A trilogy of Dune-themed cooperative adventure games using the Detective system will begin rolling out in conjunction with the film’s fall release.

Knurów, Poland – January 23, 2021 – Portal Games is proud to announce a partnership with Gale Force Nine (GF9), Legendary Entertainment, Herbert Properties LLC, and Genuine Entertainment to produce an officially licensed board games set within the iconic Dune universe, created by science fiction author Frank Herbert. Taking inspiration from both the seminal book series and Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ highly-anticipated film from director Denis Villeneuve, Dune: House Secrets – the first game in a planned trilogy – will release in Q4 2021.

Featuring the cooperative game system used in Portal’s award-winning Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, this story-driven adventure game will deliver a deeply thematic experience that drops one-to-five players right in the middle of the highest stakes unfolding on the harsh desert planet of Arrakis.

In Dune: House Secrets, players take on the roles of rebels who must solve a series of challenging missions with a finite amount of time and resources. Players cooperatively make decisions on how to progress the story, as they decide to explore different regions of the world, follow leads, leverage allies, and overcome the opposition of all kinds. During gameplay, players utilize a variety of physical and digital game components to steer the narrative in fun and surprising directions – a deck of cards with essential clues and plot twists, a dozen physical handouts, and a dedicated website with additional resources – for a truly immersive experience.

Beginning with an introductory Prologue designed to get players acquainted with the massive Dune universe, the game then continues with three big adventures, each taking roughly two-to-three hours to play. During each episode, players can earn experience points to level up their characters in between missions and unlock new options in future gameplay. Each adventure can be played separately as standalone episodes. Yet should players complete all three episodes, they will unravel a master game narrative with an epic climax and unforgettable resolution with lasting impact on the future two games in the trilogy.

Dune: House Secrets is designed by board game industry veteran Ignacy Trzewiczek and written by Przemysław Rymer – both well-known for their cooperation on the hit Detective game series, which has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide in over a dozen languages. Joe LeFavi of Genuine Entertainment, who manages Dune’s master tabletop gaming rights in partnership with Legendary and Gale Force Nine CEO John-Paul Brisigotti, brokered the Legendary-Portal deal and will serve as a producer on the game series.

To learn more about Dune: House Secrets, visit www.portalgamesus.com and sign up for the newsletter for the latest news and previews.

To learn more about the iconic science fiction Dune novels, visit www.dunenovels.com.

ABOUT PORTAL GAMES

Founded in 1999 as a tabletop RPG publisher, Portal Games began to produce high-quality board games in 2007 and soon became one of the major tabletop game publishers in the world with award-winning titles like Detective, Empires of the North, Imperial Settlers, Robinson Crusoe, and Stronghold in their esteemed catalog. Over the past decade, our game design team lead by Ignacy Trzewiczek has won more than 100 industry awards and nominations, including Kenner Spiel des Jahres, Golden Geek, International Gamers Award, The Dice Tower Award, and multiple Game of the Year awards across the globe.

ABOUT DUNE

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures Present a Legendary Pictures Production, a Film by Denis Villeneuve, Dune. The film stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Oscar nominee Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, David Dastmalchian, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling, with Jason Momoa, and Oscar winner Javier Bardem. Oscar nominee Denis Villeneuve directed Dune from a screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Villeneuve and Eric Roth based on the novel of the same name written by Frank Herbert. Villeneuve also produced the film with Mary Parent, Cale Boyter and Joe Caracciolo, Jr. The executive producers were Tanya Lapointe, Joshua Grode, Herbert W. Gains, Jon Spaihts, Thomas Tull, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert, with Kevin J. Anderson as special consultant. 

About Legendary Entertainment

Legendary Entertainment is a leading media company with film (Legendary Pictures), television and digital (Legendary Television and Digital Media) and comics (Legendary Comics) divisions dedicated to owning, producing and delivering content to worldwide audiences. Legendary has built a library of marquee media properties and has established itself as a trusted brand which consistently delivers high-quality, commercial entertainment including some of the world’s most popular intellectual property. In aggregate, Legendary Pictures-associated productions have realized grosses of more than $17 billion worldwide at the box office. To learn more visit: www.legendary.com.

ABOUT HERBERT PROPERTIES LLC

Herbert Properties LLC is managed by the Herbert family, and is the copyright holder for the Dune series.  The brilliant Frank Herbert first published his classic bestseller DUNE in novel form in 1965, and he wrote 5 popular sequels to it.  After Frank’s death in 1986, his son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson continued the series with 14 additional novels, extending the audience of the series with new international bestsellers. Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, and Kim Herbert, officers of Herbert Properties LLC, are pleased to share in the exciting announcement of this new game set in the fantastic Dune universe. Website: www.dunenovels.com.

About Gale Force Nine

Gale Force Nine, LLC (GF9) specializes in creating hobby gaming products with rich strategic play based on licenses from fan-favorite media properties such as Dungeons & Dragons, Star Trek, Dr. Who, Dune, Firefly, and Aliens. With a global sales network and a specialized multi-lingual team of in-house game designers, we specialize in offering properties in over a dozen language markets around the world. Gale Force Nine is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Battlefront Group. Visit www.gf9.com for more info.

ABOUT GENUINE ENTERTAINMENT

Genuine is a leading producer and brand manager of best-selling, award-winning stories, games, and geekery for beloved genre entertainment brands. An expert in authentic media adaptations and premium licensing programs across all corners of pop culture, we specialize in growing brands and fandoms in new markets alongside best-in-class partners. Managing a dream portfolio of top media companies and intellectual properties, our credits and collabs include the Alien RPG, the Altered Carbon RPG, The Art and Soul of Blade Runner 2049 art book, the Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition video game, The Dragon Prince master tabletop gaming program, the Dune master tabletop gaming program, the Hello Neighbor party game, the Vampire: The Masquerade Rivals card game, and the Vampire: The Masquerade comic book series. Come play at: www.genuineent.com.