Elden Ring and Pest headline this week's Crowdfunding Round-Up. Both projects have been long awaited and look stunning. Tiny Epic: Crimes will be another huge success by the team at Gamelyn Games, not to mention the other fantastic offerings this week. All of these projects are due to hit Kickstarter and Gamefound in the next 7 days. My money this week will be going to Pest; the huge price tag attached to Elden Ring and the episodic nature of the campaign mean this one takes a back seat for me. Back sensibly and know your limits. Happy gaming.
Our once great Empire was struck by a devastating plague… will you answer the call to save it?
Once standing tall and great, we now need to rediscover and rebuild our fallen cities. There are still survivors among the ruins – we must take them in our care and cure them. In order to stay ahead of the plague, we must implement new inventions and technologies. Our influence will expand as we rebuild, but the plague will still lurk in the shadows, ready to strike when we least expect it. Once it does, it will be difficult to adapt, but we will survive. In addition to the procurement of important resources, our imperative will be to get the plague under control.
In Pest, players slip into the roles of leaders of the ruling houses of a once great empire that was struck by a cataclysmic plague. The plague has left much of the empire in ruins, so now it is up to the players to restore it to former glory.
Pest is played in 7 rounds. Each round before players take their turn, a plague card will be revealed which shows how the plague will spread in that round. On their turn, players will be able to select among many actions on their player board using a unique action selection system. Thus, players will be able to move their containment team on the board, quarantine and cure infected people, rebuild, assign workers, harvest for resources and more.
As their house influence grows, players will be able to play more actions, generate more resources, and house more people. This will bring forth new technological advancements which are much needed to get the plague under control.
The game ends after the 7 round is over and players count their final amount of Renown (victory points). The player with the most Renown is the winner and declared saviour of the empire!
Welcome to the Lands Between, a mysterious and otherworldly realm where the landscape is rich and varied. As you explore, you’ll build out a hex-based map of your surroundings, with unique locations to visit, resources to gather, NPC’s to interact with, and enemies to fight. Your progress is tracked by a narrative story that provides objectives as well as guidance on how to achieve them – and, depending on your decisions, alternative side-quests and emergent narrative to experience, too.
Dice-less and with strong elements of deck-building, combat is both deadly and personal. As your Tarnished character levels up, you must carefully build your attack and effect decks to best optimise with your equipment. Although exploration takes place on the zoomed-out hex map, each player has their own dedicated quest book on which combat encounters will take place face-to-face.
When you enter combat, you’ll open your quest book to the indicated page. There, you’ll find a battlefield grid that raises the level of combat from one of simple physical positioning to state of mental readiness. Using rows and lanes, this unique system means your position dictates not only your physical position in the encounter, but your battle stance: aggressive, neutral, or defensive. Each battle stance has benefits and drawbacks to exploit and avoid with the changing state of battle, which can even vary from one encounter to the next.
Understanding enemy attack patterns is key, helping to inform when to expose an enemy weakness and press home an attack, and when to play defensively while your stamina returns. Drawn at random but possible to manipulate, the marching order will determine which characters act when, and give you the vital opportunity to plan ahead, just as you’d learn ‘tells’ in the video game.
A single bad decision can mean death to the unwary, sending unlucky Tarnished back to the nearest Site of Grace to respawn.
Because combat takes place in your individual quest book, your encounters also won’t disrupt play for everyone else. After making the three actions in your turn — and enduring any enemy attacks — your combat will pause while the other Tarnished continue exploring the overworld, with combat resuming once your turn comes back around.
When your party locates a dungeon, your quest books will be joined together, allowing you to take on bosses together on a much larger stage while still being up close and personal. But boss encounters aren’t the only time you’ll fight side by side. If one of your fellow Tarnished is in trouble, there are also ways to join their personal combat book and lend a hand — or a sword.
The official table-top adaptation of the hit video game that sold over 13 million copies in its first month after release, ELDEN RINGâ„¢: The Board Game features huge and lavishly detailed miniatures, as well as close to a thousand cards, four large quest books, and a towering stack of exploration tile, all in the core box alone.
It’s a big box cooperative campaign game for 1-4 players, where each session is playable in 90-120 minutes and core box campaigns will span 30-40 hours, increasing to 90 hours with the expansions. And your Tarnished can make the entire journey with you, from one region to the next…
Where’s My Ride? is a cooperative game of deduction and miscommunication for 2-7 players. You and your friends are divided into a party of Riders and a single Driver, trying to meet up for a ride-share. There’s a big problem though! The app is bugging out bigtime; it’s not sharing rider or Driver locations, and the messaging features have gone haywire. Riders will use a deck of quirky, autofilled text messages to ask the Driver where they are parked. Unfortunately, the Driver can only react to the messages with emojis! Will you find your Driver before the app cancels the ride and gives everyone a dreaded 1-out-of-5 star rating!?!
The Illumination of Deepsorrow is a standalone expansion for the Legends Untold system which can be enhanced with the addition of the Weeping Caves and Great Sewers Novice Sets. It can also be combined with these products to create a massive catalogue of cards for self-build adventures.
Deepsorrow introduces: Four new playable Occupations and Cultures, along with a host of new Weapons, Kits, Outfits and Talents to let you build the character you want.
A new Focus system that allows you to use the mystic teachings of the Nabti Walkers to push your body and mind to the limits of endurance.
New Physiological Talents for the Wrathlander - use natural gifts to survive poison and even channel lightning!
A new Shock Condition that impacts both Heroes and Foes, beware that sparking floor tile!
A new Clues and Epilogues system that rewards exploration – will you brave that Vine Swing Barrier to reveal more about the multiple factions that have an interest in the ancient site?
