 What is this game about? Urbion is the second game in Shadi Torbey's Oniverse series, and it's woefully out of print. Unlike Onirim and Sylvion, as well as all the other Oniverse games in circulation, Urbion has not received the deluxe treatment from Z-Man. The object of Urbion is to bring balance to each of the twelve cities in the game before your deck of cards runs out. These are cities of dreams, which means they are inhabited by both pleasant dreams and terrifying nightmares. Essentially, your goal is to place bad dream cards on one side of your city cards, place good dreams on the other, and perform balance checks to claim cities when they are in equilibrium. (The original name of this game was, in fact, Equilibrion.) However, it won't be as simple as that. Each turn, you will look at your hand of cards and play one. You'll have a mix of good and bad dreams, each with different numerical values from one to four. Your first option is to place a dream next to one of the city cards currently available (you can work on four at a time). You'll need to pay attention to the symbols on your dream and city cards, because they need to match. Alternatively, you can play a card to the discard pile. Discarding a card allows you to manipulate dreams already in play—as well as to bend placement rules a bit, which is a key ability in the fight for balance. The discard action also allows you to perform a balance check, which you'll need to do to collect cities. If you can bring all four cities into equilibrium and then do a balance check, you'll score an extra city card, so it can be very tempting to wait. Don't expect to go about your business uninterrupted, however—there are Chaos cards in your dream deck, and they don't want you to succeed in your task. When they appear, they will force you to make unpleasant choices that push your cities out of balance or cause you to discard dream cards. And because your deck is your timer, you don't want to lose too many. How does it play solo? Like its other Oniverse siblings, Urbion is technically for 1–2 players, but I really view it as a solo game. Overall Thoughts Urbion is, like all of the Oniverse games released to date, a good, enjoyable solo game. The turn structure is simple, but in-game decisions can be complicated, especially when choosing how to handle a chaos card. It's a fun puzzle to decide how to distribute your dream cards, and how to manipulate them to bring cities into balance. And I absolutely love the temptation to wait to perform a balance check, knowing that if you can bring all four cities into balance at once, the rewards are big—but also that yet another chaos card might be right around the corner. I find that the game gets better after a few plays, when I've gotten familiar with the contents of the deck again and have a sense of what might be left in there when I'm deciding what to discard. That said, Urbion is not a perfect game. Like its predecessor, Onirim, much of the game will depend on luck of the draw, and it's possible to have a bad run of cards that causes you to lose the game. It also feels like there is a bit less you can do in Urbion to mitigate your luck. In Onirim you might be able to use a Key to dispel a nightmare card, but in Urbion a chaos card will pretty much wreck you no matter what. My other quibble is with Urbion's graphic design. I love the art of the Oniverse, and Urbion is no different. However, the symbols on the dream and city cards are bland, and tend to blend into the colorful card art around them in a way that makes them easy to miss when you're just excited about playing a dream card. Do I recommend it? If you find an affordable copy, or if it comes back into print, then yes. But if you're feeling FOMO and a strong desire to complete your Oniverse collection, take a step back. This is a good game, but there are a lot of very good small card games you can get for a reasonable price. If you want to know how I feel about Urbion in comparison with other games in the Oniverse series, Jason Perez from ENGN and I ranked them in this video. Overall Rating: 3.5 stars Rating Scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.
