The Last of Us board game pre-order is officially live, publisher Themeborne has confirmed. A Themeborne Twitter post from June 14 says the pre-order launch date was chosen “to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the original videogame release”.
The Last of Us: Escape the Dark is a co-op board game that shares a system with Themeborne’s best board games – Escape the Dark Castle and Escape the Dark Sector. These are stripped-back dungeon crawlers where players must work together to survive the horrors revealed with the flip of each story card.
When The Last of Us board game Kickstarter launched in November 2022, it was clear Themeborne was adding a few more bells and whistles to the operation. Like the videogame it’s based on, The Last of Us: Escape the Dark will feature an open world map, as well as mechanics for crafting and stealth. We’re also expecting to see plenty of Clickers.
The 9,000-odd backers who pledged towards the Kickstarter are expected to receive their copy of the game in December 2023. You won’t have to wait long if you’re pre-ordering now, though; Themeborne predicts this wave of The Last of Us board game will release in Q1 2024.
It’s worth noting the pre-order only includes the Standard Edition of The Last of Us: Escape the Dark. The Collector’s Edition from the Kickstarter is no longer available, and the accompanying playmat must be pre-ordered separately.
Themeborne is currently selling The Last of Us board game for $75 (£69.99), while the playmat costs $40 (£29.99). You can pre-order both from Themeborne’s website.
Whether you love or loathe them, videogame board games are everywhere right now. The Last of Us: Escape the Dark is just one of many adaptations on the way. Recently, Kickstarter alone saw the launch of a Dead Cells board game, an Apex Legends board game and a Monster Hunter World: Iceborne board game – all within three days of each other.
The Last of Us is arguably one of the best games of all time, as well as one of the best horror series of all time. Only time will tell if we think it’ll be one of the best horror board games, too.