The multiplayer board game The Settlers of Catan, has been one of the most popular games for over 25 years. In the game, players build cities and roads on the titular island of Catan. And now, this ever-popular game is about to take a big leap into the future. According to a report coming from The Verge, Catan is transforming into a new augmented reality gaming system, Catan — Tilt Five AR. You can check out the announcement video below.
In this 3D holographic version of the game, players can use wand controllers and interact with virtual content brought to life on the game board via a pair of AR glasses. An augmented reality version of Catan has been in development for nearly ten years now. But they finally ironed out all the kinks and made this happen. Tilt Five is creating this game in conjunction with the original Catan creators, and it is due to arrive in spring, 2023.
Back in March, Tilt Five announced a partnership with Asmodee Group, the French publishers of several games, including Catan. Together, they plan to bring several of their classics out as AR augmented reality games using holograms. Aside from Catan, they’re working to update other games in their library to this new format. These include Gloomhaven, Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, and Terraforming Mars.
According to the original report, these next-generation AR headsets project their light onto a retroreflective game board. One that bounces it right back at you. This allows for a wide range of different kinds of games getting this augmented reality upgrade, including 3D board games, video games, and interactive RPGs. This is the kind of stuff we saw the Jetsons do in TV as kids, and now, it’s a reality. There’s no actual gameplay footage yet, but with Catan coming next year, we imagine fans won’t have long to wait.