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 What is this game about? Castellion is a game set in Shadi Torbey's Oniverse. It's a tile-laying game in which you are building a castle, but not just any castle—you're in a race against the clock to create different formations of tiles before your fortress is tested by the enemy. Over the course of three different stages, you must create groups of the same type of tile (pyros, jugglers, chameleons, seers), arranged in either rows, columns, or squares, all within a castle that has a 6x6 limit. Although there is a simple, introductory version of the game, the regular and advanced games are where the excitement really starts. All games will involve three "tests," or sets of tile formations that you need to create within your castle. On each turn, you draw one tile and make a decision about it: either place it in your castle, or discard it and potentially use its power. All tiles will have a creature type (pyros, jugglers, chameleons, seers) and a shape (square, circle, or triangle). While you want to place matching creatures next to each other, there are further placement limitations based on shape. If a tile isn't working for you at the moment, you can discard it. Some tiles, when discarded, allow you to see into the future of your draw pile, others allow you to relocate tiles within our castle, and still others allow you to mine your discard pile for just the right piece. Many tile powers also allow you to disregard initial placement rules, which lets you manipulate your castle even more. However, you don't have all the time in the world to build your castle exactly the way you want it. Every so often, you will draw a traitor tile and have to decide what to do. Traitor tiles look like melting clocks, and their main purpose is to advance the game's timer—once you have placed a certain number of traitor tiles on your current test card, it is time to see whether you passed—and if you have failed to create the correct formations within your castle, you lose the game. There are, however, a few ways to stave off the inevitable test. Some traitor tiles have a black border, which means you cannot avoid them. But the ones without can be discarded, for a price. To get rid of them, you'll need to also destroy some of the tiles within your own castle. This can be a good way to clear out obsolete structures between test cards, but it can also be devastating. To avoid the possibility of drawing a traitor altogether, you can draw from the "safe" pile, but there is only a limited number of tiles in it, and you'll want to save them for a key moment. How does it play solo? Castellion is technically for 1–2 players, but I really think of it as a solo game. Enjoy it, solo squad! Overall Thoughts Castellion is a game that I generally like, but it's not my favorite in the Oniverse. (If you want to know where they all rank for me, you can check out this video I made with Jason Perez from Every Night is Game Night). I really enjoy several aspects of Castellion's gameplay, especially the way you can break the game by learning how to make the most of tile manipulation powers. In the "normal" version of the game, you can use tile powers by discarding them. In the advanced version of the game, you can access bigger powers by completing tile formations within your castle. With a little creativity, even destructive events like cannibalizing your castle to discard a traitor tile can be helpful and even fun. Learning how to both complete the spatial puzzle of Castellion and to make the most of tile powers is the absolute best part of the game. However, my delight in breaking the game is mirrored by my irritation with the placement rules in general. Once you learn the game, everything is fine, but Castellion comes with tile placement rules that don't always feel consistent. You can put pretty much anything in your foundation row of your castle, without regard for the shapes on the tiles, even though you can't normally place a tile adjacent to one with the same shape (circle, square, triangle). Once you leave that base level, however, the placement rules are in effect. While this makes sense intellectually, it gives me mixed messages visually, which sometimes breaks the "flow" of the game for me. Tile powers can also allow you to break the rules, and I often find myself wondering if I placed a tile illegally or if I used a tile power to get away with it. Also, if you're bothered by back luck in general, you should know that sometimes you just get a lot of traitor tiles at a bad time and lose the game. Castellion plays so quickly that this doesn't bother me too much, but you should be aware! Do I recommend it? Yes. I generally recommend all Oniverse games, and this one offers an interesting puzzle that is usually rewarding. Overall rating: 3.5 stars Rating Scale: 5 stars - I love it! 4 stars - I really like it. 3 stars - I like it. 2 stars - It's okay. 1 star - Meh.  