Hellboy is being turned into a co-op board game

After nailing its miniatures adaptation of The Walking Dead, Mantic is moving on to another comic book universe with a newly-announced board game based on Hellboy.

Mike Mignola’s half-demon superhero first appeared in comics back in the early 1990s and went on to star in two feature films in 2004 and 2008. A third live-action movie – albeit without gruff actor Ron Perlman and director Guillermo del Toro, who arguably defined his on-screen persona – is currently in pre-production with Dog Soldiers and The Descent director Neil Marshall taking the reins.

Mantic’s upcoming co-op game won’t be a tie-in to the movie, instead taking its inspiration from Mignola’s original comic universe.

It plays up to four people, who each take control of a member of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). Hellboy, Abe Sapien and Roger the Homunculus are among the playable characters revealed so far.

Gameplay apparently involves “exploring gothic locations and uncovering ancient artifacts” – but we’d be willing to bet there’ll be plenty of opportunity to take down some baddies in combat, too.

Mantic is working on the game alongside Hellboy publisher Dark Horse Comics, and has confirmed that there will be pre-assembled plastic miniatures in the box.

It sounds like there’ll be a narrative element to the game, too, with its announcement suggesting that storylines from the comics will be included in the board game.

The Hellboy board game will go live with a Kickstarter campaign this April, with a full release date still to be confirmed.