A Review of the Novivorum Limited Release from Watchtower Gaming | Studium: No Exit

Terrible reflections with motives unknown, the Novivorum may look like us, but they are definitely something else...

This limited edition small batch resin printing comes complete with optional game content.

• One high-end resin print

• 28mm base

• Two gear cards on premium silk

• One premium silk art card

• One signed authenticity card

• Some assembly required

It was a long while ago that I reviewed the demo version of Studium: No Exit from Watchtower Gaming. Studium is a dungeon crawling boss battler with a fantasy high school aesthetic (think something like Middara or Dimension 20: Fantasy High). The game itself is still in Kickstarter Development and has been since June 2023, while late pledges are still available we've not had an update since March 2025.

I am a backer of Studium and I really liked the game demo, but unfortunately I do need to write a warning upfront and be honest about the situation. Currently it doesn't feel good as this Kickstarter looks unattended for 10 months without an update. Even the clown shows from Lazy Squire Games (Wild Assent reprint and Stormsunder) are still managing to put out monthly updates even if they're nothing burger posts. Kickstarters are supposed to update every month and for a first game I'd really expect that at a minimum. So Studium going nearly 10 months without anything at this time is not a good look.

Despite the current radio silence and my concerns I decided to take a risk and check out this Novivorum release when I received the notification email at the end of October 2025. It was the first release from Watchtower that I've seen that follows the “Boutique Method” of offering a resin miniature along with content to use in game. While I cannot really assess the in game usefulness of the game cards, I can at least take a look at the release as a whole.

The “Boutique Method” is a title I just made up to cover the method of driving miniature sales by linking them with content for the mainline game. This is something that Adam Poots Games leans on heavily, but it is also adopted by Succubus Games (Middara) and Into the Unknown Studio (Aeon Trespass, Kingdoms Forlorn). I review these when I can, which is sometimes difficult due to supply stock being low and delivery time being slow; because I feel like it provides some nice insight into the fringes of what the various games are. It's especially interesting seeing what miniatures turn from resin into plastic forms and what ones don't.

Before I get into the content itself, I have to comment on the entire buying process, this was longer and more laborious then any I've experienced in the past. I ordered the miniature on 30th October 2025, and in addition to my order I had to complete an additional form separately to deal with the shipping. Not only has this never happened before with anything I've ordered from the US, but it also seemed to delay the process somewhat as it didn't start travelling until 14th of November. However, Watchtower Gaming is a small company, so I think this can be forgiven. I also think that American customers won't have any of the issues I experienced here.

With all of that written let us get onto the Novivorum box itself.

So this box is absolutely insane in its craftsmanship, I know that “B O U T I Q U E” is a meme that we throw about occasionally when seeing the various release that come from APG, because the resin miniatures come in very cheap looking brown boxes and can have absurd quality assurance issues like the Repokratis gear card, but I think finally in this release we can see what a boutique product in this area looks like.

This box release is absolutely insane in its quality, the print is bold and detailed, the back features the best assembly instructions on a box cover I've ever seen (it's a really smart addition to have them there) and the box itself in addition to its engraved symbol cover is made of lush feeling cardboard and has two magnetic clasps.

I have no qualms about recycling the KDM boxes when they arrive because they would otherwise take up space and even the pretty white box ones are honestly useless most of the time, but this box? I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I am absolutely keeping it for something because it's gorgeous and practical. Maybe it'll become a dice box, or a generic token holder.

This luxurious feeling continues when you get to the cards, they are thick and delightful to the touch, the thickness makes them easy to pick up and hold (difficulty in picking up cards without damaging the edges is why I sleeve all my KDM). KDM's cards have a certain amount of prestige to their design, but these cards here are on another level entirely.

The miniature is also frankly incredible, the aesthetic is somewhere between Midarra and KDM with the scale being similar to KDM's, perhaps even a little larger. Large scale miniatures in boss battlers is always a plus for me, the game genre is about small numbers of units, there is room to have them all be larger and that not only looks better but it also makes them easier to move around.

My Novivorum miniature unfortunately broke in a few thin places, the three small pieces you see are meant to be attached to the miniature, but it seems they broke in transit. The postal package itself had a large corner collapse, so it looks like the shippers are at fault for this, certainly the miniature itself has more than ample protection in the box. It's a shame it happened, but it's repairable and I think I just got unlucky due to the length of time the shipment took to get here.

The miniature itself is gorgeous, I have it assembled here without any glue, the pegs that are moulded onto the miniature sculpt itself are the best I've seen, none of the other companies I've mentioned follow this level of attention to detail, we get occasional pegs, but for the most part it tends to be only with the larger joints and not every single one as we have here.

The sculpt is also phenomenal, Novivorum has a “Witchblade” aesthetic with so many little details, the detail is crisp and has just the right balance. It is honestly a beautiful miniature on par with many of Kingdom Death's finest, I absolutely love everything about it.

But there are a couple of concerns which you can see in this back photo. First of all there is this hole on the base, I can't tell if that is intentional or if it is a production defect, it's not a problem as I can fill it in easily, but it is there. The larger issue I have is around the waist, the torso connects to the hips via a peg, that part is fine, but the miniature doesn't fit in smoothly here. You can see the gap I currently have in the picture, in order to paint this miniature I'm going to have to work a bit on it. I'm not sure if I need to shorten the peg or shave some of the waist off her left hand side, that's something for future Fen to worry about, but either way considering how smooth all the other connections are this one is a disappointment, solvable for me, but not for people without some experience in hobby assembly.

I've gone over this with a fine tooth comb for a couple of reasons, first of all this is the first of these releases I've picked up from Watchtower Gaming and feedback matters. Secondly and most of all though I am otherwise blown away by this entire release, it's jumped right to the top of the totem pole for me in every aspect. The box is incredible, the miniature is gorgeous, the cards are the nicest ones I've ever handled in any game ever. I do not understand how the base price for this one is $35 dollars (It came to $60 for me including shipping), that's on par with KD releases but in almost every aspect this thing matches or surpasses anything that's come from APG. I don't know when Studium will reach me and the delays/lack of updates are very much not good, but I do now at least feel sure that the physical production of this game is going to really be something and the miniatures are in a style that I love to paint.

Even with the nitpicks and long journey this took to reach me I'm still shaking my head in disbelief at what I've received for the price paid.

This is what boutique miniature release products should be, and it's absolutely mind blowing if this is the start point for Watchtower.

Novivorum is still currently available here while supplies last.