New Games Dec 2023 (part 2)
In December 2023 I played six games I’d never played before, here are my impressions of the second three.
Black Angel
The Black Angel is a ship flown by different factions of AI each striving to keep the ship flying toward Spes and hopefully humanity’s rebirth.
In the game, you use your AI robots to repair systems, repeal ravagers, explore alien worlds, fulfill missions, discover new technology, and upgrade your own systems.
Using your own pool of dice (or those of your opponents) you use worker placement mechanics to activate different systems on the ship. Eventually, you need to re-roll your dice and advance the Black Angel towards Spes.
Review
A lot is going on in the game and takes players through many parts I’d expect for a space-faring experience.
While the game offers a wide range and curious mix of mechanics, they feel like they have a theme barely laid over the top, like bricks hidden under a thin sheet. This disappointed me as the theme was a strong part of the game’s appeal.
I also felt the game was punishing you for delving into the most engaging parts, with missions and visiting other planets often a sub-optimal play.
As a final comment, the mechanics for scoring advanced technology tiles seem unnecessarily complex. It feels like an unfinished part of the game where a difficult-to-grasp non-intuitive mechanic was left in because a way couldn’t be found to make it better.
Score 6/10
I’m a big fan of Red Raven’s games, and I’ve owned a copy of Islebound for some time hoping for an opportunity to get it to the table. That opportunity came about on New Year’s Eve and so this was the last game I played in 2023.
In Islebound, you take on the role of a ship’s captain sailing around an archipelago seeking to win the most renown. You do that by building structures, completing events, taking control of various islands using political influence, or a ship full of pirates supported by sea monsters under your control. To help you do all these things you’ll need to add to your crew, collect resources, and sail from place to place.
Each turn sees you sail your ship to a new location and either visit, attack, engage in diplomacy or hunt for treasure. Visiting allows you to use the location’s ability often at a cost. Attacking or using diplomacy allows you to take control of the island if you can amass the fighting strength or influence respectfully and will then allow you to visit for free on the same turn and future turns. Hunting for treasure allows you to claim certain payments made by other players.
While there is no direct interaction, players must exhaust certain crew members to be able to visit the same location as another player. Each crew member adds multiple small bonuses to your abilities while they’re ‘on deck’ with exhaust and injury mechanisms (similar to Above and Below) that allow you to take certain actions or provide an extra boost for a specific task.
Review
I enjoyed playing Islebound and it clearly adds something to the other games set in this world. You can feel like a pirate, a careful negotiator, or both as your tactics and plans shift throughout the game and the timing of certain moves can be critical.
The art as always is deeply evocative and the iconography is clear and easy to identify. That said, there were some odd inconsistencies about decks being displayed on the victory board or off it and the way the events are stacked and replenished.
I’ve played with four players and with two and the experiences were very different. With four players it felt punishingly difficult to take any actions and we frequently experienced turns when crew or resources were insufficient to take a desired action. This resulted in ‘resting’ turns happening a lot more frequently and hunting for treasure being used for relatively little return. With two players however the game played very quickly, with each of us causing almost no disruption to the other.
There is an awkward balance here as with four players the inability to act is constricting and reduces the fun, but with two you seem to be playing multiplayer solitaire.
Score 6/10
Another Red Raven game and a continuation of the Arzium series (with Above and Below and Near and Far), I got sick of waiting for a chance to play Now or Never and so took it out for a spin in the solo standard mode.
In this mode, you take on the role of a unique hero leading your villager with an AI deck to simulate your opponents. Each turn consists either of activating your hero or one of your (or an opponent’s) specialists or moving to production, during which you gain resources and prepare yourself for your next turn.
During the game, you fight terrifying beasts, search for ancient treasures, recruit new specialists, save villagers, upgrade your skills, build and populate your village, visit interesting locations, and manage your hero’s health and resources.
Careful decisions about how you upgrade allow you to be more sure of your success in various challenges and provide you with a wider range of options. Your specialists offer you more opportunities to take specific actions, though you can hire your opponent’s specialists at a cost if you need to.
The development of your village is restricted by the buildings you have built and where you’ve placed them while the rescued villagers provide you with additional production when you house them. The final layout and inhabitants of your village have a strong impact on your end-game scoring.
Review
This game has a big footprint - a player’s setup consists of a hero board, a village board, and a layout of buildings, all of which take up more space than the ‘game board’ which is itself appended by the season board.
Overall the mechanics in the game all come together well, but there are a lot of mechanics in play. This does mean you have lots of different options on most turns before eventually exhausting your options and having to produce.
I’ve said this before about Ryan Laukat’s work; the art caries the theme well and the iconography is good and easily recognizable. In this title there are a few nitpicks as occasionally the same icon is used for cost and benefit and icon groups are displayed in multiple different formats creating confusion.
My only other comment is that despite the differences in naming and visuals almost all the core resources are effectively identical, operating either to pay specific cards or to exchange in different combinations for coins. All of this seems a little unnecessary and overly complex
For example, a Shell is worth one coin, while both a Tool and a Bottled Demon are worth 2 coins. However, you can also exchange two Tools and one Shell for 7, and a Tool and two Bottled Demons for 9 coins. One of each is also worth 9 coins.
I mentioned specifically that I played the solo and standard modes of the game as I think I missed out on a lot of what might make this game loved. Playing this mode eliminates the story entirely and without a player to foil with. While the AI does a good job, it often felt that its actions either took something interesting away or did something I couldn’t see impacting my game.
Score - /10
I don’t think any score would be fair right now, this game has a lot more to give, and I want to get to grips with multiplayer and the story.
