A new edition of Talisman, the classic board adventure game, comes from the publisher behind Betrayal at House on the Hill.
Talisman is a board game originally released in 1983 in which two to six players compete to claim the Crown of Command, which is located at the centre of the board. The original edition of the title was published by Games Workshop (the company behind the Warhammer and Warhammer 40K series of miniatures games) and designed by Robert Harris. In the game, players choose from a selection of characters inspired by classic fantasy role-playing game archetypes, before travelling through each ring of the board to reach the centre.
The series has changed over the years, and in 2008 Fantasy Flight Games (the company behind the recent Star Wars Unlimited collectible card game) took over publishing rights before releasing a revised Fourth Edition version of the title. As players progress through the game, they’ll acquire new equipment, skills, and allies that they can use to overcome the various challenges that prevent them from entering the inner rings of the board. To gain these advantages, players can pass a skill check of some sort, with each starting character offering a different array of stats.
Manage cookie settings
Watch on YouTube
Players may also have to defeat a rogue gallery of monsters during the fantasy board game, all with the goal of completing a Talisman quest in order to gain entry into the board's inner world. Other players can challenge each other through combat, with any losing player forced to fall back behind the winner. The player who reaches the Portal of Power first will claim the Crown of Command, which they can use to eliminate all other players and win.
Talisman 5th edition, officially known as Talisman: The Magical Quest Board Game – 5th Edition, will be published by Avalon Hill, a studio that is best known for releasing the Betrayal at House on the Hill horror board game series. The upcoming board game will have players vying for the iconic Crown of Command by making their way through the rings on the board to the central space. Players will be able to choose from 12 different playable characters: including a thief, a monk, a warrior, a ghoul, and a sorceress.
This new edition will feature 100 different adventure cards that players can encounter during their journey through the land of Talisman, all of which are fully illustrated, and the entire board game contains new artwork and updated components. The gameplay of the fifth edition has been “simplified” to make it more accessible to less experienced players, and no further details about its gameplay are available beyond that.
Talisman: The Magical Quest Board Game – 5th Edition will be released on August 1st for a retail price of $60 (£47).