The massively popular city builder Frostpunk by 11 bit studios is about to receive a board game makeover, which hit its Kickstarter funding goal in under an hour. This might not be the sequel that players have been hoping for, but it looks like a thrilling continuation of the game.

Frostpunk originally released on PC back in 2018 (and later on consoles) rapidly becoming a fan-favorite building simulator that incorporated an unforgiving cause and effect system along with proper survival mechanics. The events of the game took place in an alternate timeline with sophisticated steam engines being the world's cutting-edge technology and the only key to humanity’s survival. Players needed to create a fully functional and self-sufficient city at the very heart of a hostile environment trapped in permafrost.

Related: Frostpunk Comes to Console With Revamped UI

Now, the major gameplay premise of Frostpunk is expanding into the realm of tabletop titles with an official adaptation called Frostpunk: The Board Game by Glass Cannon Unplugged. It transfers the core mechanics of the original title to tabletop format, introducing new solutions along the way. The tabletop version uses various figurines and building miniatures to follow the style and atmosphere of digital Frostpunk. The board game includes the signature central tower, a Catan-style set of hexagonal tiles, numerous cards, markers, and tokens in a single rich package. This promising version has just been fully funded on Kickstarter - it took the game mere 54 minutes to reach the initial goal of €200,000 (roughly $235,000). At the time of writing, the campaign has already attracted over $600,000. With such a convincing pace of fundraising and 22 days of the campaign left, Frostpunk: The Board Game will likely cover all the stretch goals going far beyond early expectations.

The previous game by 11 bit studios, the deeply disturbing and atmospheric survival game This War of Mine, was also treated with a tabletop adaptation by the very same designers. It took a similar approach toward gameplay with players tasked to help civilians trapped in a city make the right decisions to survive and escape the horrors of war. Overall, turning digital games into tabletop ones and vice versa is not something particularly uncommon in the industry. Quite the opposite, there’s a whole layer of such titles available on numerous gaming devices. Coincidentally, Steam will be celebrating them in a dedicated event called Digital Tabletop Fest, which is taking place later this month.

Considering the already successful example of a collaboration between 11 bit studios and founders of recently arranged Glass Cannon Unplugged with This War of Mine board game adaptation, it was only a matter of time until Frostpunk received a similar tabletop treatment. It looks like an exciting new way of experiencing the critically-acclaimed city builder, which will receive another layer of depth, complexity, and freedom within a board game format. The fans’ excitement over the Kickstarter campaign is clearly indicating that there’s a huge demand for such an experiment.

Next: The Last Of Us Board Game Is In The Works From CMON And Sony

Frostpunk: The Board Game is expected to release in October 2021.

Source: Glass Cannon Unplugged/Kickstarter