Come and learn about Gone to Gaia and the team behind the game

Cooperative games are among some of my favorites to play, so I am happy to see that another contender is coming to the space. Gone to Gaia drew my attention in large part because of its theme and art style. While I am not too big on the inspirations that the team used to craft this game, I am big on how the game looks and the fact that it has a story.

Gone to Gaia is a cooperative roguelite campaign adventure game for 1 or 2 players. It has many inspirations but the biggest are roguelike videogames like Hades or Vampire Survivors. In it, you play as delvers - humanity's last brave heroes - and your goal is to protect the last remnants of humanity. All around is a toxic mist called the Tide. In it lie monsters.

The game unfolds across a 30 hour branching campaign where you'll weave your wave through a 200+ page fully illustrated story book and hundreds of cards and tokens. Beyond this, we've designed the campaign to be highly replayable - the game comes with a newgame+ mode built in, and alongside this is an endlessly replayable Onslaught mode.Gone to Gaia blends tactical, puzzle-like combat with deep narrative design. Each wave is a test of resourcefulness, teamwork and ingenuity. Each Quest throws waves of enemies at you in randomized positions, and you'll weave a path through them, gaining XP and elements that allow you to level up, gaining powerful new abilities.

Outside of quests, you engage in an interactive narrative in the town of Bird's Nest where you'll investigate a series of unfolding mysteries that threaten the town. The standout feature of Bird's Nest are the townsfolk - they feel like real, fleshed out characters, and they have their own personalities, goals and aspirations. How you interact with them will influence their opinion of you, and this has real world consequences. Beyond this, the campaign is packed with all sorts of secrets in the Unlockables Box for the curious and adventurous player to uncover.The game will be accessible on Tabletopia during the campaign, and there are even opportunities for players to learn how to play the game directly from the designer! Check out the gamefound page for open slots in his calendar, though these will likely go quick. But regardless, it's really easy to learn - the teach is only 10 minutes and there are How to Play videos on youtube.

ABOUT THE TEAM

Quinn Brander
Designer
Quinn Brander is a designer of board games and videogames. Born in Canada, he moved to Finland in 2024 to work on Supercell's Brawl Stars. He believes that a person's spare time is their most precious resource, and he strives to craft totally immersive, delightful experiences that honour that. His designs are known for having fascinating, asymmetric puzzles at their core, with quick turns, intuitive rules and low downtime being his top priorities. His designs are highly iterative and evolve significantly through the act of playtesting. He's designed dozens of games but only a small fraction of them survive the development process to reach the publishing stage.
Notable games: Rebuilding Seattle, Brawl Stars, Marvel's Contest of Champions

Isaac Vega
World Builder, Designer
Isaac Vega has been designing board games for over 10 years. Over that period, he has sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his games worldwide, with titles such as Dead of Winter, Forgotten Waters, and Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn. He has won numerous industry awards for his work. His career has fostered a love and reverence for the tabletop industry, and he is excited to give back through his company Rose Gauntlet. Isaac knows the impact games can have on others and builds his creative worlds to reflect a diverse community and focuses on the underlying themes that tie us all together.

Notable games: Dead of Winter, Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, Wild Gardens

Lyss Menold
Illustrator
Alyssa Ann Menold is an illustrator currently working out of Grand Rapids, MI. She was inspired to pursue illustration as a child, when she’d spend hours browsing books not just for their content, but also for their beautiful covers. That childhood love of the magical dragons and space ships never faded, and today most of her work is in the science fiction and fantasy genres. She has a BFA from Kendall College of Art and Design, where she currently teaches as an adjunct. She’s currently working on her MFA in illustration from Hartford Art School.

Notable games: Wild Gardens, Keystone: North America, Encounters: Shadowrun

Other key contributors: Lindsey Rode (production), Stephanie Gustafsson and Zak Eidsvoog (graphic design), David Ornelas (writing).