Your first experience with a game can have a huge impact on how you decide to interact with it again in the future, if at all. Depending on how you feel, those early minutes or hours can lead to an immediate uninstall, a need to shout praises, or any reaction in between. I played Dreamhaven’s Sunderfolk for the first time at PAX West last month with a group of strangers, and it was among the best demo experiences I had across the entire weekend.
Sunderfolk is a tabletop-inspired game that allows up to four people to play together in co-op with one copy of the game and a free phone app to connect. You can check out Retcon’s Sunderfolk review to read a more experienced take on the game.
I was introduced to the game through a demo of the new One Shot mode, which is being added in the 1.5 update, scheduled for release later this year. One Shot mode allows you to play any mission from the campaign in a standalone session, without having to go through every story beat or start a whole new campaign.
I played with three strangers – only one of whom had played the game before. This had the potential to be chaotic or embarrassing in the worst way, but I soon found out that One Shot – and Sunderfolk as a whole – is designed in such a way that newcomers can easily pick it up and play without going through a lengthy learning phase.
We all connected to the session through provided phones, then jumped right into the One Shot hero selection screen. The first thing I noticed was how easy it was to just join up with no hassle. Then came the wonderfully designed heroes and charming art style. I chose the Rogue (my first choice in all RPGs), and the other players went with the Pyromancer, Arcanist, and Ranger.
One Shot mode almost immediately dropped us into the action after a bit of hero setup. Our task for this mission was to rescue a caged beetle and safely guide it to a highlighted tile on the board. It took a short amount of time to get used to using the phone to control everything, but once I understood the movement, attack, and action order mechanics, everything went smoothly.
On my turn, I attacked enemies and retreated into the shadows like any good rogue would. And when not strategizing with the party, I was spamming the cute new emotes. Several emotes are designed after the heroes’ faces, and pop up alongside a bit of funny text. Think emotes in a game like Mario Party Jamboree. The fun little icons took even more of my attention when I was told that you can make custom text for your emotes – a feature that would inevitably lead to a few laughs.
We fought our way to the beetle while three out of four party members learned how to play the game for the first time. It took us just a few minutes to get comfortable, with help from Creative Director Erin Marek and the one player who knew what she was doing.
I made it to the cage and freed the beetle, then the party came up with a plan involving some teleportation magic. Our Arcanist managed to teleport the beetle to safety while the Pyromancer, Ranger, and I took care of any lingering enemies that might’ve gotten in the way. We didn’t clear the entire board or enemies or grab all the treasure, but we were still awarded a B for our efforts, which is a grade I was happy to walk away with as a first-timer.
My first experience with Sunderfolk lasted maybe around 15 minutes in total, but left me wanting more. It’s rare for me to click with a co-op game that quickly, to be honest. I was ready to buy the game shortly after the demo concluded, and One Shot mode feels like a great way for me to introduce Sunderfolk to my friends without having to sell them on starting a whole campaign from the jump. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to seeing how many of my friends I can turn into party members when One Shot mode is added in the update later this year.
Be sure to check out our Sunderfolk interview with Erin Marek to hear more about the 1.5 update.