New Boons and Backpack cards that let you expand your party’s arsenal of options, you must use them wisely to ensure your survival.
New Loot categories including Locked, Sealed, and Heavy, that require you to use all your wits to benefit from them.
A new Treasure deck system for those that always have to find every piece of loot.
A Cinematic Campaign of multiple Plot Arcs, that you must discover and interact as you explore Deepsorrow.
Exhausted, a messenger collapses on the steps of the temple. From his hand a single leaf drops to the floor and a shockwave echoes across the sanctuary. The Monks at Firesorrow have waited millennia for the sign - the Lost Forest has come to life - A Step into Darkness has begun.
Where the sky screams and black clouds roar Where the sand climbs high and eagles soar Secrets will travel by sail and oar To Dip’Sa’Ra on distant shore
The violent wind whips sand across your face; overhead the constant lightning of the Wrathstorm earths into the enormous coral-like spires that tower above you. You are sworn to your quest: you must investigate the mysteries of Deepsorrow and find the ancient Illumolith so that you may shine a beacon of light and illuminate the approaching darkness.
Tiny Epic Crimes is a fast-paced, crime-fighting, deduction game for 1 to 4 players that offers multiple ways to play. The game can be enjoyed competitively, cooperatively, or solo.
Players take on the role of detectives, and depending on the game mode, will be working either together…. OR separately…. to crack the murder case. Time matters, and the first 48 hours after any crime are the most critical. Players race around Echo Ridge City collecting evidence, such as the murder weapon, forensics, or the getaway vehicle.
This secret evidence is sifted through using the novel Tiny Epic Decoder System, which keeps all of the murderer’s other evidence hidden. This knowledge eliminates suspects and helps identify the true killer.
But crime doesn’t stop for one investigation. Players must answer the call of duty, juggling their time as other criminal activities arise across the city.
Resolving these events allow players to gain useful alibis and powerful Force Cards, but knowing full well that their actions will take them hours closer to a reckoning.
In their final hour, players will stake their careers on a final guess: who they think the murderer really is… hoping that their wits and detective skills are enough to bring the correct suspect to justice.
Can you hold this city of crime together long enough to crack the case, or will it go cold and your time on the force run out?
In Mysthea Solo Expansion you will find yourself facing the very skilled former Champion Maliath who, after years of endless travels through the Mysthea Mist, now is back, stronger and more stubborn than before. Maliath's forces rose like an unstoppable plague, driven by unfathomable hatred for everything our people have touched.
Maliath is a highly skilled strategist and a relentless fighter who has no intention of leaving you alone while you fight for the control of the five unexplored floating islands. It will get in the way of your plans in many ways, compromising island attunements, interfering in fights with monsters, and even directly starting battles against you.
The solo mode expansion of this area control and hand-management eurogame will make you meet an incredible new opponent, but beware, she will be an actual player, just like you, and she’s not easily fooled!
The Cube Monster awakens, and the race begins! Your village chose you, their champion, to climb up Mount Kubia and beat your opponents to the top. No matter your craft, you are first and foremost a builder. It is in your blood. The climb will be far from easy. Play by the monster’s rules – feed it, worship it, build for it – and be rewarded greatly! However, fail to meet its demands, and disaster will befall your people.
Cube Monster is a strategic engine-building game where players take the role of champions racing to the top of Mount Kubia, sacrificing cubes on their way to the mountaintop. Take turns feeding the monster and awaken its desire for offerings. Use that wisely to reap rewards as your opponents suffer its wrath. Do you build structures planning for amazing cube-generating combos, or do you brute force your way to the top?
You are a surviving Sorcerer-Lord from the Erret Archipelago. A territory where hundreds of islands are connected together by huge bridges. Bridges once conferred the Archipelago greatness and prosperity, and permitted flourishing trade between its islands. The Archipelago's wealth, which would only transit through these bridges, offered every resident a life of comfort and carefreeness. But today, overpopulation, natural resources depletion, and blind cupidity from the Lord-Sorcerers have created a cataclysmic imbalance in the Erret Archipelago. Not a day goes by without the earth ripping apart and the seas engulfing the most fragile islands. The Sorcerer-Lords now fight for control of the upper and safest islands of the Archipelago. To survive in these hostile lands, you need to cross the bridges and fight other Sorcerer-Lords to claim their land.
Clash of Deck: Starter Kit is a card-based combat game for 1-2 players aged 8+ that plays in 15-30 minutes, created by Léandre Proust, with artwork from Studio Rexard, and published by Grammes Édition. Create your 8 unit army and battle other Lord-Sorcerers to destroy their Strongholds!
Clash of Deck is dead… Long lives Clash of Decks! Clash of Decks is a card game which has been played and tested by hundreds of players throughout its first year of existence, as a French version. The game was published in 2020 in an atypic form: cards you cut yourself from a folded sheet of cardboard. A new standalone expansion was published each month. Today, thanks to the feedback and support of its community of players, Clash of Decks takes off with a new edition, available in English. The game will have more conventional components, such as "real" cards, larger and of better quality, with a tuck box.
Animal spirits are building a new world by plucking floating pieces of land from the sky and stitching them together with mystical thread. These powerful spirits are the World Stitchers, and even though they are working together to create a new world, only one of them will have the honor of naming it.
Play as one of the animal spirits in this modular, competitive tile-laying game for 1-4 players. Expand the world, gather the energy that's released when new pieces of land are connected, and raise massive natural spires from the ground to impress the other spirits.
World Stitchers is very easy to teach and quick to set up. The game comes with several interchangeable modules to add complexity and variety as you see fit.
Tank Clash is an easy-to-understand WW2 armour warfare strategy game for 2 players that a noob or skilled player can enjoy. It combines both dice roll and tactical cards for a casual but yet strategic battle experience.
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