Reclaim The Realm
A cooperative board game
About the project
Reclaim the Realm is a cooperative fantasy board game for 2 to 6 players. A corrupted king has taken over the realm, and every player works together to stop him. You win as a team or you lose as one.
Players explore a hex-based map, collect castle shards, scavenge for resources, build their loadouts with weapons and abilities, and fight enemies across four distinct regions. Players share resources, heal each other, revive fallen teammates, and can fight side by side in the same encounters. After collecting all the 'castle shards' the team fights the Corrupted King in a final boss battle, for a dramatic finish.
Gallery
Creative Process
Designing Reclaim the Realm has mirrored how I approach client work: start with a concept, develop elegant solutions, and then put it in front of people. Playtesting with friends and family has been a core part of my process. I watch how people interact with the game, what they gravitate toward, where they get confused, and what genuinely excites them. Their feedback directly shapes the game. When something is unclear, I make it clearer. When their suggestions align with the experience I am trying to create, I incorporate it. When it doesn't, I appreciate the perspective and retain the core experience.
A big part of the design challenge has been thinking at a systems level: understanding all the variables in tension with each other, from difficulty and rule clarity to how individual cards interact with core mechanics. The goal is always an experience where the rules feel intuitive and cards or abilities that break those rules feel earned and exciting rather than confusing. It is an ongoing project, and one I genuinely enjoy tinkering with. I've had many different people ask to play the game again, which motivates me to keep working on it.