Czech Games Edition announce Codenames: Critical Role Adventures

Critical Role is getting the Codenames treatment later this year with the release of Codenames: Critical Role Adventures and the Vox Machina Expansion Pack.

Codenames: Critical Role Adventures will be a fully co-operative game and will see you assembled a team of adventurers and set off on a campaign where you can also gain equipment and earn experience.

The original Codenames was published by Czech Games Edition back in 2015 and won several shelffuls of awards, including the 2016 Spiel des Jahres. Codenames is a word deduction party game that sees two rival teams, each led by a Spymaster, trying to identify their agents

It will be interesting to see how The Critical Role version actually corresponds with the original Codenames as by the sound of things a lot has been changed/added.

(Czech Games Press Release) "Codenames: Critical Role Adventures is a unique take on Codenames inspired by the Critical Role universe. It reimagines the classic mechanisms players know and love in a fresh, unexpected way, transforming this game into a whole new Codenames experience.

The game is fully cooperative, with one player taking up the mantle of a game master (GM) and giving clues to their party members, leading them through perilous missions toward the final boss. Together, they can journey through three separate campaigns, each consisting of multiple branching missions. Every mission features its own goals, and rules that tweak the standard Codenames gameplay—requiring the GM and their party to adapt and think differently to overcome the challenges at hand.

The party chooses three out of seven iconic Critical Role characters to embark on the adventure. The base game introduces Vex (and Trinket), Percy, Grog, Jester, Nott, Dorian, and Fresh Cut Grass. Players can mix and match these heroes before every new campaign, as different combinations result in distinct gameplay styles.

Playable heroes have their own cardboard miniatures to be placed on the words during guessing. Each hero also comes with personalized abilities that unlock as players collect XP from successful missions, and they can equip items that can be purchased along the way. To track XP, HP, character progression, and items, every character has their own character sheet. And yes, there is a D20 included in the box, as characters must pass their own unique skill checks that determine how well (if at all) their abilities are executed.

In addition to the base game, a Vox Machina expansion pack is being released together with the base game. The pack contains more words and items, as well as one playable character to add to your adventures in Exandria."

Both the main game and expansion should be released at Gen Con in the US in August and then start hitting shops from September.

GAME STATS

2-4 Players

Ages 10+

15+ minutes per mission

Images and press release text courtesy of Czech Games Edition.