Whenever you try to convert just about any type of entertainment from one form of media to another, there’s always a risk that things can get lost in translation, or at least not work as well overall. People are no doubt familiar with how tricky it can be adapting popular books to movies, or in the gaming world something like a successful movie into a game, but there are other examples as well. One particular type of conversion I’ve seen only a handful of times and has typically struggled, has been the attempt to take current tabletop games and then convert them into a digital form. 

Flamecraft is the latest to add to the list, and though it isn’t something I’ve played a cursory search can easily establish its popularity and that it’s generally well-reviewed in that community. Loading up the game it isn’t terribly hard to see why, sporting a whimsical art style with a variety of cute dragons. For anyone who isn’t already familiar with the game, the next critical (and quite lengthy) step will be to walk through a pretty thorough series of tutorials. These make a valiant attempt at explaining the game’s core concepts all the way through its deeper strategies, and feature appropriately gentle and helpful voice work that compliments the game’s style very well. But then when the tutorial concluded, despite feeling like we’d at least latched onto the gist of things, I’ll admit trying to play the game with a friend left us feeling quite lost.

The thing is, this isn’t an uncommon problem, it’s roughly the same experience I’ve had with other titles that have tried to pull off this same feat.  Tabletop games like this are successful and popular because they have hidden complexities, and my best experiences with them have tended to be ones where I’ve played with someone who knows the game well and has been able to provide supplemental guidance outside of the stock instructions to help me get into the flow of traffic. Lacking someone like that in this case, unless you and your friends have someone who’ll get you over that hump, I’m not sure this is a game that will clearly be a hit. The problem is, if you do have someone like that around to offer assistance, then the question is why you’d opt for this form of the game rather than playing the tabletop version in the first place? For me these games get stuck in this sort of chicken or egg scenario where the people most likely to enjoy it will already know and love the game, so if it allowed them to play together online that would clearly make it ideal. Even if your family and friends wanted to play the game I’d question why you’d play it in a digital form instead of the analog. The game does work, and earnestly tries to make the best of the situation, but for me it remains a hard sell sitting next to its analog counterpart outside of the ability to play online.