Blood Bowl 3: Everything We Know

Games Workshop's Blood Bowl is alive and kicking with yet another entry to the turn-based fantasy football series. This time, fans can expect to see even more blood, bruises, and all-round barbarity as the beloved board game springs to life in an all-new up-to-date console adaptation. But what else do you need to know about Blood Bowl 3? Well, here's everything we've managed to scrape together from both Cyanide and Nacon to date.

What Is Blood Bowl 3?

Blood Bowl 3 is an upcoming blood-soaked sports game that takes classic American football to new extremes in a violent, ruleless, and downright outrageous adaptation of Games Workshop's beloved board game. Like the real sport, the aim of each match is to score as many touchdowns as remotely possible, using a mixture of teamwork, tactics, and unlawful punishments to humiliate the opposing team.

Given its Warhammer theme, players can expect to see elves, dwarves, humans, and orcs all battling it out for a spot on the iron throne as best custom team on the podium. That's where you, the curator of sorts, must build a team that's both ruthless enough to kill, and skilled enough to score the points needed to claim the victories and, in turn, the cup.

“Blood Bowl 3 is THE videogame of fantasy football,” the official blurb boasts. “A turn-based strategy game inspired by American football in the Warhammer fantasy world where elves, humans, orcs and other creatures fight for the ball with shoulder charges, kicks, punches and weapons of varying degrees of lethality (and legality by the ref).”

Story

There's a burning question that yearns to be answered, and that is, is there a story? And the answer to that is no. Or at least, not really. As a fantasy football game at heart, it's somewhat difficult to picture there being anything of the sort involved in the actual primary mode itself. But this isn't to say that developer Cyanide won't be going all out to make its battles (eh, matches?) any less immersive and chock-full of high-octane cinematics, though.

Gameplay

Blood Bowl 3 plays out in an almost identical fashion to American football, with the exception of it swapping out general sportsmanship for a more brutal, unforgiving, and let's face it—outlandish ruleset. And while the goals are still very much the same as the actual sport, its gameplay mostly revolves around battling your opponents—to the point of slaughtering them on the spot in a bid to whittle down their team to a minor fraction.

“As the coach, you must give instructions to your players: hinder the progress of your opponents by positioning them in your tackle zone, knock down those who get in your way, and break through to your opponents' end zone to score a touchdown!,” the blurb reads in part.

“All your units can gain experience and receive statistic bonuses or new skills. However, be careful: injuries are common, especially when the referee is a goblin who tends to overlook most forms of violence. Some players may even leave the field limp and lifeless, putting an early and definitive end to their careers.”

Of course, there will be multiplayer, too, which means you can thrash it out for the throne not just as a lone orc with a bloodthirsty grin, but as a team, collectively bound for the win.

Development

After enduring several years of development hell, Cyanide finally announced that Blood Bowl 3 would be coming to consoles and PC in August 2021. Due to the pandemic, though, Cyanide eventually pulled the initial release date and moved it back to 2022. Again, this was pulled following a closed beta test, with the new date being set to early 2023.

Since Cyanide earned the right to take Games Workshop's board game and develop it into a video game, Blood Bowl has spanned just three games over a decade. Its latest instalment, at the time of writing at least, is believed to be the final chapter in the series. It hasn't been confirmed whether or not it will receive post-launch DLC.

Trailer

Cyanide and Nacon lifted the veil on the third instalment of the Blood Bowl saga back in 2020. Since then, the developer has brought a number of sneak preview trailers to light, most notably the latest release date trailer, and the season trailer. You can catch the original reveal for Blood Bowl 3 in the embedded video above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Blood Bowl 3 will be coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC on February 23, 2023. According to Cyanide, a Nintendo Switch version will be coming on an undisclosed date in late 2023. As it stands, though, there have been no words on it breaching its home console and PC exclusivity until well after its February launch.

Looking at its Steam listing, Blood Bowl 3 will be available on four different editions: Standard Edition, Black Orcs Edition, Imperial Nobility Edition, and Brutal Edition. You can see what's included in each version down below.

Standard Edition 

• Blood Bowl 3

Black Orcs Edition 

• Blood Bowl 3 
• Dice and Team Logos Pack
• Brutal Ball Pack
• Black Orcs Customization

Imperial Nobility Edition

• Blood Bowl 3 
• Dice and Team Logos Pack
• Brutal Ball Pack
• Imperial Nobility Customizations

Brutal Edition 

• Blood Bowl 3
• Dice and Team Logos Pack
• Brutal Ball Pack
• Black Orcs Customizations
• Imperial Nobility Customizations
• Brutal Cheerleader Pack
• 1,000 Warpstone

Fod more information on Cyanide's Blood Bowl 3, be sure to check in with the official social handle here. We'll be sure to let you know of any fresh details should they come to light.

So, what's your take? Will you be picking up a copy of Blood Bowl 3? Let us know over on our socials here or down in the comments below.