Sunderfolk

Sunderfolk understands that the hardest part of a co-op RPG is often getting everybody comfortable enough to play. Its phone-controller option turns a shared screen into an approachable game-night centerpiece, while the online mouse-and-keyboard route gives distant friends a more traditional way to join the same tactical campaign.

The hook is not just convenience. You and your group have to discuss turn order, weigh skill cards, and adapt when a mission goes sideways. That makes victory feel communal, but it also means the game will test a group that wants to rush ahead without talking.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Sunderfolk starts from a smart, welcoming idea: make a tactical RPG feel like something you can bring to a game night instead of a hobby that demands everyone learn a complicated setup. On a shared screen, friends can join with phones acting as their controllers, cards, and reference guides, while only the host needs to own the game. It is a genuinely useful solution for a couch group with mixed levels of gaming experience.

The tactical side asks more of you than simply picking an attack. Turn order matters, skill cards shape your options, and every move benefits from a quick conversation before somebody commits. When your party is engaged, that back-and-forth is the point. You get the pleasant friction of a tabletop session, where a simple plan becomes a group debate and a recovered mistake feels like everybody’s save.

That same dependence on collaboration can become a snag with the wrong group. Sunderfolk is built for players willing to pay attention, coordinate, and adapt to enemies and bosses together. If one person wants to dictate every turn, or if everyone prefers fast, independent action, the deliberate pace may feel more like waiting than teamwork. For a regular group that enjoys talking through a problem, though, the structure gives each mission more personality than a routine co-op brawl.

Online play has a separate, more conventional route for mouse-and-keyboard players, with each participant owning a copy. That flexibility is valuable because it lets the game work as either a living-room event or a remote campaign. The best choice depends less on platform preference than on whether your group wants the loose, social phone setup or a more familiar personal-screen experience.

Graphics

The diagonal-down battle view keeps the party, enemies, and their positions in a shared space that is easy for a roomful of people to discuss. Arden provides a gentler fantasy contrast between missions, giving the campaign a cozy home base rather than leaving you in nonstop combat.

Story

Sunderfolk frames its campaign around a party making its own plans and shaping its own tale, which suits a co-op RPG better than a story that treats everyone except one lead player as a spectator. The emphasis is on your group’s decisions and shared progress through missions, not on forcing a single fixed hero into the spotlight.

Arden matters because it gives the campaign breathing room. Between battles, you can visit its residents, improve shops, find gear, and sit down for meals. Those quieter activities make the village more than a checkpoint, and they offer a welcome change of pace after tactical encounters.

Some relationships with locals can grow beyond friendship, adding a small personal thread to the downtime. Do not come in expecting the story to replace the tactics as the main draw. Its strength is that it gives your party a place and a community worth returning to, then lets the social energy of your actual group supply much of the personality.

Overall Experience

Sunderfolk earns its strongest moments when it turns planning into a shared performance. A difficult mission can produce the kind of lively table talk that makes you forget you are staring at a video game, while the village interludes keep the campaign from becoming an uninterrupted string of combat puzzles. It is especially easy to recommend if you have friends or family who like board-game strategy but do not want the setup and rules overhead.

The tradeoff is clear: you need a group that wants to cooperate in earnest. The game’s cards, turn order, and tactical positioning are not background noise, so impatient players may find the group deliberation tedious. A compatible party will see that deliberate rhythm as the reward, because every close win belongs to the whole table.

At 7.7, Sunderfolk lands as a thoughtful and well-targeted social RPG rather than a universal crowd-pleaser. Its phone-based couch option is the standout reason to try it, and its online mode means distance does not have to break up the party. For a closer look at its shared tactical setup, see the Sunderfolk publisher page.