What is this game about? Nautilion is an Oniverse game, and it is Shady Torbey's attempt to make roll and move into an interesting board game mechanism. In Nautilion, you are in a race against the Phantom, an evil ship that is headed towards your happy island home. Your goal is to gather a complete crew and reach the Abyss to confront evil before the enemy reaches your island. You and Phantom will even pass each other on the way! To set up the game, you place crew tokens to form a path from your island to the Abyss. On each turn, you will roll three dice, and you will assign one to yourself, one to the Phantom, and one to a more distant evil called the Dark House. You and the Phantom will each move the number of pips on your assigned dice. You'll have a chance to either hire the crew you land on or convert it into a token to use later. These tokens are typically used on spells that allow you to manipulate the dice or the path ahead of you to get the crew members you need. When the Phantom moves, it will gobble up whatever potential crew member it lands on, removing it from the game. And if you assign a die with a value of 3 or 4 to the Dark House, it will either consume one of your tokens or remove a crew member from your game board. You will either make it to the Abyss with a complete crew before the Phantom arrives in your homeland, or you lose the game. To add to the challenge, you can't just hire any old crew member—you need to collect members 1–9, and once you have placed someone on your player mat, you can only put new crew in adjoining spaces. There are several different ship boards you can play with, some of which are more challenging than others. Nautilion also comes with a number of expansions to enhance the base game. You will end up consistently playing with the Mages, who add another element to your crew collection efforts but who also help you with their magic. The others add fun challenges such as a reef that impedes movement, or "mercenaries" who allow you and the Phantom to fight it out when you meet partway across the sea. You can also give yourself and the Dark House special powers that change the game in interesting ways. How does it pay solo? Nautilion is technically for 1–2 players, but it's very much designed for solo play. Enjoy! Overall Thoughts Shady Torbey designed Nautilion as a way to make roll and move into something fun, and I would say that he has succeeded. Depending on what you roll, deciding what dice to assign to whom can be surprisingly nerve wracking. If you move too conservatively, the Phantom might end up making bigger moves and beating you to its goal space. But if you assign high-value dice to yourself, you might end up skipping over crew members you really need. And you certainly don't want to assign high-value dice to the Dark House, especially if you're at the point where it will force you to lose crew members. Nautilion is also very easy to learn and quick to play, which makes it ideal for a relaxing afternoon or evening of solo gaming. While the base game will quickly become a bit vanilla, the expansions—particularly Mages—are worthy additions to the game that make it more interesting. A quick word of warning, though: Nautilion does involve some interesting decisions, but it is still a dice game, and it's possible to get very unlucky. If you're thinking about picking it up, be aware that luck will be a major factor in the game. My main quibble with Nautilion, however, is the fact that you make a path out of the crew tokens instead of having an actual game board. Chunks of your path will disappear throughout the game as both you and the Phantom pick up crew tokens, and because your path will curve, it's possible to get mixed up, especially if you're as messy as I am. (No beautiful, perfectly-aligned spiral pathways for me!) All those separate crew tokens also mean that Nautilion is mildly annoying to set up, which makes me less likely to play it multiple times in a row. Do I recommend it? If you're looking for an interesting small box solitaire game, then yes! You really can't go wrong with the Oniverse. Overall Rating: 3.5 stars Rating Scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  What is this game about? Aerion is a dice game set in Shadi Torbey's Oniverse series. In this game, you are racing against the clock to build six airships before you run out of cards to build them with. Each ship requires a blueprint, a material, and a crew member to be completed—and each of these components can be found in one of the six decks of cards that act as both your timer and your resources. At the start of your turn, you'll roll six dice and see what combinations you get to work with. Each deck requires a different combination of dice in order for a card to be acquired from it, such as two of a kind, a full house, or a straight. However, the dice aren't always with you, so you'll often have to reroll them. Sometimes, you might adjust your roll using one of your limited pixie tokens or a book card that allows extra rerolls. But much of the time you'll have to gain a reroll by discarding a resource card from your market row. And if you run out of cards entirely before all six ships are built, you lose the game! Like its siblings in the Oniverse series, Aerion comes with a number of expansions right in the box, which allows you to vary gameplay by adding different challenges and special abilities. Once you are comfortable with the base game, I recommend always playing with at least one expansion. How does it play solo? Aerion is technically a game for 1–2 players, but really, it's a solo game. Yay! Overall Thoughts I am happy to report that Aerion, like other games in the Oniverse, is quick, challenging, and a lot of fun. Although it is a dice game and much of what happens will come down to