I’m the sort of person who watches every episode of The Traitors and then dissects the play with friends, so a Warhammer 40K board game built around hidden roles immediately caught my eye.
Developed by Cubicle 7 (the studio behind several Warhammer tie-ins, including an official tabletop RPG), Warhammer 40,000: Day of Ascension blends the best elements of social deduction games. Genestealer cultists covertly infiltrate a human settlement and must remain undetected while bluffing their way to victory, while the human players must identify and root out the impostors. Picture The Traitors steeped in Warhammer 40K’s grimdark atmosphere.
From the description, Day of Ascension (which shares a title with an Adrian Tchaikovsky Warhammer 40K novel on the same subject) plays much like One Night Ultimate Werewolf or Secret Hitler — classic social-deduction staples. Loyalists must expose the Traitors among them and can employ specialist roles, such as the Magos Biologis, to inspect another player’s identity card. Because Traitors must deceive and manipulate to win, expect plenty of suspicion and paranoia. As someone currently obsessed with The Traitors, that combination is irresistible.
- The Traitors Board Game: $22.99 at Amazon
- One Night Ultimate Werewolf: $24.95 at Amazon
For more tabletop recommendations, don’t miss the best 2-player board games or the best tabletop RPGs.
Source: gamesradar.com
