and out of the 3x3 Skill grid entirely.

The Rest action allows you to regain Stamina and Focus, which you’ll need to use your equipped Items during fights. It’s also when you can equip new items.

Once you reach the end of the road to Sanctum, you’ll face a fight with the Demon Lord. In this fight, you’ll also be rolling dice and using the dice-changing Skills and Items you picked up along the way. The difference is that the Demon Lord is much tougher than any foe you’ve faced before him …

From the designer of Adrenaline, Filip Neduk, this is a hack’n’slash bash you don’t want to miss.