luck, there are also a lot of interesting decisions to make. Which cards can be sacrificed for a reroll? Which dice will you keep and which will you roll again in search of that winning combination? Is it time to use a pixie or a book card to try to influence that roll, or is it smarter to save it for later? Trying to plan as well as you can in the face of uncertainty is highly enjoyable, and it becomes even moreso when you add in the game's expansions. Also, this might be a weird thing to note, but because the cards are divided into a few separate decks and then stay that way the whole time, Aerion is super easy to set up and take down. While an annoying set up is not a dealbreaker for me, it is amazing how refreshing I found the ease of setup and takedown in Aerion. My concerns about Aerion are minor. The first is that it's a dice game—sometimes you will just have terrible luck. This is such a short game, however, that it's no big deal for me. The other concern I have is that Aerion's symbology can be a little frustrating. Although in most cases the symbols make sense and tell you useful information (like what types of cards are in a given deck, so you know where to hunt), a few of the cards contain too much info. So much so that I occasionally confused myself and had to think back through what combinations of cards I was actually going for. This isn't a game-crippling problem, but it is an irritant, especially during the first few plays (or if you are a little distracted while playing). Do I recommend it? Yes. Aerion is fun, engaging, is easy to learn, teach, and set up, and generally makes for a very enjoyable solo gaming break. Overall rating: 4 stars Rating scale: 5 stars - I love it! 4 stars - I really like it. 3 stars - I like it. 2 stars - It's okay. 1 star - Meh.  Full Disclosure: I received a review copy of Nights of Fire from Mighty Boards.
What is this game about? Nights of Fire is a follow-up to Days of Ire, a game about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. While Days of Ire focuses on a week that was ultimately victorious for the Hungarians and that resulted in Soviet withdrawal from Budapest, Nights of Fire focuses on the Soviets' revenge. Not long after their ignominious departure, the Soviets returned with the full force of their army, and there was no way for the Hungarians to win in terms of military strength. This means that Nights of Fire is not about achieving victory in combat—instead, it is a battle for moral victory, in which the Soviets try to save face and suppress the Hungarians before things get too messy, while the Revolutionaries stall the Soviet forces and help civilians escape in order to humiliate their invaders on the international stage. While Days of Ire had a Pandemic-like feel to it, Nights of Fire is more of a light war game in which opposing forces vie for control of various districts in the city. Both sides use cards to control their forces and "pay for" in-game actions. How does it play solo? Nights of Fire can pit two Hungarian players against one Soviet player, or it can be played solo against an AI deck named for General Konev, who commanded the invading forces. Whenever you draw cards from the Konev deck, expect Soviet forces to mobilize and carry out brutal attacks. You'll be using your own cards for action points, which can pay for an array of in-game actions from saving civilians to disabling tanks. You'll also need to move your dwindling supply of fighters around the board and use them to best effect before they are inevitably killed. Overall Thoughts Nights of Fire is not a bad game, but I don't like it as much as Days of Ire. While DoI was not perfect, I did love the way that its historical theme fully saturated the game, right down to the images on the board and cards. Nights of Fire has more generic imagery and lacks a lot of that historical flavor, which was disappointing. That said, I like that Nights of Fire made some bold choices in terms of its victory conditions. It really does create the feeling of fighting a losing battle, desperately scraping together every resource you have to keep going for just a little bit longer. The Soviet forces are relentless, and no matter how many tanks you disable, they will only refresh during the next turn to come after you all over again. This makes Nights of Fire feel very different from other games I've played. The gameplay aspects that make Nights of Fire different, however, are not entirely good. Given that the game is about a nasty slog towards inevitable defeat (even if you win!), it can stretch a couple of turns too long. This is especially true because as your forces and resources run low, you can do less and less each turn, and find yourself doing more of the same actions repetitively just to survive. As a historical point about being stuck in a losing battle, this makes sense. But in terms of playing a game, it kills a bit of the fun. Do I recommend it? Nights of Fire isn't a bad game, especially if you love this time period or are looking for a game that feels like a hybrid between a Euro and a war game. But you're not missing an essential gaming experience if you give it a pass. Overall Rating: 3 stars 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars .— I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full disclosure: I received a review copy of Days of Ire from Mighty Boards.
