Importance Score: 20 / 100 🔵
Venture into a spider-filled cavern alongside my fellow adventurers in Sunderfolk, a cooperative role-playing game where we strategize and coordinate attacks for our customized characters, all while engaging with the game using our smartphones.
Sunderfolk, a debut title from Secret Door, brings the social dynamics of board game nights to the digital world. Developed by industry veterans from Blizzard, Riot Games, and tabletop hits like Descent: Legends of the Dark, this innovative RPG is available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch for $50.
The game unfolds on a shared screen, where up to four players select from six unique animal adventurers, each boasting distinct skills to defend their town. The gameplay distinguishes itself through its phone-based interface, allowing each player to manage their character and access battle information via their personal device.
“[Sunderfolk] is crafted for genre enthusiasts who are eager to introduce newcomers to the hobby,” stated game director Erin Marek. The design aims to captivate seasoned tabletop gamers while remaining accessible to those intimidated by the complexity of traditional analog games.
To achieve this, Secret Door adopted a “TV DnD” approach, a concept described by studio chief Chris Sigaty, as “[Dungeons and Dragons] meets JackBox.” This blend encapsulates Sunderfolk’s ambition to combine the communal experience of party games with a rich, fantasy-driven setting.
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Although Secret Door provided access to a Discord server for connecting with other players, the true test was experiencing the game with my own tabletop group. This group of seasoned gamers, familiar with RPG systems like Dungeon World, The Sprawl, Blades in the Dark, A Quiet Year, and Stonetop —all of which offer streamlined alternatives to Dungeons and Dragons—proved to be ideal testers for Sunderfolk.
An in-person session was initially planned, but scheduling conflicts, a common obstacle in tabletop gaming, arose. Fortunately, Sunderfolk enables remote play; we were able to log into the game from our respective homes and participate as though we were in the same room.
This remote capability highlights Sunderfolk’s ingenuity: By sharing a single screen, players can use their phones to navigate the map, examine enemies, and identify battlefield features. This setup allows for strategic planning and coordination, replicating the atmosphere of an in-person tabletop session despite the physical distance.
Streaming Sunderfolk for a Shared Experience
Given the remote nature of the session, I employed a solution by streaming the game via Discord, using the PS5 version.
The setup was somewhat complicated, since PS5 does not directly support Discord streaming. I used a workaround, utilizing the Remote Play app to stream my PS5 gameplay to my PC, and then streaming that window through Discord. Alternatives included streaming to YouTube or Twitch, although those options introduce additional steps. Streaming directly to Discord is available on Xbox Series X and PC.
This scenario illustrates the double-edged aspect of Sunderfolk’s innovative setup. While the initial setup required some effort on my part, my friends did not need to purchase additional copies of the game. They simply downloaded the free Sunderfolk app, watched the stream, scanned the QR code, and joined the game.
Sunderfolk’s diverse cast of six animal heroes, exhibiting unique designs and movesets, from left to right: artificer, bard, ranger, berserker, ranger, pyromancer.
Phone-Controlled RPG Gameplay in Sunderfolk
Upon joining the game, my friends and I selected our quartet of characters from the available animal heroes and gave them fittingly comical names. The lineup included a polar bear barbarian (Bearzerker), a lamb ranger (Big Lamb), a raven spellcaster (RavnAbtMagic), and a bat bard (Bat Stevens).
Like any quality RPG, our campaign commenced in a tavern, where we grasped basic mechanics and character-specific skills before venturing into a brawl. The local ogres were raiding the town, prompting our heroes to intervene.
The battles felt familiar to traditional RPGs, but Sunderfolk emphasizes battlefield movement. Our spellcaster could teleport and reposition enemies, while my bat bard swapped locations and deployed power-ups. This pushed us into adopting dynamic and adaptable strategies.
This dynamic gameplay culminated in “The Moment,” which is something that every tabletop RPG player will recognize:. This is what happens when a spectacular, unexpected event occurs, unforgettable in its impact. In Sunderfolk, we encountered ogres on a bridge, each player discovering ways to shove these adversaries off the edge.
“We’re borrowing moments from tabletop games,” Marek explained. “Those unscripted moments that become shared stories, creating memories that are difficult to convey to others.”
While we couldn’t perform actions like negotiating or bribing the ogres, Sunderfolk presents potent alternatives. The game also offers streamlined rules and handles quest progression, and monster management, allowing the designated dungeon master to fully participate as a player.
Our first adventure concluded with conversations with the townsfolk, nurturing of relationships, shopping, and unlocking new abilities, all within a 2-hour session, which the Secret Door team designed for a night of gameplay. I was impressed by the seamlessness of the experience, especially considering my unfamiliarity with phone-based gaming.
The pointing mechanism allows character control and communication on the shared screen, useful when solidifying strategies.
Designing a New Way to Experience Classic Games
The Sunderfolk team consists of individuals experienced in adapting games from diverse mediums to smartphone platforms. Marek previously worked on Wild Rift (League of Legends on phones), while Sigaty contributed to Hearthstone. Kara Centell-Dunk, Sunderfolk’s campaign designer, has worked on tabletop games for over ten years, including Descent: Legends in the Dark and Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth.
During an interview with the Secret Door creators, Daren Bader, the art director, noted that he was new to tabletop gaming, despite submitting fantasy art for Monster Manuals and Magic: The Gathering cards. Bader’s journey to becoming a tabletop gamer during Sunderfolk’s development serves as a proof of concept.
“Creating a game I genuinely enjoy is my favorite thing about this project,” Bader said.
Designing a “TV DnD” game involved challenges. Sunderfolk had vital information presented via the phone app, and the team had to find a solution to avoid players staring at the screen instead of the shared battle display. The answer came from the Apple TV remote.
“Hasiba Arshad, one of our UX/UI designers, studied the Apple TV remote and its use of a cursor, which inspired the idea of controlling a cursor within the game,” Marek explained.
The controls underwent years of refinement, with the team performing playtests with friends and family to ensure the control system was satisfying. The release form had features that would direct players to focus on main-screen gameplay. Other aspects of the design took time to perfect, such arranging player card moves into a row that mimicked the physical action of holding a hand of cards.
“I liked the underground approach so that some guardrails could be placed on us,” Secret Door art director Daren Bader said. “We got to think more about what we can do underground that feels different and unique, but it’s something that people will recognize.”
All the work was worth it, because the game is genuinely engaging. While Sunderfolk might not be the most intricate RPG initially, it ramps up in complexity, with simple parts combining to form more advanced gameplay, according to Centell-Dunk. The spiders I defeated dropped merchant loot that scattered on impact? That can be combined with other movement tactics.
After two sessions spent exploring Bader’s underground worlds, full of vibrant characters and vicious ogres, my tabletop-experienced friends approved by asking when we could play again.
Centell-Dunk was thrilled by this positive feedback and said that she was most proud of the development of the boss fights and related systems.
“I hope players enjoy getting crushed by our bosses,” Centell-Dunk said.
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