Tidal Blades – Heroes of the Reef got funded during the first hour of its campaign. Early this year, Everdell charmed us with its wonderful visuals, and now a new game by Druid City Games (creators of Grimm Forest) is doing exactly the same. Worker placement and dice management, with stunning illustrations, and a world as absorbing as a whirlpool? Let’s dive straight in!

World of Water

The game grabs your attention from the start. The world and its beautiful scenery were created by “Mr. Cuddington” – a duo of illustrators known for their work on games such as Charterstone, Santorini, The Grimm Forest and the new edition of Brass.

Components of the box set themselves apart from what we usually see in games like that. The board is not a square or hexagon, but instead consists of several islands. Player boards come equipped with four cardboard dials, that not only look good but also serve an important purpose.

Tidal Blades might be a worker placement game, but has an original approach to the genre. During gameplay we will be able to develop our hero and upgrade our dice, picking one of the 2 available routes.

Become a Hero

All described mechanics are used to beat the challenges and eliminate monsters lurking near the islands. Players become young heroes, that compete in a 5 days long tournament. In the end, only one will be able to join the Tidal Blades – an elite group of guards of this islander world.

 

“I’m really impressed by the setting, visuals and mechanics of the game. The authors did a wonderful job of merging all of these. If you could only play it like my favourite underwater chess… it would be perfect!”   

Campaign for Tidal Blades on Kickstarter

Tidal Blades is a game made for 2-4 players, but on the first day of the campaign, creators promised to add a solo mode. The Kickstarter for this game will last until November 10th.

Retail version is priced at $59. Collector’s edition will cost $89 and include an additional box filled to the brim with Kickstarter exclusives. These include hero minis, dice tray shaped like a water colosseum, improved energy discs for performing hero actions, 80 custom resource tokens and an artbook, that will help us to learn more Tidal Blades lore.

The cover calls the game “Part 1”. It’s because that’s just the first game set in this amazing world, and the heroes will also star in the next, mysterious installment.

Campaign link