Manga translation studio and publisher Yen Press announced at New York Comic Con on Saturday that it had secured the rights to make an English language version of the Delicious in Dungeon board game. If you're not familiar with the original manga or 2024's hit anime, Delicious in Dungeon is half a fantasy adventure about delving into a dungeon in search of a lost friend, and half a cookery show about turning monsters into nutritious and delicious camp meals.
There's no word so far on when the translated version of the game will be available, or even which territories it will be available in. The original Delicious in Dungeon board game was published by Japanese studio Arclight games in 2022, and predates the anime that brought the story to popularity in the West. The illustrations were provided by the original manga author Ryoko Kui.
Thanks to fan translation efforts you can already download English rules for the Japanese version of the game, called 'Monster Eater - the Dungeon Meshi board game'. It's actually an adaptation of a really old-school design, Ginichiro Suzuki's 1988 system 'Monster Maker', and appears to be a very lightweight dungeon crawler board game - a bit more tactical than Munchkin, but only just.
Each player takes control of a party of adventurers, who have different skills at fighting, using magic, or preparing food. The parties are racing to get to the bottom of the dungeon by playing exploration cards, but making progress means first defeating one of the (potentially delicious) monsters occupying each level of the dungeon.
Committing the members of your party to the fight (and hopefully beating the monster with good dice rolls) is only part of the challenge, as it leaves your warriors exhausted. This is where their cooking skills come in - suitably delicious monsters can be harvested for food, which your fatigued party members can gobble down when it's time to rest at the end of the round.
There's a sprinkling of other mechanics; treasure to find, exploration cards that might require you to have certain resources before you can progress, and boss monsters to fight - if you've watched the anime, you can probably guess who they are! And there's a little light take-that competition, as you can send dangerous (or simply unpalatable) beasties into your opponent's section of the dungeon to slow them down.
It's a simple system, but it actually seems like a great match for Delicious in Dungeon. As your party gets exhausted it becomes impossible to beat monsters and you simply can't explore further. You'll have to spend the turn foraging for food and focus on recuperating - which is pretty much what happens whenever the party gets tired out in the anime.
It's thematically promising, then, and seems quite accessible. It's probably too ordinary to make it onto Wargamer's guide to the best board games ever, but with a theme I love and solid looking gameplay, it's one I definitely want to test.
If you love Delicious in Dungeon, dungeoneering, or great food, you are extremely welcome in the Wargamer Discord community. Recommendations for more cosy fantasy anime are always welcome.
There are some very interesting translations of Japanese games in the works at the moment. Check out our report on Sword World - the RPG that crushed DnD in Japan.