GDC 2025: Sunderfolk Hands-On Preview

I’ll admit: when I first saw Sunderfolk I wasn’t too interested. I do play some tabletop games - I’ve DMed a few sessions of D&D with family, and I’m hardcore into Magic: the Gathering, but one reason I love video games is the complex worlds and visuals that they can offer over my own lackluster imagination.

Yet it’s hard not to be drawn to the talent behind Dreamhaven, the publisher of Sunderfolk, thanks to the pedigree of the people running the joint. So I kept tabs on the progress, both for my job here but also my own personal curiosity. And the more I learned, the more I realized this was a game I needed to play.

Thankfully, an opportunity presented itself at last week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco as I had the chance to play the tabletop-inspired RPG, and I came away quite charmed and excited for more. 

Yes, we all do, in fact, have phones

One of the most unique aspects of Sunderfolk is that you likely already own the only controller you’ll need: your phone. Despite launching across a multitude of platforms, each player will simply need to connect their phone to the game session and from there you’ll be able to control everything you need to on screen, whether it’s your character’s movements to selecting the action cards each turn. 

Up to four players can connect and join a session, taking the role of one of six classes that fit into some of the standard fantasy TTRPG archetypes, from the bow-wielding Ranger to the lute-strumming Bard. 

Everything is controlled using your phone, whether it’s combat or simply exploring the town of Arden, which is easily navigated thanks to the mousepad-style pointer system used in Sunderfolk. As a result, all you really need is one version of the RPG for a host of players to enjoy the session, whether it be couch co-op with a group of friends or over a Discord call on a game night. 

Endlessly Social

Because of those TTRPG inspirations, Sunderfolk wasn’t necessarily built to be played in a vacuum. Yes, you can play it solo if you want, but it comes alive when you have a few people in your party. In my demo I played with another games journalist and senior technical game designer Jerrick Flores from Secret Door, the team building Sunderfolk, so much of what made the session compelling was the gameplay that necessitated communication between the three of us.

This is facilitated partly by the pointer system built into Sunderfolk’s interface. Being able to drag my finger across my iPhone screen to highlight exactly where I wanted to move or who I wanted to target for an attack made communication so much easier as well. We were able to coordinate each movement, eventually over the course of nearly 45 minutes, playing into a steady rhythm, working in sync to deal with the ogre threat to Arden with ease. 

I really appreciate that Sunderfolk is being built not just with online sessions in mind, as well, but rather with local co-op seemingly at the forefront. The way it’s played truly highlights the feeling of sitting around a table and pulling up a board game, only the game acts as the DM, so even your group’s resident game master can take a break and join in on the adventure. 

As we sat down, we were able to choose between three of the available classes: the Bard, the Ranger, and the bulky tank, the Berserker. I chose the Ranger, and was prompted to rename my character. Character limits go in the way of being cheeky, but since my Ranger was clad in Green, I opted to name it “Green Range,r” but it cut off the last two letters. 

Still, the players with me got the reference, showcasing right away that they were my kind of people. 

Heart of the Cards

While combat isn’t the only way to play Sunderfolk, it is a large part of the experience, and our demo centered on a combat scenario against Ogres attacking the animal village of Arden. We were sent to the Ogre’s homeland to investigate exactly why this had been happening, only to uncover that these creatures had been given Shadowstone, a powerful item that, when allowed to fully take effect, transforms the ogres into powerful and menacing Rampagers. 

This is where our story began as the board was set. I love the fact that Sunderfolk is presented as a true TTRPG, with a single voice actor providing all the voices just as a DM might. It really gives the feeling that I’m sitting around the table on a Friday night, playing a game of D&D with my friends, the DM struggling to differentiate which voice they did for the Ogre Queen and another NPC. Thankfully, this voice actor is none other than Anjali Bhimani, who voices characters in Overwatch, Apex Legends and much more - so we’ve got a pro guiding our campaign.

Combat plays out as a turn-based affair, with players all moving together as a block and once the final player turn is up, the enemies take their turn. There’s no initiative to roll here, which is nice, as it gave us time to talk through our strategy. 

On the phone screen in front of me flashed three cards, each with a sequence of actions listed on it, from the movement my Ranger would take to the attack and its range listed. Actions are done in the order they are listed, meaning if your card has you move, attack, and then move again, you will be required to do them in that order. 

You can skip actions on your card, meaning if you’re already on a prime hex for the attack you’ve got lined up, you can skip the movement, and vice versa. But it’s something to keep in mind when choosing your card.

Another aspect to keep in mind is your class’s passive skill. As the Ranger, my passive saw my bow deal more damage to an enemy if it was at least three hexes away from my character, something I had to keep in mind the more the pieces on the board moved around. Additionally, the battlefield was littered with tiles that had lava poking through the cracks on the ground - which isn’t an issue if you walk across the tile, but if your character starts their turn on that tile you’ll take damage. 

This meant we had to be strategic as we really needed our Berserker to get in close and take on the enemies in front of us - Rangers and Bards are notoriously squishy. We are also sort of on a clock - some of the Ogres had already become giant Rampagers, others had two turns before they turned into one, meaning we had a short amount of time to deal with the threat. As a result, that became the focus. 

This also meant that our Berserker would end up on lava tiles on his next turn, something we really wanted to avoid. Thankfully, our Bard was able to move enemies and our tank, swapping the two so the Rampager would end up starting their turn on the damaging tile. This type of teamwork and strategy was rather easy to come by, thanks to the fact we were all sitting at the same table, communicating each move and planning everything out before executing. This reminded me of some of the best D&D campaigns I had played on, and the gameplay on screen both encouraged and necessitated the communication.

On my turn I was met with some rather (or so I thought) pedestrian cards. One was simply a card that moved me three spaces and then attacked at a max range of 3 or 4 tiles away. I quickly learned that one card above all else would end up serving us well in the long haul, and the AOE card that dealt damage to any enemy in a six-tile line. 

I found myself using this skill almost exclusively the rest of the demo, lining up shots and, thanks to my Ranger’s passive, netting extra damage on enemies that were three or more tiles away from me. I was also helped by a rather fortuitous Fate card, a random deck of cards that more or less acts as the roll of a die in a traditional TTRPG, conferring bonuses - or negatives - on an attack before it’s fully calculated. 

The first time I fired off this AOE, I got a +2 to the attack on the move, doing so much damage to a Rampager on a lava tile that it was a guarantee he would die at the beginning of its next turn. I also got my fair share of 0 modifiers and negative modifiers, but the Ranger damage passive did a lot of heavy lifting here. 

We mopped up the remaining ogres, preventing all but one from actually transforming in the end. I ended up with 4 ogre kills alone, top of the group, thanks in very large part to that AOE.

Looking Ahead

It would get rather boring, though, if I went through a full playthrough of Sunderfolk’s campaign only using one skill card. Thankfully, back at town, there is the ability to upgrade your deck to truly build the character you want to play. 

The Fate deck is also editable, though it will require an even ratio of negative boons, positive boons and neutral cards in a deck so it cannot be stacked in a player’s favor, maintaining the feel of getting a random high or low roll on a dice. 

The town itself can also be upgraded, with each player contributing to the resource cost, unlocking story and benefits each player can use. 

There’s a lot going on here with Sunderfolk, and I left my session honestly craving more. I can see myself, my fiance and my daughter all sitting around the TV playing this together on a family game night, or even playing a bit with friends on a stream, it’s exciting to think about. 

And, thankfully, we don’t have too long to wait. Sunderfolk will release on PC, Xbox Series S|X, Nintendo Switch, GeForce Now and PlayStation 5 April 23rd.