Kickstarting It to the Curb

 A Quick Disclaimer

With these Wednesday posts, I want to bring up games that have caught my eye and are things that I'm interested in. I have not been paid at all by any of the publishers of these games, nor am I affiliated with the games in any way. I will absolutely note in any future posts if any of the games that I am discussing are provided to me by the publisher for a review to ensure that transparency occurs with this blog.

I want to ensure that the posts here on this blog are done from a standpoint of integrity and honesty and the whole point of me posting here on BGG is to promote a positive interaction and community here. All thoughts posted here are my own and the ramblings that are on her probably won't be enough to warrant getting review copies of anything, although I wouldn't turn down review copies of games!

Weirdwood-ing Me Out

This last year saw me make the mistake of hopping on Kickstarter again and immediately getting hoodwinked into pledging for a new game that was listed on the "For you" projects page. I had done such a great job of avoiding Kickstarter and the siren call of the marketing that companies do to crowdfund their projects on the website in the last decade or so, but something just pulled me back in last year. I was determined to "just look," but we all know how that often goes on Kickstarter: the games are too flashy and the FOMO kicks in and we just "need to have the game that was announced today and is 75% of the way to funded so we can get the extras that they are adding on with unlocks!"

To quote Admiral Ackbar: "It's a trap!" And dang if it isn't a well-crafted trap at that because I fell headlong into it this last year.

As I was perusing the website, I came across a really intriguing project: Weirdwood Manor. The game promised a cooperative, monster-hunting, ever-changing board with level up elements and multiple characters to play as, each with their own powers. Add in an element of time management in the game and I was hooked by the power of marketing.

A modular board is what hooked me.

I started talking with my wife Sarah about the game and discussed at length (to the point where I probably annoyed her) about what version of the game I should get. There was a standard version of the game that was cheaper, but the Deluxe version came with acrylic standees, wooden tokens, and resin enemies. I knew that it was just a marketing ploy for me to spend more money, but there's something about playing with higher quality materials that I really enjoy.

After about three days of nonstop pondering the game and my pledge, Sarah finally broke down and told me to purchase the Deluxe version of the game. In her words, "You're not happy unless you get the best version (in your mind), so just pay more and get the Deluxe version." I threw in my money and now we're 9 months out from the end of the Kickstarter.

What really excites me about the game is the ever-changing nature of the board and how each setup will be different. I'm looking forward to playing the game with my wife and normal gaming buddies, but also for the opportunity to play solo, since many of my nights are spent soloing games. We'll see what it plays like when I eventually get it this year, but there's definitely potential for the game when it arrives. Greyridge Games is a new publisher for games and hopefully this is good enough that they see some success; it always makes me sad when companies make a game and then are killed by the cost of fulfillment.

Dead (Cells) and Gone

The gamer in me is freaking out.

Slight disclaimer here: I'm a huge fan of Dead Cells and I've sunk several hundred hours into the game. I've gotten all the way to 4 Boss Cells (which is decently far in the game) and am currently working on getting the fifth and final boss cell to face the secret boss of the game. There's a ton that I have yet to unlock and even though I take months-long breaks from the game, it drags be back in again and again with the tantalizing urge to unlock more and more in the game.

I also want to note that the news of the development of the game has been officially announced and I'm saddened by the end to this amazing project. I understand why the company has chosen to move on from the game, but I am extremely sad that we had such an amazing DLC with the "Return to Castlevania" update and was hoping for more amazing content in the future. There's a Dead Cells television show planned for later this year (?) and I'm really excited to see if it does a deep dive into the lore of the game, of which there is a ton.

On to the game!

As soon as I saw that there was a Kickstarter for the Dead Cells board game, I knew that I had to get in on it. I had sunk quite a bit of time on the video game already and I knew that the board game would probably be the same experience for me. The campaign was a smashing success and I immediately dropped the money for the Deluxe Edition without a second thought. I loved this game and I wanted to get as much of it as I possibly could, especially with some nice deluxe components.

As each and every reveal came with more additions to the game that were featured in the game (Panchaku, Hidden Character Unlocks, and UV Spot, oh my!) my excitement for the game grew even more. Obviously, that's what the additional reveals were for, but I was in for a penny, in for a pound, and I was excited to see what else that they had in store for the backers. My eagerness was not dissappointed and the developers announced that the game was available to play for free on Tabletopia until they released the game to backers.

I cannot wait for this to hit the table.

I immediately played several times on Tabletopia and was pleasantly surprised to find that the game played similarly to the video game it was based on. There was an unlock mechanic for the game as well as the "rogue-lite" aspect where a death would reset your progress through the biomes. In short, the only complaint I had about it was that I wasn't able to hold the components in my hand and play on my tabletop (I much prefer playing physically than digitally). The board itself was very clever in it's setup and despite it having a bit of a larger table presence, I am very excited to play on my own.

As the campaign has had updates over the last few months, my excitement has only grown for the game. Upon further review of the publisher, Scorpion Masqué, I found that they've also published Decrypto, Sky Team, and Turing Machine, all highly rated games here on BGG, which leads me to feel pretty positively about the design team for this game. I'm very excited to see what secrets are tucked away in the box of the game, especially from a publisher with such a great pedigree of games.


Reviewing My Choices

One thing that I've learned to do over the last year was really question if the game that I saw would be one that I would play regularly, now that I've expanded my collection more and have been playing regularly (about one game a night now). As there have been production delays (inevitably with Kickstarter games) and the date for final fulfillment has been pushed back, I've started to ponder whether or not these games are for me, since I've backed new games, sight unseen.

"Terror" is right.

Over the last year or so, I've had the opportunity to play quite a few cooperative games with my buddy Anthony. Some have been really great, like Deliverance which has a nice balance for various player numbers and keeps it tough, but not overwhelmingly so, and Sub Terra which keeps the players on the edge of their seat the entire time with changing the way the cave is generated each game. They take the understanding of a need for players to feel close to winning and teeter the chances on the edge of a knife, adding tension and excitement to the game.

Other cooperative games have missed the mark for me due to their overall difficulty being too high. A recent play of Roll Camera! ended in a very disappointing finish due to the game feeling that it was designed with a three to four player count rather than a two-player count that we played with. I'm also not a huge fan of Pandemic since all of the games that I have played, I've lost. I know that's probably due to the groups that I played with, but after having physically lived through a pandemic, it's not really one that I have much desire to bring to the table anymore.

I have high (if not tentative) hopes for Weirdwood Manor and Dead Cells: the Rogue-Lite Board Game, especially since my experiences with cooperative games has been iffy at best. I know that when they arrive, they'll have to stand the test of my wife to see if it was worth the energy and money spent on them, but based on what I've seen so far, I'm cautiously optimistic about them.

What are some cooperative games that you've played over the last year or so that have really made a good impression? What cooperative games have missed the mark for you? What makes a cooperative game "good" in your opinion?

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week fellow board gamers!

*originally posted 14/2/2024 on BoardGameGeek*