There are few games as influential to my childhood like HeroQuest. I remember digging into this game as a kid and my mind being blown that an adventure could unfold on my dining room table. It was my first introduction to an RPG like experience that wasn’t on a video game system.
I eventually got into being a GM for the Star Wars RPG in the 90’s and playing D&D for a couple months in high school. Around my senior year, HeroQuest made it back to the table as I wrote and planned out dungeon crawls for my friends on the weekends. I look at the pile of old character sheets and remember the awesome times we had around the table.
With my kids being teenagers now, I’ve been introducing them to this classic. My copy of HeroQuest is about 90% complete and the box corners have been taped together over and over. It’s a sign of the amount of love I have for this game.
A Return to HeroQuest
HeroQuest has been one of the top games requested by visitors to the Restoration Games website. There’s a sense of nostalgia for people who played this game growing up.
Today Hasbro announced the remake of HeroQuest through their HasLabs crowdfunding platform. This rebuild of HeroQuest has 3D furniture versus the original cardboard and plastic. The new artwork looks really good and the board will be bigger to provide some breathing room for players and all the 3D items.
The Heroic Tier of the game is $99 and the Mythic Tier is $149. This $50 difference comes with two expansions along with unlocks during the campaign and some extra minis.
HeroQuest was something incredibly special in 1989. It was my introduction into miniatures, role-playing and campaign style board games. It hold a really special place in my development as a gamer and it’s a game I will continue to revisit with my kids. I’m not completely sold that I need this though. It seems really cool, but it also seems to keep all the outdated mechanics from the original.
This isn’t “bad”, it’s just a little disappointing. When we look at the fact that we have games like Descent, Imperial Assault and Gloomhaven now, I think people are going to be underwhelmed by HeroQuest. When I’m playing this with my family, I totally know that the game hasn’t aged well. A couple bad die rolls and your character could be dead in a matter of minutes.
My 1989 version of HeroQuest is staying on the shelf. I just don’t know if I want to make space or spend the money for this new version.
Check out the HeroQuest HasLab campaign now through November 6, 2020.