Satchel Quest, a family-friendly bag-building dungeon crawl, is hitting Kickstarter with a promise of accessible play for 1 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, in about 60 minutes. The game blends deck- and bag-building ideas with light dungeon-crawling, featuring animal adventurers and a modular, pulse-quickened path-building mechanic that aims to deliver both puzzle-y planning and satisfying rewards.
What Satchel Quest includes (and what to expect on pledge)
– Box contents support up to four players and a shared village of merchants and shops.
– Components use double-sided chips for each item type (potions, weapons, monsters, etc.), with artwork by Vincent Dutrait. In the standard edition, chips are cardboard; the deluxe edition upgrades to wood chips.
– The animal-themed character lineup includes a pangolin fighter, a dodo alchemist, a ram wizard, and a fox rogue, all voiced with Dutrait’s signature personality.
– A Kickstarter-exclusive adventure pack adds five extra path cards not found in the retail edition.
– The game is designed by Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, and Shawn Stankewich, published by Weird City Games, with the Flatout Games team behind the design lineage of popular titles like Cascadia and Point Salad.
What you’ll find on the table
– A village board, four hero boards with starting chips, health and XP trackers, VP and other tokens, four hero meeples and satchels, a stack of dungeon entrance maps and corresponding dungeon depths, and a suite of path cards and tiered chips (Tier 1–3) to loot and unlock.
– The deluxe edition swaps cardboard chips for wooden components, offering a tactile upgrade that fans of Dutrait’s art tend to appreciate.
How to play in a nutshell
– Goal: Earn the most valor points (VP) over five dungeons, with the game ending after the final dungeon phase.
– Setup: Each player takes a hero board, starting chips, health and XP markers, a VP marker, a meeple, a bag, and two skill tokens chosen from a randomized pool to form their starting skill tree.
– Core loop: Each round has a dungeon phase, then a village phase, and finally a camp and tavern sequence before the next dungeon phase. Players draw chips from their own bag and place them on their dungeon maps, choosing sides when available. A floor is filled, players may descend to the next floor or stop, and the dungeon depths eventually feed back into the map pool.
– Actions and tools: Players can use tools like Torch (set aside and redraw), Ladder (drop down a floor early), and Key (unlock chest requirements). Some chips are impassable if their space is constrained by pre-printed outlines on the map.
– Resolution phase: Starting with any active path card instructions, players resolve their dungeons in a fixed order: Potions, Chests, Monsters, Coins, Gems, Artifacts. Potions heal; chests require you to place a specific set of chips; monsters deal damage and can be defeated with weapon-type attacks; coins, gems, and artifacts grant various rewards (gold, XP, or VP) based on placements and item groups.
– Camp phase: Return all chips to your bag, refresh skills if you’ve earned XP, and resurrect or level up as needed.
– Path and village phases: The game reveals and follows a Path card, determining constraints or bonuses, then moves into a village phase where players browse shops or visit specialty shops (Gurdy’s Gear, Healer’s Hut, Pterry’s Tavern) for upgrades or health/gold. Players take three turns in the village per dungeon, starting with the starting player.
– Endgame and scoring: After five dungeon phases, players gain 3 VP for each unlocked skill, and then total health, XP, and gold are summed and divided by five (rounded down) to determine additional VP. The highest VP wins, with ties broken by gold.
Why Satchel Quest stands out
– Double-sided chips introduce a strategic twist: each chip has two sides with different types, encouraging players to adapt on the fly if a monster or chest seems unwise to commit to a given side. This reduces the risk of “busting” in a traditional push-your-luck sense, while maintaining a dynamic, puzzle-like feel.
– The game leans into position-based puzzle mechanics rather than pure luck. Players aren’t just drawing to a random outcome; they’re arranging chips to unlock rewards and minimize damage, with careful planning across multiple floors and five consecutive dungeons.
– Diverse character abilities and a modular skill tree ensure each playthrough can feel distinct. The fighter, alchemist, wizard, and rogue each bring unique benefits, and a random subset of eight of twelve possible skills keeps configurations fresh.
– The art, flavor, and animal-theme lend a lighter, family-friendly vibe to a dungeon-crawl framework, making it approachable for newer gamers while still offering depth for seasoned players.
What to watch for
– Some icons and symbols, particularly the XP vs VP differentiation and chest indicators, may need a moment to read clearly in early prototypes. The final production version aims to improve legibility, but as with many Kickstarter previews, small tweaks are likely before release.
– The memory element—tracking what’s left in your bag and what you’ve placed where—can be tricky, especially as the board state grows. This is part of the puzzle charm, but players should be prepared for a degree of cognitive load.
A note on pacing and feel
– Satchel Quest sits at an approachable intersection of puzzle and light dungeon-crawl, with competition largely around timing purchases and being mindful of shop stock rotation. The engine rewards efficient planning, timely upgrades, and smart use of resources across both dungeon floors and the village economy.
Bottom line
Satchel Quest offers a bright, family-friendly entry into bag-building mechanics with a dungeon-crawl twist. Its standout feature—the two-sided chips—creates a resilient puzzle that rewards foresight and adaptability. With charming animal adventurers, strong art direction, and a set of modular paths and shops, the game has potential to become a regular on family game nights and gaming groups alike. Kickstarter backers can look forward to exclusive adventure content and upgraded components that enhance the tactile experience. If you enjoy strategic bag-builders with a touch of dungeon exploration, Satchel Quest is worth watching as it moves toward its crowdfunding goal.