PureArts’ real-life version of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’s Orlog dice has just surpassed its initial Kickstarter goal. The dice-based minigame is just one of many side activities players can enjoy in Ubisoft’s latest history-based action-adventure title, which puts them in the role of a Viking clan leader as they struggle to build a new home in the British Isles in the years of 872 to 878 AD.
Orlog pits two players against each other in a battle to drain their opponents Health points using strategic dice rolls, and players can call upon special God Favors to tip the odds their way. While the game itself isn't necessarily based on any real-life game of the Middle Ages, it has been discovered that dice and other games of chance did indeed play an important role in society as far back as the Iron Age. In the present day, Ubisoft partnered up with PureArts (who has made official figures and other merchandise for games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Resident Evil 2) to make a real-life version of Orlog not too long after Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s release last November.
Now PureArt's take on Orlog is closer than ever to being released, as the company announced that it has surpassed its original Kickstarter goal of $60,239 earlier today on the Orlog project's page. Among the many special bonuses being offered for those who donate is a replica Viking horn, a linen cloth Orlog game mat, real stone Health Counters, metal Game Coins, a linen fabric bag for all of the game pieces, and glow-in-the-dark Orlog dice - which PureArts Marketing Director Dan Richard showed in closer detail while thanking fans for their support. Check out a video of him explaining the rules of Orlog, as played in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, in the YouTube clip below:
Video games are a natural fit for tabletop board games, as evidenced by successes like Bloodborne: The Card Game and Fallout: The Board Game. A more recent Kickstarter project added The Witcher to the list of popular gaming franchises that have gotten the card-and-dice treatment, as Go On Board’s The Witcher: Old World tabletop roleplaying game passed its fundraising goal last month.
Side minigames like Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’s Orlog and The Witcher 3's Gwent are fun distractions in and of themselves, and they translate to physical board games quite easily. It’s not clear yet when PureArts’s Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla Orlog game will be released, but it might not be much longer given the rate its Kickstarter is passing its goals.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available on Xbox One, Play Station 4, PC, Xbox Series X, and Play Station 5.
Source: Kickstarter, PureArts/YouTube