Great overview! The more I play this game, the more I enjoy it. I love 4X space games genre and this game exceeded my expectations. It has a lot of mechanics and the flow similar to Eclipse, with some differences that make it a unique game.
Great overview we found it tedious tracking all the technologies even though it’s on the board it’s still a lot to read through every turn to make sure you don’t miss some special ability way too much to track
The game is actually really easy to set up to the point where you can play, place tiles face down per size of number of players, pick civs, place a total of 5 cubes of tech tracker/Event tracker, each players only starts with 1 happy city with 1 settler, and 2 cards….
I wouldn't say that's true. The initiative and effects of the cards you play determine who damages whom, what, and when, but it's not a consistent R-P-S scenario in which something automatically always beats something else. There's much more forethought involved here.
Good video. Personally, I do not agree concerning "bad hands". You always have massively powerful options at your disposal, although they are not likely to be the powerful options you WANT. Also, you will never be able to squeeze the full value out of your hand so you have to prioritize. It is like classic trick takers in many ways in that you don't get to choose your hand. You don't get to say "I'll take the high card trumps only". But it is DIFFERENT from classic trick takers in that the "High Cards" are WEAK in how many actions they can take and which ambitions they can declare. This game is VERY DIFFERENT from any space game you've played before and you do have to "let go" a bit and go searching for the hidden potentials in your hand/ boardstate in order to really enjoy it. IMHO. Thanks for the concise, excellent video.
You normally have recommended games that are similar at the end of your videos, but not this time. Is this game so unique or you just left it out due to time?
You mentioned the possibility of getting a "bad hand" but I'm not sure there really is a such thing as a "good hand" - that is to say, I kind of feel like every hand is to some extent a "bad hand". I'll admit I've only played 7 games so far (3 base, 3 campaign, 1 base + L&L) but to a large extent I feel like hands are what you make of it. Rarely will anyone get "the perfect hand" and even if you do, you'll still need your opponents to play the right cards for your perfect hand to go off. So, if all of the hands are bad hands, there's no such thing as a bad hand, it's about making the most of what you've got.
@@NersiGames no problem! I'm going to play my first game this weekend and I've been pretty pleased with how everything turned out despite the lack of charming art as you said. I would have loved some really distinct planets instead of how they did the coloring. I'm not sure you would have to make any gameplay changes other than adding symbols to indicate the resource they make. Big missed opportunity IMO. Also unique ship designs for every faction or at least unique flagship designs would have been nice even if it increased the cost. I hope someone makes some 3d cities and space ports because that would look pretty cool too.
I have played it with the expansion twice now and the added 'universal worker' that everyone gets in the beginning really helps speed up the first part of the game, which is a nice addition. This shortens the game for lower player counts (I played solo and with 3 people) so would imagine it does the same for the higher ones...though I do not think I would play this with more than 5. We also really liked having the corrupted mech tromping around spoiling potential plans.
Thanks for the overview. I find that I play this game so rarely that I don't remember ANY of the story beats from when I previously played a scenario, I can't even remember if I've played that one before or not... but maybe that's just my poor memory haha.
I've been wanting to play this one! I think my biggest gripe with big 4X games like TI4 are the length! Let's play this one together with a group soon!
Thanks for this review. I found this game had a good amount in common with another I like- Teotihuacan! But here I felt like I needed a level 4 bee to do all the good stuff and they all kinda reached level 4 together and fell back to 1 together, leaving me feeling super powerful and then immediately after- super useless. I ended up with more turns than I would like where basically I got nothing that furthered my plan, or my game.
Wow, coming here in 2023, so a bit late, but i just want to say that i love the way how you pinpoint the pros and cons very well and to the point. This a very good 'in a nutshell', very helpful to get a first impression of the game ! I will check more of your video's!
Thanks for the quick review! I agree that the artwork is very evocative, but the horror elements aren’t really reflected in the gameplay. I would have liked the corruption tokens to have artwork of monsters on them.
Thanks for checking it out! I know some of the narrative is in the title of the quests, but that's mostly it. I am hoping there will be an option in the future to have the narrative come through more.
NERSI! My man! Good to see you! I'm subbed and belled and I still haven't seen anything for a long time from you. That makes me mad as I don't have the notification bell on except for a handful of awesome creators.
Thanks Ray! Good to see you too! It’s been a tough start to 2023, but I’m looking forward to sharing more with you soon. I really appreciate that you’ve included me in your notification group! :)
@@NersiGames it's a SMALL number as I hate notifications but you are worth it. I'm just bummed that I *DON'T* get notifications on your content. What is the freaking point of the stupid bell!!! LOLOLOL!
I'm on the fence about picking up Clank! I'm not really a huge fan of the original but still own almost every expansion and do play it regularly. We play it as a drinking game where as we all take a a drink whenever the dragon appears. It's a great night starter for that, but I'm not really the biggest fan of the game and therefor reluctant to buy any further into the franchise. We did demo it at PAX but I'm still not convinced. Nemesis was my #17 GotY for 2021 but dropped to #54 after a play of Lockdown. I didn't like the new end game conditions and it all left me really soured on it. I KS'ed Foundations of Rome after a play of it at a local meetup. I'm really interested in owning that one and lugging it to meetups. It seems grand but beginner friendly - which is just perfect for our meetups. I am also a huge fan of the Century series. Those (all 3 - and Golem edition) were my GotY for 2021. It's dropped to #2 for '22 I also picked up Ark Nova at PAX U and we haven't stopped playing it. I make my 'year' cutoff the opening of PAX so anything play at PAX or afterwards is considered for the next year. So, Ark Nova won't be ranked until '23. But so far it's completely killed Civilization: A New Dawn (w/ expansion) for us. And also soured a few other games. A friends is now disgusted with Dune (and its 2 expansions) because of Ark!
@@NersiGames I can already easily say Ark Nova will rank very high! It just missed being considered for 2022 - even though I did get it and play it in ‘22. I make my year’s “cutoff” at PAX Unplugged (1st weekend in December in ‘22) and I picked up Ark at PAX. So, it has to be considered for ‘23. And boy, the number of times we’ve already played it…I can’t imagine it not ranking extremely highly.
My thoughts: Return to dark tower: i found it so fun what I went ALL IN on the recent KS. clank catacombs: I need to play it more. I wasn't super impressed after 1 play despite being a big clank fan-boy Nemesis lock: haven't played Foundations of Rome : its OK. I'll play it but it's average to me. My father's work: haven't played Ark nova: really good. I like it a lot Twilight inscription: haven't played Dead reckoning: haven't played Stars of a: haven't played Planet unknown: only played 1x. Need to try again...I came dead last
