HeroQuest, the dice-rolling dungeon crawl board game, is getting a proper PC version. HeroQuest: Digital Edition now has an official Steam store page, and according to PC Gamer it is scheduled to release on Steam in 2027, with a closed beta playtest coming soon.
The Steam page lists Nomad Games as developer and Balor Games as publisher, and describes the game as "the officially licensed adaptation" of HeroQuest. It also carries a Hasbro trademark notice for HeroQuest. PC Gamer describes it as a digital edition of Avalon Hill's deluxe rerelease of the board game.
Who is making it
Nomad Games is not new to this. PC Gamer points out that the studio has previously adapted board games including Talisman, Love Letter and Fury of Dracula. Balor Games handles publishing, according to the store page.
What you can play
The Steam page pitches a tactical, turn-based RPG built on the tabletop original. The core cast is the familiar four: the Barbarian, the Dwarf, the Elf and the Wizard. The store text leans on each hero's role: the Barbarian is the one to punch through enemy lines, the Dwarf handles trap searches, the Wizard needs protecting while he throws spells, and the Elf is cast as the closer.
There are three ways in, based on the two pages:
- Solo. The Steam page says you can play solo and lead the heroes yourself. PC Gamer adds that in solo play the computer takes the role of the Evil Wizard and his minions.
- Online co-op. The store page says up to four players can form a party through online co-op.
- Play the villain. The Steam page says you can take on the role of Zargon yourself and plot against the other players. PC Gamer describes this as a fifth player optionally taking over as Zargon alongside up to four heroes, and notes the game is based on the American version of HeroQuest, which is why the villain is Zargon rather than Morcar.
The quest editor
The feature PC Gamer singles out as the most promising is the quest editor. According to the Steam page, players can use it to craft their own quests and can explore quests made by the community through built-in mod.io integration. PC Gamer likewise reports that players will be able to create their own maps and missions and download quests made by others through mod.io.
The store page lists Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) as the minimum operating system, with 16 GB of RAM at minimum and 32 GB recommended, a GeForce GTX 1050 or Radeon RX 550 class graphics card, and 10 GB of storage. It lists support for English plus seven more languages.
What is not known yet
The Steam page shows the release date as "Coming soon", so 2027 is the only window reported so far, via PC Gamer. Neither page gives a price or a date for the closed beta. PC Gamer's Jody Macgregor also hopes the game includes the movement rule from HeroQuest First Light that lets heroes move eight squares instead of rolling when no monsters are on the board; whether it does has not been confirmed.
Beau's take: The quest editor is the part I'd watch. HeroQuest has always lived or died on whoever was running Zargon, and a shared library of player-made quests, plus a human Zargon online, could give the digital version the same table-talk unpredictability as the box. If the closed beta shows the AI Zargon can play mean but fair, solo players will be well looked after too.
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