What is this game about? Days of Ire is a board game set during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. It specifically focuses on the week when the Hungarians successfully, if temporarily, managed to push the Soviet armies out of Budapest. This is an asymmetrical game in which one side represents the Soviets—who attempt to overrun the revolutionaries and throw challenges at them in the form of event cards—and the other side represents the Hungarian revolutionaries, who attempt to hold the Soviets back and resolve event cards at various locations. If enough units are taken out, the game can end in a decisive victory for either side. But the game more frequently ends after a certain number of turns (reflecting the actual number of days this conflict historically took). If the Soviets have managed to keep enough event cards on the board, they win. If the Hungarians have managed to clean up enough event cards and clear the board, then they are the victorious side. Mechanically, Days of Ire is like a mashup between Twilight Struggle and Pandemic. To advance their ultimate goals, the Soviet side must play cards—based on real historical events—that sometimes benefit the Hungarians. Meanwhile, the fight to either put events on the board or to clear them up creates a Pandemic-like rush for the revolutionaries as they race to extinguish fires the Soviets have started. To resolve events, the Hungarians must gather cards with enough required resource symbols, which can be a challenge. Throughout the game, both sides are also battling for public support, resulting in constant tension beyond just combat. How does it play solo? Days of Ire can be played as a one-vs.-many game, where up to three players can challenge another human player who controls the Soviet forces. However, there is also a solo-specific deck that allows a single player to battle the Soviets alone. The Zhukov deck, named for a Russian general, puts cards out on the board that affect support levels and morale. It also causes events to be added to various locations on the board. Additionally, there are rules that cover the actions of the SPA, which will send militia units and especially-dangerous snipers against the revolutionaries. Overall Thoughts Days of Ire is a good game, but I admit I was hoping for it to be great. The theme is extremely compelling—the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 is a tragic and tragically understudied event, and that historical backdrop is woven into every aspect of the game. The locations on the board, illustrated with authentic photographs from the time, are actual key locations. The event cards, also featuring contemporary photographs, are actual events that I found myself looking up and learning more about. When it comes to historical games, you can't ask for much more from a theme. Gameplay wise, Days of Ire is perfectly good, but not as high-octane as I might have liked. So many of the game's mechanisms feel very familiar, without adding enough that felt new and fresh in terms of gameplay. The solo deck largely worked well, but sometimes the Soviet cards were swingy enough to cause drastic changes in board state, which was frustrating at times. During the Soviet turn, you resolve four event cards, which means things can change a lot between Revolutionary turns and there is very little you can do about it. Also, the need to constantly put out fires all around the city of Budapest created a challenge, but not as much tension as I wanted from a game about such an intense few days. Overall, Days of Ire is a good game, but I am a lot more in love with the theme than I am with the actual gameplay. Do I recommend it? If you are particularly interested in this period in history, or if you love Pandemic but want to try it with a more historical twist, then Days of Ire might be a match. But I don't consider it a must-buy. Overall Rating: 3.5 stars 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full Disclosure: I was sent a review copy of the Stronghold edition of Coffee Roaster, but I had already owned the original Japanese edition for several years.
