Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is perhaps one of the most iconic Caped Crusader stories of all time, and now, thanks to Cryptozoic Entertainment, that epic tale is being reimagined to gives fans a hands-on experience through its own board game with Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - The Game, which is currently raising funds via a crowdfunding campaign.

Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns forever changed not just Batman, but the comic book industry as a whole, bringing a darker and more cinematic feeling to the genre. The series is regarded as setting the stage for the modern Batman known today, and majorly impacted the character's overall shift in tone.

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Set in an alternate reality where being a superhero is now illegal and Superman works for the government, the story depicts an aging Bruce Wayne during the Cold War as he comes out of retirement from crime fighting to don the cowl yet again. Batman brings his unique form of justice back to a Gotham that now opposes him as his journey brings him into conflict with both classic and new villains. In this new game, however, the player is responsible for Batman's fate.

Designed by Daryl Andrews and Morgan Dontanville, this new single-player board game throws fans right into the story. Much like how Miller's run was split into four issues, the game features four separate replayable adventures, each of which can be played as standalone missions or combined into one large epic saga where stats and decisions carry over from one to the next.

Featuring art directly from the comics, the game is absolutely beautiful, with character and vehicle game pieces that bring Miller's designs to life. Frankly (pun intended), the whole thing is insanely charming - even coming with Batarang dice - and the gameplay itself matches the quality of the design. Players traverse familiar Gotham landmarks in search of clues as they gather Fight and Detective cards while triggering various events and battles, all while racing against the Doomsday Clock. Created with replayability in mind, the game has a variable set up and near endless amount of card and combat combinations, meaning each play-through will be different.

The game gives comic fans an excuse to revisit one of the most classic Batman stories in a totally new way, while also still standing on its own to be enjoyable for those unfamiliar with the source material. Seeing a comic, especially one as influential as this, being converted into such an interactive medium is honestly really cool, and opens the doors for so many other amazing stories to get their own. Perhaps if this is received well, stories like Batman: Hush or even A Death in the Family might get a similar treatment. Imagine a board game in which the players' actions actually determine the fate of Robin's life. Considering that Jason Todd's death was decided in the comics by fan vote, a board game around this concept would sort of be the fruition of the writer  Jim Starlin's original intent to give control over the story to the reader.

The Kickstarter project (which you can find right here) is already seeing incredible success and will likely not only hit it's goal, but break it. The campaign was launched with an initial goal of $250,000 and, as of the time of this writing, is just shy of $186,000 with 22 days to go. This isn't Cryptozoic Entertainment's first Kickstarter project either, having used the platform to launch other games, including a Steven Universe card battling game, so the precedent and reputation is already set. Like all Kickstarters, there are various tiers one can back the project at, each with their own unique set of bonus goodies.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - The Game is looking to be one of the most promising board games on the horizon, and arguably some of the coolest Batman merch in a while, so be sure to hop on that Kickstarter before it's too late!

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