Few names are as well-known or as feared as Dracula, which is why the King of the Vampires has been featured in a legion of films, books, and more over the years. That includes Bram Stoker’s famous Dracula story, and the return of an acclaimed Dracula game will bring that world and its characters to life once more, and the best part is, you don’t even have to wait all that long to play it.
Dracula returns to the spotlight in Avalon Hill’s Fury of Dracula: 5th Edition, which will bring back the celebrated gameplay of the past versions with a gorgeous visual update to the artwork, board, cards, and components (via Board Game Beat). Players will either choose one of several skilled monster hunters to hunt down Dracula, while one player will attempt to stay one step ahead of them while building his influence over Europe. Fans won’t have to wait too long to play either, as the game will be available to demo and purchase at Gen Con 2026, and then will be available at retail on September 1st, 2026.
Fury of Dracula: 5th Edition Creates An Epic Dracula Adventure
In Fury of Dracula: 5th Edition, one player will play as Dracula and start in a secret location. Ever turn Dracula moves to a new location, and that creates the trail, which is a row of six spaces on the game board that are known as a hideout. At the end of Dracula’s turn, he will also choose an encounter card from his hand and place it on the new location. Dracula will try to make his way across Europe as he also increases his influence, and if he gets his influence to 13, he wins the game.
As he builds influence, he will have to avoid and strategically attack the hunters, who are simply out to track down and kill Dracula to claim victory. The hunters have items like holy bullets, dogs, and more at their disposal, as well as unique abilities to help their chances of tracking Dracula down, and there are five hunters to choose from.
Players can choose Mina Harker, Van Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. John Seward, and Jonathan Harker as their hunter, and hunters can take two actions each round, and those are split into the day phase and the night phase. If a hunter happens to move to Dracula’s current location, they will engage in a battle at dusk or at dawn, initiating a battle. If hunters are too damaged during the fight, they will need to head to a hospital to recover, and will lose all of their holdings as a result. If Dracula dies, the hunters win the game, but Dracula can return to his castle for health, though he has to reveal his current location to do so.
This back and forth between Dracula and the hunters is what makes the game so compelling, and as the game moves forward, there’s more pressure on the hunters to find their target, as despair starts to set in, which increases Dracula’s effectiveness and stacks the deck against the hunters. There’s even a new quick style mode that gets the action up and running much faster, and that’s on top of the myriad of other returning mechanics that make the game so fun, and we can’t wait to test it out for ourselves later this year.
The Fury of Dracula: 5th Edition releases at Gen Con 2026.
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