What is this game about? Coffee Roaster is exactly what it sounds like—a game about trying to roast coffee beans and brew that perfect cup of coffee. This is a bag builder in which you pull out coffee beans, try to get their roast values to the right level, remove bad beans whenever possible, and use flavor tokens to manipulate the contents of your bag and to get special powers. You're allowed to take the number of turns you think you need, but be careful. Your beans roast more with each turn, and it's your judgment that will prevent you from overdoing it and spoiling the roast! At the end of the game, you'll perform a "cup test," where you pull tokens from your bag and use them to calculate your score. Because there are several different types of bean in the game, you will have new and challenging parameters to work with every time you play. How does it play solo? Coffee Roaster is for solo players only. Woohoo! Overall Thoughts Coffee Roaster is a game that I've had a lot of fun with over the years. It's quick and easy to play multiple times in a row, which makes it a perfect light work night or chill afternoon sort of game. The variety among the beans gives you a good range of different experiences, and the challenge of keeping mental notes about what is still in your bag is a satisfying one. However, Coffee Roaster is not perfect. On some turns, if you pull all beans and no flavor tokens, all you do is change the value of the beans and put them back in the bag—no decisions involved. Or, if you pull a flavor token you don't need or can't use, it feels like a wasted pull. While staying aware of what's in your bag overall can be great fun, Coffee Roaster also has a lot of turns that feel repetitive or like you didn't get to do enough. Fortunately, the game is lightning fast and still a ton of fun. I'd just enjoy the chance to make a few more decisions turn to turn. I also think the newly reprinted edition of Coffee Roaster, while gorgeous, is a little overpriced at $44.99. I personally feel that Coffee Roaster is more of a $25-30 game. Do I recommend it? Yes, Coffee Roaster is a fun game. Just don't pay full price for it. Overall rating: 3.5 stars Rating scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars .— I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full disclosure: The Dice Tower passed a review copy of this game on for me to review.
What is this game about? Mini DiverCity is a small-box, cooperative card game about attempting to save the oceans from evil corporations. On each turn, corporations will build hotels on your beautiful beach and/or send animals closer to extinction. On your own turn, you'll be shutting those hotels down and working to save those animals. If you can save enough species, you win the game. If all hotels are built or if too many creatures go extinct, then you lose. There is a catch, however—you can't actually see the cards in your hand, and you are often playing your cards blind. The cards each depict a species of animal, and there is a limited number of cards for each species. In a lot of cases, you'll need to burn a card you can't see to shut down a hotel, or you'll play a card to help save an animal species without knowing who you're about to help. Your fellow players can see your hand, but to tell you what you have, they'll have to use a "Walkie Talkie" action to share the intel. This results in some tension and often some laughs, since sometimes you just have to play a card and hope for the best. How does it play solo? Although it is a cooperative game where only the other players can see your cards, Mini DiverCity does have an official solo mode. A solo player will control two divers and keep their cards facedown, but can use the Walkie Talkie action to reveal a diver's hand, just as in the cooperative game. Overall Thoughts Overall, Mini DiverCity is an okay game. It's probably best as an introductory game, or one to enjoy with younger players. I think students in my game club would probably get a kick out of it, and it's a quick game to set up and play if you're just looking to pass time between other, larger games. I would probably not say no to it on game night, but Mini DiverCity also a game I would never request myself. As a solo game, I honestly don't see the point of Mini DiverCity. Its Hanabi-like mechanism in which you can't see your own hand is obviously going to be more entertaining in a group setting, which makes the solo variant more hollow in comparison right out of the gate. On top of that, Mini DiverCity is an extremely light game, so much so that I wouldn't choose it for solo play because there isn't enough meat on its bones without the social experience of playing it with a group. This is especially true because there are already so many great small-box solo games out there. I would go for any of the Oniverse Games, for Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden, for Sprawlopolis, or for any number of other small, quick solo games before I'd go for this one. Do I recommend it? Nah. Maybe if you have newer or younger gamers to play with, and you love the eco-conscious theme. But for solo, there are way better choices out there. Overall Rating: 2 stars Rating Scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full disclosure: Chip Theory Games sent me a review