Sublime Dark: Fantasy Horror Board Game for 1-4 players
Created by Tristan Hall
A brutal experience in dark terror! Explore the town of Blackfell and uncover the sinister secrets of the eremites.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Sublime Dark Update 11 - The Shape of Things
9 months ago
– Fri, Sep 26, 2025 at 02:03:24 AM
Hello there,
Progress continues, though there is little dramatic to report at this time. Behind the scenes, I’ve been trialling a redesign of the Caro Boards — making them more ergonomic and functional for play. The emotion wheels have proven a little clumsy in practice, so I've been testing cleaner tracking counters that slide neatly along each track. It’s a small change, but one that should make the experience smoother at the table, without losing any of the thematic weight of charting your descent into the Harrowing.
Alongside this, I'm polishing the design edges, confirming logistical details, and waiting on art files before everything is locked and sent to the printers. Steady steps, each one bringing us closer to the moment when Sublime Dark moves from files and proofs to the sumptuous box of goodies that you can finally get to play.
And, since some of you have asked what fills the quieter moments between these milestones — in my downtime I’ve finished designing Night of Wolves, a brutal, simple to play solo card game in the vein of classic gamebooks. That one is now complete and will be launching soon. Night of Wolves has far fewer components (i.e. one deck of cards, albeit big, beautiful cards) and is all ready to print, so if we get the timing right, we can manufacture it alongside Sublime Dark and have everything ship out all at once. But rest assured, Sublime Dark remains my main focus.
Thank you for your patience and support in this liminal space while we keep pushing towards opening the creaking gates of misty Blackfell...
Cheers,
Tristan
PS. The Return to Kilforth sale closes on Tuesday. International backers can use the code HONKICK25 for a mega discount via our website here: https://hallornothing.net
Sublime Dark Update 10 - Forging Ahead!
10 months ago
– Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 06:26:38 AM
Hello there,
Progress on Sublime Dark continues apace, and we have been working tirelessly behind the scenes. I had hoped to align delivery with Halloween this year—an evocative date that felt fitting for the horrors awaiting you in Blackfell. Unfortunately, this milestone won’t be possible. The realities of production, compounded by ongoing uncertainty around US tariffs on board games manufactured in China (see this recent article from The New York Times), mean we are now looking at delivery closer to Christmas.
Despite this, we are forging ahead. Sublime Dark is too important to wait for tariff negotiations to settle. The project is moving forward and production planning is continuing so that Blackfell’s nightmare will be in your hands as soon as possible.
In the meantime, a huge thank you to everyone who supported our recent Return to Kilforth campaign, which was a resounding success. Fulfilment has nearly completed already, with most games shipping out right now. If you missed out, late pledges are still available for a limited time here: https://return-to-kilforth.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders.
Thank you as ever for your patience and support as we bring Sublime Dark to life. We remain committed to making this the most ambitious and haunting game we’ve ever created. And for those of you eagerly awaiting our launch of Wyvern Moor – The Dungeon Crawl Card Game (sequel to Kreel Manor), rest assured it’s coming. But I want the Sublime Dark files on their way to the printers first before that happens.
As always I’ll be keeping you abreast of developments as we go. Have a brilliant rest of the week, and I hope you get to play lots of games!
Cheers,
Tristan
Sublime Dark Update 9 - Return to Kilforth!
11 months ago
– Tue, Jul 15, 2025 at 04:00:48 AM
Hello there,
Sublime Dark is still scooting along nicely behind the scenes. Like everyone else, we're still waiting to see what tariff the US puts on goods from China next, so we're maintaining a holding pattern on printing until we know more. As always, I'll hit you all up as soon as we have the next milestone in place.
Return to Kilforth
In the meantime we're raising funds to ease the burden and make room in our US warehouses for Sublime Dark when it lands. To that end our latest beautiful Kickstarter is now live:
Return to Kilforth: US & Canada Vault Sale, Tariff Free!
After 10 successful Kickstarter campaigns, we’re doing something different. This time, it’s not a new game. It’s a celebration of the games that built Hall or Nothing — and a chance for US and Canadian backers to grab copies of our original Kickstarter editions at insane discounts.
✅ No customs, no tariffs ✅ Heavily discounted ✅ Still sealed, still beautiful
There are some truly excellent choices in this Top 20 Single Session Solo Games video from the mighty Colin Degnan of Meet Me At The Table. So it is a great privilege to see Kilforth coming in at number 6! :D
RPG Geek of the Week
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Jun 05, 2025 at 04:03:37 AM
Hello there,
Just a postscript to yesterday's update: Alexandre Correia AKA ZombieBoard has very kindly put me forward as RPG Geek of the Week, so if you are on www.boardgameegeek.com and/or www.rpggeek.com (and if you're not, where are you???) you can ask me almost anything here:
Sublime Dark Update 8 - UK Games Expo
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Jun 04, 2025 at 08:52:22 AM
Hello there,
There's not much I can share about development at this stage, other than it continues furiously. The first Delve is currently ever so slightly too winnable in my opinion, but play-testers have mentioned that other players might like to be able to survive long enough to play some more of the game too... :D
I will say that we had an amazing time at UK Games Expo this weekend. Thanks to everyone who came by our stand to say hello and to have a gawp at Rictus the Harlequin. Yeah, his name is a bit of a spoiler, but so what – fulfilment is still aiming for around October so we've got a lot of time to fill before shipping!
It was brilliant to meet so many of you cool, cool people, and lots of you are becoming regular familiar faces at events now, which makes us feel so welcome. Several of you came from miles away, some from other countries even, including the US; and wherever you came from, it was an absolute privilege to discover that you carved out the time to check out our little ole booth. Especially with the hall size being bigger than GenCon, that was insane.
I was delighted to be able to bring Francesca and Raphael along – it was like an especially geeky Hall family holiday. As always, I wish I'd taken more photos, but here are a couple of highlights.
Team Hall, excited at having just set up the stand
Legendary Game Designer Matt Leacock dropped by, he was showing off his new game Fate of the Fellowship, which is something to do with something called Lord of the Rings or something
The Great Sir Ian Livingstone and The Dark Room's John Robertson (who loved my Gunship T-shirt) were making us laugh with their brilliant chat in Hall 4, but for some reason Sir Ian never once mentioned my visiting his house – you'd think it would be a career highlight for him... :D
Ninjapup and I got to hang out with two of the coolest cats in gaming: Senet Magazine Editor Dan Jolin and Isle of Cats designer Frank West
I'll be back soon with more info about our upcoming sale, as well as our new solo-able storytelling game, Night of Wolves, which we previewed at the Expo. But that's all for now – my voice is gradually returning, the burning in my feet and back is easing up, and I think I'm just about ready for tonight's session of Burning Banners at our local game night. Have a glorious rest of the week, and stay awesome you beauties!
