Rating of
4.5/5
Saving the Physical by Taking it Digital.
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 11/02/15
“Tabletop Simulator” is the Kickstarter-funded inaugural product from Florida-based Indie developer, Berserk Games. Berkerk’s crew got their start creating mods for other games, and apparently wanted to share the joy of modding with everyone by creating a game that essentially acts as one big modding sandbox… though unlike the other game that does that (“Garry’s Mod”), “Tabletop Simulator” doesn’t rely on dumping a bunch of Valve’s game assets into an environment and treating them as toys. Instead, “Tabletop Simulator” allows players to dump a bunch of card, board, and miniatures games assets into an environment and treat them as cards, boards, and miniatures.
Presentation
“Tabletop Simulator” doesn’t come off as all that impressive at first glance. The tables themselves look presentable, but they universally levitate in some sort of infinite void against a static panoramic skybox. The soundtrack doesn’t really exist outside of a goofy title screen jingle that sounds like something out of “Sesame Street.”
But what we see on the surface of “Tabletop Simulator” is like judging any other card, board, or miniatures game by how exciting it is to look at the factory sealed box. Hidden in the game’s depths are a huge number of game assets that all look incredibly good. The RPG Kit, which is supposed to aid in playing tabletop RPGs online, is of particular interest to me, and includes a number of spiffy 3D furnishings for dungeon rooms as well as a set of fully-animated polygonal miniatures (with passive animation, as well as triggerable animations for attacking, being hit, and dying). On the audio side, the game includes an in-game .MP3 player with a variety of royalty-free music to serve as a soundtrack.
The only real downside to “Tabletop Simulator” is the fact that it doesn’t come with everything in the known universe inside the ‘box,’ as it were. Instead, it includes a full set of modding tools that allow users to import 3D models and images from networked sources. These modding tools also include full Steam Workshop support, which serves as a huge repository for useful (and useless) things to throw on the virtual table.
Of course, the fact that the modding tools require networked sources for custom assets is perhaps the biggest black mark against the game. Instead of locally caching resources on the host’s end, then pushing those assets from the host to any joining guests via a P2P connection, the game insists on pulling custom assets off the web into each player’s game client separately. This means that everyone who wants to mod or customize “Tabletop Simulator” needs a blob of public webhosting, and the current state of many Cloud storage providers makes their services not play nicely with the format the game wants.
Finally, much of the mod content available for “Tabletop Simulator” completely ignores copyright and other IP laws. Of course, if the companies that make board and card games don’t want to create official (read: paid) versions of their games for “Tabletop Simulator,” the fan community should have the right to step in and fill the void, even if it means stepping on a few toes in the process. Berserk Games does very little to moderate custom mods, outside of removing those whose copyright holders either complain or give in and produce official paid DLC (there are only two paid DLCs at the time of writing). That said, it is entirely possible for a great mod to simply evaporate if it gets slapped by a DMCA takedown request.
Story
“Tabletop Simulator” has no story. There is no campaign, outside of a short tutorial.
On the other hand, due to its utility as a medium for playing tabletop RPGs, it has EVERY story. Therefore, if I were to rate “Tabletop Simulator’s” story, I would have to come up with a median or average score for every story told by every Game Master in the history of tabletop RPGs… and I’m not prepared to do that.
Gameplay
“Tabletop Simulator” is a no-rules physics sandbox with a table in the middle and a huge variety of things to put on that table. It includes controls for moving around the table as well as interacting with objects in a meaningful way (such as rotating them, flipping them over, or rolling dice). While it is primarily designed to be played with a mouse and keyboard, I find that the new Steam controller does a fantastic job of managing everything except for the rare occasions where typing is required. The game’s big gimmick is the ability to flip the entire table over in a fit of rage (a common Japanese trope), which sends everything on the table (and the table itself) spiraling out of sight into an infinite void. There are Fast Forward and Rewind buttons that easily allow players to undo mistakes (like flipping over the table like an asshat), and the game will automatically catch any object that falls off the table and drop it back on at the center.
It’s possible to setup turn queues and create hidden areas on the table where players can conceal things like a hand of cards or Game Master notes. Players can even draw directly on the tabletop in a limited manner using a few in-game tools. It’s also possible for the host to set limits on guest players, preventing them from doing dumb things like deleting assets or – naturally – flipping the table.
With this simple gameplay framework and assortment of assets, the variety of gameplay made possible by “Tabletop Simulator” is endless. Whereas most stand-alone versions of card and board games fully enforce the rules of those games 100%, “Tabletop Simulator” does nothing, allowing for plenty of fun via cheating, House Rules, or completely original game ideas. It’s just like having access to a big cupboard full of card and board games in the real world, only with infinitely duplicatable objects and no messy cleanup at the end of a session.
Seeing as most tabletop games are multi-player experiences, “Tabletop Simulator” doesn’t really provide much entertainment value for a single player, outside of building a house of cards or domino rally. Also unfortunately, “Tabletop Simulator” isn’t really designed for local play. Instead, the game focuses entirely on online play, with up to 8 players gathered around a single virtual table, with one acting as the host.
The key feature of “Tabletop Simulator” – and the entire reason I bought the game in the first place – is really the RPG Kit. The vast majority of the mods available for “Tabletop Simulator” are RPG-themed, which shows that there is rapid demand for a way to play tabletop RPGs without having to gather everyone together at someone’s house. The ability to create detailed battlemaps and floorplans, then save them for later is brilliant, as the real-world equivalent of doing that would take up an insane amount of physical space and be prone to accidents between game sessions. The game’s dice rolling works perfectly (though it is sadly missing a genuine d100 [100-sided die]), and it even includes a customizable grid which – despite being a bit flaky and hard to adjust perfectly – makes miniatures-based tactical combat an absolute breeze.
Overall
On the surface, “Tabletop Simulator” might seem like another one of those ‘joke’ PC games with ‘simulator’ in the title that is only good for a few laughs about how terrible it is. In reality, though, “Tabletop Simulator” is an incredibly customizable gaming workspace that can be used to play all manner of traditional games, or to invent new ones. This game single-handedly saved my D&D campaign by allowing us to play without everyone having to be in the same location, which is reason enough for any RPG fanatic to grab a copy immediately.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: N/A
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4.5/5