copy of Cloudspire. What is this game about? Cloudspire, the latest release from Chip Theory Games, is one of the more unique games in my collection. It is a tower defense/MOBA mashup brought to the tabletop, and I've never played anything else quite like it. As is typical for a Chip Theory release, Cloudspire is all about neoprene and hefty poker chips. But this time, we aren't just talking a nice neoprene playmat. Cloudspire's board is a bit different every time, can be adjusted mid-game, and is entirely made out of neoprene pieces that can be fit together in various ways. At each end of the play area is a player's fortress, and the object of the game is to either destroy the enemy fortress or, if more than one player is in fighting shape at the end of the game, to have the strongest fortress still standing. Play takes place in a series of waves, so Cloudspire does have a built-in timer. You'll also be able to choose one of four (five with an expansion) factions that have different strengths and that play quite differently from each other. Each player's army is made up of multiple fighters and structures that can be deployed. All of them will require "source," a precious in-game currency that you can earn as you play, so you'll need to budget carefully. "Spires," after which Cloudspire is named, are defense towers that automatically attack enemy units that come into range. "Minions" are soldiers from your chosen faction that move automatically towards the enemy tower. Once they are sent out into the world, they cannot be called back, and you can only hinder their movement by cleverly blocking them. Finally, you'll have heroes, your most powerful fighters whose movements and attacks you directly control. By strategically choosing the right minions at the right time, choosing good spots for spires, and using the powers and limitations of each type of unit, you can give yourself the best possible chance at success. You'll also be able to purchase upgrades for your fortress and your forces over time, which gives you an extra layer of strategic decisions. How does it play solo? Cloudspire is generally meant to be a competitive game for 2–4 players, but it does come with a solo mode. In fact, it comes with an entire book of solo scenarios that are meant to be played in order and that are designed to help you master the play style of each faction in the game. There is also an endless mode for solo if you just want to fight wave after wave of enemies. And if you'd rather work in tandem with another player (or play two-handed), there is a book of cooperative scenarios—although I won't be commenting on those, because I have not played them yet.  Look at all that sprawling neoprene... Overall Thoughts
I mostly adore Cloudspire, but I also have some issues with it that leave me frustrated. I will start by saying that I love the choices involved—I have spent many happy hours deciding how to spend my source, what to buy from the market, what upgrades to add to my spires, and what units to deploy. On top of that, you get to choose how to deploy units. Do you send your minions out separately so they can unleash more attacks? Or do you send them out "stacked," so that one minion acts as a meat shield for others and helps you advance further up the path to an enemy fortress? The array of options is impressive, and I love trying them in different combinations and feeling like I am slowly mastering each faction in the game. There's something very satisfying about being able to consider several options and make what you think are clever decisions about what to do. It is not, however, easy to get to that point in Cloudspire--this game has a serious learning curve. The overall concept of Cloudspire is simple—get strong, pick soldiers, destroy the enemy fortress, protect your fortress. But there is so much going on within that premise that the game loses a lot of accessibility. I would not, under any circumstances, bring Cloudspire to game night and expect to easily teach it and get it running. Cloudspire is very much about "the little things," and there are tons of abilities to keep track of, rules about which structures can be built when, and other little limitations you need to keep in mind as you play. On top of that, because each faction is so different, each player will have a unique experience of the game that is awesome for me as a solo player, but not something I ever want to deal with as a game teacher. When it comes to solo (I have up to this point neglected the co-op scenarios), I am grateful for the book of solo scenarios and pleased with the puzzles on offer. But I also feel a bit limited by the campaign format. Each scenario within the solo campaign has a specific setup, and there are only so many scenarios for each faction. Unlike Hoplomachus, one of my all-time favorites, you cannot expect to just pick a faction, pick an enemy, and go to town. Solo in Cloudspire is much more on the rails, and I like that less. That said, the decisions that Cloudspire offers you are incredibly addictive, and this is a game I can't stop thinking about. Despite its frustrations, Cloudspire is brushing up against greatness. Solving the puzzle of each solo scenario is good fun—and you will probably get a ton of replay value out of the campaign if you are a perfectionist