Well, even with all of the roadblocks and life-happenings
getting in the way I’ve finally made it to the final post in my Essen Spiel
series. This particular post will take a
look at the games that weren’t for sale but had some sort of demo available to
try at the convention. I will say that
this year’s crop wasn’t nearly as interesting overall as last year’s but there
were still some that piqued my interest.
These are the five games (plus one honorable mention) that were
interesting enough to turn my head.
Before I go into these games feel free to check out my previous five
posts in the series that take a look at my top anticipated expansions, reprints
and original games.
Alright, now let’s go ahead and move on to the meat of
the post. These games don’t yet have a
release for purchase but they were available to demo and try out at Essen Spiel. These are my top 5 (plus 1 honorable mention)
games that had a demo but you couldn’t buy.
Enjoy!
Honorable Mention – Lords of Hellas (Awaken Realms)
Lords of Hellas is a card-drafting, hand-management and
area control game designed by Adam Kwapiński and published by Awaken
Realms. This game has players controlling
an asymmetric hero who is able to do different actions in order to gain power
and complete one of the varying paths to victory. The game not only has variability in the asymmetric
heroes but also in the fact that they are multiple paths to victory. One hero may choose to slay monsters
wandering the map while another hero chooses to control different areas on the
board. The heroes could also choose to
build temples and monuments in order to help with their different actions. This game has some amazing components and
looks absolutely beautiful on the board and I’m hoping that the gameplay can
hold up to the amazing pieces.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a worker-placement game with
variable player powers that is designed by Brian Kelley and published by Eagle-Gryphon
Games. This game puts players in the
role of one of the followers of The Scarlet Pimpernel as he moves about France
and attempts to save innocents from the Committee of Public Safety and their
guillotine. The players will draw a
mission card which will have a number of supporters and resources on it and
then the players will go in turn order to gather said resources and supporters
and bring them to the areas to complete the missions. This continues on for seven missions and the
player with the most points win. This
game looks like a fun worker placement game with a super interesting theme and
not a high level of difficulty to enter into it. I’m interested to see this Kickstarter and
how it progresses.
Cerebria: The Inside World is a hand-management,
deck-building and area control game designed by Richard Amann and Viktor Peter. This game has players joining
either the side of Bliss or the side of Gloom as they try to gain a foothold in
shaping the Identity. Players will take
turns doing different actions such as moving around to the different realms and
invoking/quelling Emotions. The game
continues with the players attempting to gain more control with the side that
they are representing. The state of
Cerebria will be in constant flux during the game and the players need to
realize and work with/around this as they attempt to gain the controlling power
of the Identity. This game is another
with beautiful artwork and components and a very interesting theme. I am looking forward to trying this one out!
Founders of Gloomhaven is a city-building,
hand-management and tile-placement game designed by Isaac Childres and
published by Cephalofair Games. This game
is a prequel of sorts to Gloomhaven as it essentially tells the story of the
founding of the city. In the game the
players will take control of a race as they help each other build up the city
from scratch. The game is interesting as
you have to actually use the resources of other races or else you won’t be able
to build anything. I really like the
idea of an element of co-operation which really lends itself to the theme of
this particular game. This is a heavier
game where the players will be making routes to other player’s areas to “borrow”
the resources to make other buildings. I
am looking forward to trying this game out.
#2 – Feudum (Odd Bird Games)
Feudum is an economic, hand-management and area-control game
designed by Mark K. Swanson and published by Odd Bird Games. This game puts players into the role of a
group who have been banished from their land and stripped of everything they
had. The group then journeys to another
land where they will attempt to gain back their honor and reinvent their
nation. The players control several
members who are traveling the land, tending to farms, taxing towns and taking
outposts in an effort to gain power. The
players will also fight over feudums and increase their status in six different
guilds. This is a massive game and seems
to have some many different things that I love in games. This is probably a game that will eventually
end up on my shelf when it is released.
#1 – Fallout (Fantasy Flight Games)
Fallout is an adventure, exploration and hand-management
game designed by Andrew Fischer and Nathan I. Hajek and published by Fantasy
Flight Games. This game has the players
taking on the roles of characters from the video game by Bethesda Softworks and
traversing through the wasteland. Each
player gains an objective that they need to complete that they obtain at the
start to help guide them and then it is on!
The players will be exploring the hidden parts of the map, completing
quests that they’ve obtained, build their character’s skills and fight the hideous
creatures that live in the wasteland.
The game seems to really have a sense of exploration and adventure as
the characters will reveal their stories through the different quests and
missions they’ll be on. This video game
is easily in my top 5 games of all time and thus the IP was super interesting
to me when I heard it was going to be released.
This game will be mine…oh yes…it will be mine!
Well ladies and gentlemen…we’ve finally reached the end
of my Essen Spiel series for 2017. Man
has it ever been a ride with moving in between but I’m glad I finished it
up. Some of these games just look
amazing and I love that we’re living in a time where there are some many great
boardgames to try out. Thanks so much
for taking the time to read this post, I truly appreciate it! Until next time, game on!
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