Today let’s check out 4 games that are supposed to appear on Kickstarter this year. Some titles are launching in late winter / early spring and some have no date specified other than 2020. Enjoy!
Ruins: Death Binder – February 20th
Games where solo mode is the main or only way of playing are rare. Single player option is often added last minute and it tends to end up disappointing. That’s why it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Ruins: Death Binder got our attention as soon as it was announced. It’s first and foremost a solo, card driven game, set in a dark fantasy world that feels a bit like Dark Souls. Interestingly: apart from the core, story based campaign there also is a co-op mode for 2 players, if you’d like to tackle the challenges and bosses with a friend.
The story begins with your amnesiac character waking up in a dark room, close to a dead body. After a painful awakening and realization that you have no clue what’s going on, you start feeling drawn towards a pair of mysterious door, following an unknown voice. The only way to learn how you got there and who you actually are, is to push forward.
Each game of Ruins: Death Binder begins with setting up your new, inexperienced character. Your goal is either: completing scenario cards (in solo mode) or defeating 3 bosses (co-op). During the game you will be traveling through a map with circular tokens at every fork in the road. Each turn you have to decide on the direction you want to explore. Then you need to pick a token lying at your destination and perform all the actions mentioned on its front.
Tokens usually have you resolve events, fight monsters and (if everything goes well) rest a bit. Events include choices, rewards, additional fights and unexpected challenges. Combat is resolved with action cards you have on your hand, all drawn from the draw deck. As you progress through the map, your character will gain experience, grow in strength and learn more about his past.
Contrary to deck building games, in Ruins: Death Binder you start with all the cards available and then you have to keep removing ones you don’t want until you get a perfect set of powers. This not-so-common mechanic is called “deck deconstruction” and makes Ruins: Death Binder stand out the most. If you’re interested in this project, you can check out the draft version of the campaign here or wait until next Thursday to see it live.
Planet Unknown – March 2020
There are tons of games about colonizing Mars and other planets. Not many of them use Patchwork like polyominoes as the core part of the gameplay though. This alone makes us excited about Planet Unknown. The game is aimed at up to 6 players with an additional solo mode. Everyone will compete in creating the best planet that all humanity will move to.
Like in other polyomino based titles, you spend each round picking one available piece and adding it to your planet’s map. All pieces are taken from a rotating plastic space station that holds all polyominoes and is easily accessible to everybody. Every piece of land you add changes the living conditions on the planet and provides the player with a few types of resources. Later on everyone can perform 2 actions related to the placed piece. As the action selection is simultaneous, the game retains a quick pace even when played with 6 players.
Dragoon: The Might and Magma Expansion
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Any fans of Dragoon by Lay Waste Games here? It was recently announced that the 2016 game is getting a new expansion this year and like its predecessors it will be funded through Kickstarter. The game got some really nice press and reputation so we expect the new campaign to do great as well. Want some numbers? The original has managed to collect $88,020, while the second campaign ended at $327,614.
For those who don’t know Dragoon: it’s a 2-4 player game where everyone controls a dragon. The time of unrest has come to the land as first humans have been spotted. Dragons decide to fight for every last ounce of gold, just to be sure it doesn’t end up in the hands of some ugly, scaleless mammal. Whoever collects 50 gold first becomes the winner. You can get it by making villages yours, destroying them, stealing from other players or attacking them directly. Each turn you roll a special set of coordinate dice to determine how the human population spreads, which keeps the game more unpredictable and replayable. Apart from interesting mechanics, Dragoon is also popular for its unique visuals with all the minimalistic illustrations and metal made pieces.
What can we expect from the Might and Magma expansion? So far we know that it’ll allow playing with more players raising the maximum count to 6. The expansion is going to be modular and focus on volcano related elements in the gameplay department.
Sanctuary: The Keepers Era – Sometime in 2020
Tabula Games, known for their Mysthea franchise, is about to launch a whole new project called Sanctuary: The Keepers Era. We already know that this is just the beginning of a longer running series of games. While no date was revealed so far, it seems like the game will have its Kickstarter campaign sometime in 2020.
This time, instead of a board game, we’ll be getting a complex card game with many options and different factions to pick from. The story takes place in a world where unbelievable magical powers flow through the land. To tame them, they were attached to so-called sanctuaries. Now, many powerful people fight for controlling these, to gain their powers and rule the world.
Players are able to pick one of 6 factions and get their unique deck filled with exclusive cards. During the game your goal will be to destroy the sanctuaries of your rivals and make their powers yours. Gameplay is quick and based around hand management. Judging from what we’ve seen so far, the art also seems to be on an exceptional level.
