Dark Blood plunges players into the abyss of darkness, where they embody powerful asymmetrical cults striving for dominance over a hapless village. Whether as the cult of the Demonologist, Warlock, Necromancer, or Doomsayer, players must adeptly recruit villagers or harvest their blood to empower their sinister rituals.
Through a fusion of Area Majority, Worker placement and Resource gathering, they vie with one another, navigating the perilous path of corruption, enhancing their Rituals, and staining various parts of the village to seize territories and augment their Taint (Victory Points). With each round introducing fresh challenges and opportunities, players must judiciously balance their strategies to outmaneuver their adversaries and emerge as the foremost cult as the fifth round draws to a close.
During each round, players delve into their Ritual Book, serving as their player board, to oversee their Cultists, amass Resources, and upgrade their Rituals. The main board grants access to the five pivotal locations where the four cults will contend for control, eventually corrupting them.
During the Upkeep phase, these locations undergo random variations in the number of available Peasants, the resources they yield and more...
In the Placement phase, all cults place their workers (Cultist Miniatures) in these locations, determining the actions their cult can execute in each one. The majority in each location dictates not only special actions but also the initiative in which these actions will unfold.
In the Resolve phase, each cult assigns their cultists to diverse actions, from resource gathering for Ritual upgrades to hanging peasants at the Tree of the Damned to bolster their Dark Favor.
In the final phase, players Defile the land and bid their accumulated Blood to dominate the most corrupted location. The number of Sigils placed by each player significantly influences the ultimate outcome.
As the fifth round concludes, the locations you corrupted, along with other factors such as your cult's size, upgraded Rituals, secret quest, concealed Taint and more, will determine the prevailing cult.