Warhammer Quest designers announce HeroQuest-inspired co-op dungeon-crawler Altar Quest

Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game co-designers Adam and Brady Sadler have revealed a new co-op fantasy game inspired by classic dungeon-crawlers such as HeroQuest.

Altar Quest pays homage to the 1980s D&D-like game of exploration and monster-bashing, down to the inclusion of 3D furniture and scenery in the box alongside a party of adventurers.

It’s more than a remake, though, as the Sadlers have built up a new gameplay system based on their card-driven ‘Modular Deck System’ first used in last year’s video game-inspired brawler Street Masters.

Each character has an individual deck that they draw from to move around the dungeon and defeat enemies, with villain decks replacing the player-controlled game master of HeroQuest with the game itself. The four players will work together in full co-op, with solo play also supported.

A draw of the system is that the various decks of heroes, villains, threats and quests can be mixed together in any combination, generating different scenarios for each playthrough. The game can be played in individual missions of roughly 45 minutes to two hours or strung together into an ongoing campaign. 

Altar Quest’s setting of Aridika is said to be influenced by high fantasy and Gothic horror, with the Sadlers having devised the wider world of Rhuna while playing Dungeons & Dragons together several years ago. A key part of the world’s lore involves rhunes – represented in-game by altar cards that introduce different effects for both the players and the enemies they face.

The Sadlers, along with publisher Blacklist Games, have said that there will be “years of support” for Altar Quest. The game’s Kickstarter, which has already more than doubled its £80,000 target, includes the game’s first expansion, Call of the Lunarin, designed by Gloomhaven creator Isaac Childres.

Altar Quest will be released next June.