who wants to hit every objective. It will take a while to get through the solo campaign. I have spent hours playing Cloudspire and I am not done yet. Do I recommend it? Maybe. Cloudspire is a very good game, and it's unlike any gaming experience I have had to date. It rewards multiple plays and it is satisfying to build mastery. At the same time, Cloudspire is very expensive—the base price is $129.95, before shipping. If you are content to pay that price for a solo campaign, it might be good for you. If you have a game group that will be super dedicated to playing this game and learning its intricacies, it might be good for you. This one has its imperfections, but it really is something special. Overall Rating: 4 stars Rating Scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full disclosure: I did a Kickstarter Preview of Unbroken back when the campaign was live. I backed it with my own money. What is this game about? Unbroken is a game about what happens after a dungeon crawl gone wrong. You wake up in the dungeon, alone, and all of your friends are dead. Your stuff has been looted. You have nothing, and you must escape—and hopefully take revenge on the boss monster who wrecked your party. You will face four monsters in a game of Unbroken, and you will have a limited amount of time to spend before each encounter. During that time, you'll explore, gather resources, build weapons, and potentially scout ahead to see what monster you will face (something I highly recommend). How will you budget your time? Many of your actions are paid for with effort—so how much effort are you willing to expend? Should you grab another resource, or should you choose to rest? There is also a bit of push-your-luck involved in the lead up to a monster fight. If you choose to confront the monster before you run out of time, then you are the one who has a slight tempo advantage in the ensuing battle. If you dawdle for too long, the monster will ambush you instead, which may make it a bit more challenging to beat it. Except for the fourth and final monster, the bosses can also be avoided—but if you choose to sneak on by without defeating them, you also give up rewards that could be tremendously useful down the line. Not only are your in-game choices interesting as you scavenge for resources, but there are several monsters you could encounter at each stage, as well as several different characters to choose from. Every character has unique special abilities, you can pick up different skills, and you will roll for different combinations of boss monsters every time you play, which means the game will have quite a bit of variety. How does it play solo? Unbroken is specifically designed for solo play. A true solitaire! Overall Thoughts Let's get the tough part of this conversation out of the way first: Unbroken is a very good game. It is also a highly problematic game, specifically because of the way the publisher handled (and is continuing to handle) fulfillment of the Kickstarter campaign. I'm not going to detail the situation here, but it is very bad—bad enough that I will probably not back another Golden Bell game, and I don't feel comfortable encouraging anyone else to do so. Artem Safarov, the designer, is a great guy, but I don't know if he has control over what happens to his game anymore. That said, I did receive my copy of Unbroken, and I really like it. The most natural game to compare it to is One Deck Dungeon, and I like Unbroken better. I like the agency of the choices I have. I enjoy scouting and preparing for encounters with boss monsters. It's satisfying to choose between encounter cards, to decide what resources to trade, to decide what time to spend. I feel like the choices I make have a big impact on the outcome of my game, and there is enough variety among the choices that I can make different ones every time. I also love choosing and trying out different skills for my characters, and the strategies that those skills subtly push me towards. Unbroken is also the perfect length for a small box game. It's quick enough to play more than once in a single sitting, or to take out if I want to get a quick game in but don't have much time. Setup is speedy, takedown is easy, and the game between is brisk and never seems to wear out its welcome. Unbroken is definitely going to enter my regular rotation of work night games. My one real complaint about Unbroken is that the game can be very swingy. Monsters attack differently depending on the dice you roll for them, but it runs a bit deeper than that. Because each monster is chosen randomly when it's time to encounter them, you can spend a lot of time arming yourself to confront one monster... only to find that the next one has a different fighting style and very different weaknesses. It's definitely possible to overcommit in the wrong direction and get smashed later in the game, depending on which monsters you encounter. That said, it is still possible to scout and to mitigate bad circumstances to an extent. Do I recommend it? Yes—if this game had a different publisher. Overall Rating: 4 stars 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh. |
AuthorMy name is Liz Davidson, and I play solo board games. A lot of solo board games... Archives
June 2020
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