• All I know about video games, I learn through their adaptation into tabletop games, as with Level 99 Games' introduction of The Beheaded into its Exceed Fighting System. The Beheaded comes from the video game Dead Cells from Motion Twin, and as that character, you "adventure through an ever-changing castle of monstrous foes as you endeavor to solve the mystery of your own death and the mysterious illness that plagues the kingdom".
Exceed: The Beheaded is a solo character available only directly from Level 99 Games online or at conventions, with this character able to be pitted against any other in the Exceed game system.
• To follow up yesterday's news of KOSMOS' ever-expanding Exit line of games, Italian publisher dV Giochi has announced two new titles in its Deckscape line of escape room games, a series that has sold 600,000 copies of its six titles to date.
In 2020, dV Giochi will release title #7 in this series designed by Martino Chiacchiera and Silvano Sorrentino: Deckscape: Escape from Alcatraz, with the imprisoned players getting to choose whether to release other prisoners in exchange for help — assuming you can trust those crooked souls, that is.
Deckscape Duel: Pirates' Island, another 2020 release, twists the Deckscape formula by adding a competitive element to the game. Players split into two teams and try to correctly solve the puzzles before the other team does, with the puzzle-based mini-games being specially designed for a competitive experience.
• Another game line being extended in 2020 is Dungeon Mayhem from Wizards of the Coast, with Dungeon Mayhem: Monster Madness including rules for playing the game with up to six players as well as six decks that allow you to take the role of six D&D monsters, from Dr. Tentaculous the mind flayer and Mimi LeChaise the mimic to owlbear Hoots McGoots and beholder Delilah Deathray. This game, which can be played on its own or combined with earlier Dungeon Mayhem decks, is due out February 14, 2020.