Castle Panic creator returns with co-op firefighting game Hotshots

Justin De Witt, designer of family-friendly co-op title Castle Panic, is back with a new spin on the genre in the form of Hotshots.

Hotshots is a co-op dice-rolling game in which players take the role of firefighters battling wildfires and press their luck by rolling results to extinguish the flames.

Up to four players choose a role – crew boss, spotter, swamper and sawyer – and roll dice to try and match the modular terrain tiles on fire. There’s the option to cut firebreaks, safeguarding tiles from hot embers blown about by the wind, or to call in vehicles, including an air tanker, helicopter and brush rig.

Failing results in the fire growing, with additional strength added to the blaze by flame tokens, which symbolise the wind fanning the existing inferno or new fires sparking into life. If left unchecked, terrain tiles may be permanently scorched and become unable to be saved – eight scorched tiles and it’s game over.

Hotshots takes around an hour to play and will cost $35 (£29) when it’s released on May 31st.