The first in-house developed video game from Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime’s publisher Dreamhaven, Sunderfolk is a tactical fantasy cooperative role-playing game that players can play in person using their phones as controllers.
Sunderfolk comes from Dreamhaven’s Secret Door studio, which is made up of many former Blizzard employees, including studio head Chris Sigaty, who has worked at Blizzard for more than 20 years and worked on Warcraft 3, StarCraft 2 and Chief producer of games such as “World of Warcraft”.
“Board game tables are very special, and we wanted to create a video game with those same elements,” Sigaty said in Sunderfolk’s announcement trailer. “We focus on the idea of collaboration. We use the phone in everyone’s pocket as their control interface. Your phone acts as a controller, allowing you to own your information and push out only the information you need at any given time.”
In Sunderfolk, players step into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic animals and embark on an ongoing campaign that requires multiple playthroughs, similar to a tabletop role-playing game. Players will choose a class that they will use over the course of multiple sessions, leveling up and gaining new abilities along the way. In Sunderfolk’s announcement trailer, we saw the Polar Bear Berserker and Otter Rogue in action, along with other classes like the Bard, Arcanist, Ranger, and Pyromancer. The TV displays the game’s “board” and information related to each player, while the player’s phone displays details about their character and abilities.
In terms of gameplay, Sunderfolk is divided into two parts. Players will embark on missions to collect loot, fight enemies, solve puzzles, and complete objectives. After the mission, the party returns to town, and each player can independently travel to different locations to improve their personality, sell items, and talk to the townsfolk.
Actress Anjali Bhimani, the voice of Symmetra in Strike Force and Rampart in Apex Legends (and has guest-starred on tabletop RPG shows like Dimension 20), narrates Sunderfolk’s first gameplay trailer. Secret Door confirms that Bhimani will actually voice all of Sunderfolk’s characters, and according to game director Erin Marek, the intention is for her to be reminiscent of someone who personally voices every character players encounter in the tabletop adventure. master.
Marek said the goal with Sunderfolk was to create something that mimicked a live game night, bringing people together, much like in role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons or board games.
“It’s really trying to compare to the experience of having a hand of cards and a board on the ground in front of me,” Marek said.
Sunderfolk is also designed to serve as a gateway for bringing friends and family into the world of tabletop role-playing games.
“We’re trying to provide an entry point for people who are already in the community so that their friends, family, loved ones want to be a part of the community as well,” Marek said.
“Sunderfolk” is expected to be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam in 2025, and more information about the game will be shared in the coming months.
