A look at Victoriana, now on Kickstarter

  Kickstarter news is storming through as the success of board game crowdfunding continues to climb, and it can be hard to keep up with it all! Which is unfortunate for games with unassuming titles like Victoriana, because I have to be honest - the Victorian-era is beloved and ripe for use in theme and artistic licence (Steampunk notwithstanding). It is easy to assume a game is pasting on a theme to create easy appeal, but that would be a mistake as assuming often is. I'm here to state the record that Victoriana is doing something special.

Victoriana is a cooperative board game for 1-4 players. In Victoriana, players take the role of famous Victorian characters. Following a trail of clues through sprawling 19th century London, these characters must investigate a dire conspiracy that threatens Queen and Country.

What is spellbinding about Victoriana isn't the theme per say, but it's inspiration. The game is designed as a sort of love letter to Victorian-era literature, both fiction and non-fiction, and everything about it draws from that romance - the aesthetics, the heroes, the villains, the schemes, the feeling. Admittedly, the board reminds me of Arkham Horror, another cooperative game of chasing a big villain and combating it's minions. However, Victoriana is making a soulful appeal to a major part of literary history in a deeply unique way to really make it stand out in the cooperative genre. I can't deny that my love for the source material draws me in, makes me curious about the game and wish it the best of success - not just as a funding campaign, but as justice to that fantastically classic and enchanting period of English literature. If you too are charmed by Victoriana, follow their Kickstarter and Facebook page for it's progress and updates.