Ravensburger Releasing Disney RPG Chronicles of Light: Darkness Falls

Ravensburger announced a new Disney-branded game Chronicles of Light: Darkness Falls (Disney Edition).

The game exists in the space between storytelling board games and rules-lite roleplaying games to act as an introduction to roleplaying. Players take on the role of Disney and Pixar characters and work together accepting quests and forming alliances to battle an unnamed Darkness threatening the land.

From the product description:

In Chronicles of Light: Darkness Falls (Disney Edition), players work together to form dynamic alliances of Disney and Pixar heroines, including Moana (Moana), Violet (The Incredibles), Maid Marian (Robin Hood) and Belle (Beauty and the Beast). Materializing as radiant crystal versions summoned into the realm, the heroines drive back shadows of infamous Disney Villains and restore the Realm of Light. Along the way, the team explores a brand-new illustrated world and encounters familiar characters, items, and creatures on their quests. Fully designed and illustrated by women, the game’s diverse missions and modular board generate new adventures every time it’s played.

Lysa Penrosek, Head of New Games Marketing for Ravensburger, said:

“As we’ve seen time and time again with games like Disney Villainous and Disney Lorcana TCG, bringing Disney heroes and villains into one shared universe reignites powerful nostalgia and provides a platform to bring friends and families together in an immersive and highly creative experience. We know how imaginations ignite when you bring Disney storytelling to life in board games, and we can't wait for you to see what happens when Disney Princess characters and other Disney heroines join forces and take center stage."

The board game will retail for $29.99 with Target exclusive pre-order starting on July 7 and a nationwide release at Target and hobby game stores on July 21.

 

[Umbran]

I assume so they can sell expansion packs.

Perhaps, but from what I've seen, Ravensberger seems to like to have their work contained - so if you see more of this, it won't be an expansion pack, it'll be another, very similar game with different focus characters.

 

[Abstruse]

So is this gonna be the same universe as Lorcana?

No, separate. Also separate from their Villainous game.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

From Ravensberger, if this is successful, you are likely to see variants in the future. For example, they make a board game called "Horrified", in which you play characters trying to stop monsters from killing people. The first version is Universal Horror movie monsters - Frankenstein's monster and his Bride, the Werewolf, Mummy, Invisible Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Dracula. They then have a second version of the game focusing American Cryptids - the Jersey Devil, Mothman, Sasquatch, etc.

I recently played Horrified Olympus - it was v fun

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

And why not include Frozen?

From a purely pragmatic standpoint, you don't want four 8 year old girls fighting over who gets to play Elsa.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

From the linked ICV2 article

The game features popular characters such as Moana (Moana), Violet (The Incredibles), Maid Marian (Robin Hood) and Belle (Beauty and the Beast).

(emphasis mine)

So I expect we may get more than just those 4; or perhaps rules to create the others if desired?

 

[Umbran]

I recently played Horrified Olympus - it was v fun

Oh, I didn't know about that one. Very cool!

But, this does demonstrate the point: They don't make a core Horrified and sell expansions. They make several different whole games on the same core, but themed differently. They have a similar model with their Labyrinth line of games.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Because the boys would just play Stitch and Kuzco all the time.

 

[SteveC]

This is really interesting. This sounds like a sort of Kingdom Hearts project, which would be exciting. I am curious about what kind of adventures they are going to have and if this will be a combat/non combat sort of game. I know that Kingdom Hearts has battles to it. If it doesn't have battles in it (and the description does talk about villains so I expect it will) that would be a potential interesting fork in the road for gaming.

I hope this will have some real marketing behind it, because I am all-in with Disney stuff due to my daughter and I had never heard of it before seeing this.

The moment they have a Frozen expansion for it, I'll be buying it since that's my daughter's jam. I asked her about it and she isn't interested in any of the other characters, so looks to be a pass for me at the moment.

 

[Retreater]

They then have a second version of the game focusing American Cryptids - the Jersey Devil, Mothman, Sasquatch, etc.

Hey! I played that last weekend. We had a great time taking out the Badlands Banshee and the Chupacabra.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

From a purely pragmatic standpoint, you don't want four 8 year old girls fighting over who gets to play Elsa.

"Let it goooo! (into my hands Chloe! Mooooooom!)"