Sunderfolk PS5 Review

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Fast Facts

Co-operative, Digitised Joy!

Board games are great and I also adore video games, I just ……..love games. I enjoy being whisked away and playing with things, no matter the genre or subject matter. Great pleasure can be gained from getting stuck into something, either on the tabletop or in a pixel-based world.

I have found, especially more in recent memory, that these 2 genres are getting closer. Whether it be video game adaptations of board games or board game adaptations of video games. There has also been an increase in apps for board games, whether it be for scoring, managing or even a vital part of the game’s mechanics. There is now a grey space between the two crying out for something…… something like Sunderfolk. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Sunderfolk is a cooperative dungeon-crawling video game that feels like a board game, and in a sense, a Gloomhaven-light. What it does to ease players in, make things simple to play and how it is all implemented not only makes it amazing, but it also wipes the floor with the digital version of Gloomhaven.

A Mobile App That Works and Enhances the Experience

One thing you have to do before you set out on your adventure is download the free mobile app. I know, I know, calm down at the back. Get this, this app is actually brilliant, works flawlessly and massively improves the whole experience. Who would have thought?

Each player uses the app to interact with the game separately, creating a brilliantly social implementation and really drawing everyone together and separating them where required. Trust me when I say this, the Sunderfolk app is one of the best video game apps I have ever used and I have been gaming since Joseph got refused entry to the Inn.

In each session, all players have to do is scan the QR code on screen and that’s it. It’s effortless, functions flawlessly, and does not, in any way, feel like a tacked-on experience. The app also has something amazing, a screen pointer. If you want to point out something to another player, you can just use a pointer, great for tactical discussions or for pointing out something noteworthy.

A Well-Worn Narrative

I feel we should get what I thought was Sunderfolk’s weakest facet out of the way. While the story was not bad by any means, I feel it was quite predictable and walked a well-trodden path. An evil corrupting the land, yadda yadda yadda, it did its job, but I feel the story was dragged forward a little by its stunning cast of characters, their voice acting and some of their side stories.

I found myself really caring about the game’s uncanny roster of characters. I really enjoyed interacting with them and progressing their individual narratives. In between missions, you get to interact with a few characters, find out a bit more about them and strengthen your friendship bond with them. Each player can do this individually, using the app and go about their business solo before grouping back up for the next quest.

The Cast and their Abilities

After downloading the app and getting connected, your second task is to pick a character. These characters are wild and wonderful. From a fire-setting salamander and a heavy-hitting bear to a bow-wielding archer and mages, everything is there you could want, and between you and me, I want to try them all.

In our first playthrough, we selected the fire-prone salamander and the ranged archer. We discussed it and they sounded fun and could possibly combo well together. Each character was explained nicely while choosing and we never felt overwhelmed or bombarded with jargon at any time.

Dungeon-Crawling

After picking a mission to have a bash at and after a possible bit of story development, you are ready to get into the meat and potatoes of Sunderfolk. Each player independently controls their characters and their various abilities on their own phone, while the main action is on the TV, viewable by all. This game does a great job of getting you to look at the right screen at the right time, with various audio and visual clues.

The main gameplay is as you would expect: each mission has a hex map, with a fog-of-war and has you trying to complete various objectives. Each player takes a turn, selecting one of their cards and running through the various abilities and movement listed on the card. What I really appreciated here was the fact that you can use any of your cards, in any order, as often as you like. No restrictions, no nonsense, a nice simple system that most players will enjoy and understand. You get chances to get new cards and even increase the number of cards you can take on missions with you. It’s all rather lovely.

Most of the time, though, as with all these types of games, you will be positioning your character and trying to defeat your enemies while taking as little damage as possible. Smack, crash, whallop!

Combat!

The combat in Sunderfolk is equally rewarding as it is sumptuous. It’s so addictive, well-designed and effortless. Don’t get me wrong, this system owes a lot to games like Gloomhaven and other games of this ilk but Sunderfolk makes it so simple, explains it so well and the controls are perfect.

Combat has all the normal buffs and debuffs but for newcomers to the genre, and for people who don’t play many games, all keywords, even outside of battle, are explained thoroughly. It makes the system and the whole implementation friendly and easy-going. Even for people like my other half, who struggled with things like Gloomhaven, took the game by both horns and get stuck in. It’s just so welcoming and user-friendly.

The other thing I adored about the combat was the small deck of modifiers that you draw from after every attack. Again, copied from Gloomhaven but what you get here is a deck that can be modified and tweaked over time and it adds a whole load of customisation and tactics that I enjoyed a lot. This deck is made up of positive and negative numbers that add or subtract from your damage and can be tweaked to add buffs, debuffs and even healing. The whole system not only adds a tad of randomness to the combat but also gives you another system to massage to your liking.

Multiplayer Co-op

Sunderfolk really shines in multiplayer. Both in the upgrading of the town and in the tactical battles. With players having their own devices to control the action, the whole thing just feels like a social experience. I adored discussing tactics with my partner, what to kill, where to move and what to do next, all aided by the brilliant mouse pointer built into your phones.

In combat, working out how your characters can combine to create something magical is so rewarding and when it works, it is brilliant. For example, in our playthrough I would stand at the back, applying debuffs to enemies to drop their defence and create room for my partner to jump in, spread fire and cause a shedload of damage. Of course, this did not always work but changing your approach on the fly, as a team, is where Sunderfolk really shines.

Upgrades and Making Your Mark on the Game

Between missions, you can upgrade your gear, buy new gear and even upgrade the building around town with the loot you have acquired. Again, it leans into the social co-operative nature of the game as you discuss, in your party, how many upgrade materials you have and which building should be upgraded next.

Not only that but the game asks you throughout to rename items, characters or buildings and they stick around. It’s so much fun to hear things you have personalised being mentioned in the story and your jaunts throughout the world. It’s a small thing but a brilliant touch that makes you feel like you are really affecting the game and its surroundings.

Presentation and Performance

Sunderfolk is gorgeous to look at. Characters are beautifully realised and wonderfully rendered in 2D. The world is attractive, varied and all the menus are clear and concise. The voice acting and music are also very well presented; at no point did any of the presentation, graphics or sound work remove me from the gameplay experience.

From a performance standpoint, I had no issues, zero bugs and everything worked flawlessly. This is the same with the app, it always connected, it always did what it was supposed to and everything just let the amazing gameplay and systems shine.

One of my Favourite Video Games in Recent Memory

Sunderfolk was not only what I needed right now but it executes everything with quality and precision. What it does with the app and multiplayer is sublime and everything about the gameplay experience is explained, trimmed to perfection and thoughtful. From the explanation of its keywords to its simplified systems, this is a dungeon crawler for everyone.

We adored Sunderfolk and we will be diving in again soon with different characters to see what’s different. I know the comparisons to digital Gloomhaven have been rife but it cannot be helped, we played digital Gloomhaven recently and it did not go down well. A clunky interface and a poor implementation, especially for newcomers. Sunderfolk is nothing like that, it’s welcoming and warm.

Sunderfolk is one of the best things I have played on my PS5 recently and the social aspect, along with the app integration, really excel this fabulous game forward. If you are a tad interested in anything I have said, go and buy it, you will not be disappointed.

5 out of 5

5