Every so often a board game's backstory is as gripping as the game itself. 1984: Unperson, a new semi-cooperative game from Ukrainian studio Boardova, is one of those. It comes from a team built in the middle of a war, and it turns George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four into a tense game of hidden roles and survival.
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Start organising for freeBoardova was co-founded by Volodymyr Kuznietsov, who fled his home city of Sievierodonetsk twice, first in 2014 and again in 2022 as Russian forces advanced. He resettled in Lviv, and while volunteering to help other refugees he met Zholud Dobrovolskyy. Together they started making the kind of strategic games they wanted to play. As Kuznietsov told Wargamer, "This is a game about freedom of choice and the weight of your choices."
Their first title, Aridnyk, is a tile-placement game steeped in Hutsul folklore, the myths of the highland communities of the Ukrainian Carpathians. It raised over $130,000 on Kickstarter for an English-language release, comfortably clearing its goal. 1984: Unperson, designed by Yaroslav Kifor with Kuznietsov, leans darker. You hold a secret identity and must meet society's shared demands or risk becoming the "unperson" of Orwell's surveillance state, erased from existence.
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See how it worksThe studio brought both games to UK Games Expo this year, and pre-orders for 1984: Unperson are expected around August 2026. If you like your game nights with a side of dystopia, or you simply want to back independent makers doing something of their own, this is one to watch. You can find fellow players to share it with over on Backseat Gamer.
Sources: Wargamer | Boardova | Kickstarter | Mezha.Media
