The UK Games Expo is massive, and sometimes the most striking discoveries are made before the doors even open to the public. During Thursday’s Press Preview event, Geek Native secured a first look at Spacedogs, an upcoming cooperative narrative space-crawler from Nova Horizon Games quietly preparing for a Kickstarter launch.
Finding the game on the main show floor might require some detective work. Spacedogs does not appear on the official UK Games Expo website, leading to the theory that there has been a last-minute booth switch. The official site lists Molinarius Games Ltd for stand 3-T27, but attendees should look out for the Board Game Protohype group, a global collective supporting indie board game designers. It is there that Spacedogs immediately stands out with its vibrant, comic-book-inspired aesthetic.
At its core, Spacedogs is a sci-fi action adventure carrying a distinct The Island of Dr. Moreau vibe. The lore centres on a disastrous faster-than-light experiment known as “the cascade.” This corporate accident linked random points across the galaxy, mutating reality and uplifting four ordinary canine companions into anthropomorphic heroes.
Designed for two to five players aged 13 and up, the game takes around two hours per session. It operates as a cooperative deck-builder with an asymmetric twist: one player takes on the role of the Game-Runner. Functioning much like a storyteller in roleplaying games, the Game-Runner controls enemy forces, triggers narrative events, and advances the plot across a fully written 12-scenario campaign, while also pursuing their own progression goals to level up threats.
The four playable heroes, Nova the Podenco, Cosmo the street mix, Aurora the Border Collie mechanic, and Orion the Bernese Mountain Dog, each come with unique starting stances and powers. Players build their action decks by equipping tools, armour, and weapons, forcing tactical trade-offs between speed, protection, and firepower. Crucially, the deck-building is highly synergistic, allowing the pack to chain abilities and passive effects to overcome the Game-Runner’s encounters on unique, hand-drawn hex maps.
Spacedogs is part of Board Game Protohype, a global group that helps indie board game designers, and perhaps one of the reasons Nova is at UKGE. On the Spacedogs Insta, they say;
Doing something for the first time is scary, big tasks are scary, and there is nothing larger than UK Games Expo when it comes to demoing your board game. We are eternally thankful to be part of the Board Game Protohype group. Collectively, they are a global community dedicated to supporting board game designers.”
If you are at the NEC this weekend, it is well worth seeking out stand 3-T27 to snap a picture of the impressive art or sit down for a demo. For those following from home, the crowdfunding campaign is already gathering momentum behind the scenes.
Quick Links
- Follow Spacedogs on Kickstarter
- Follow Nova Horizon Games on Instagram
