New Game Round-up: Build Pagodas, Collect Artifacts, and Pilot Mechs

New Game Round-up: Build Pagodas, Collect Artifacts, and Pilot Mechs:

by W. Eric Martin

• Publisher Cogito ergo Meeple, which debuted with the 2020 release of Philosophia: Dare to be Wise, has announced details of its second title, which is once again from designers and company owners Joseph N Adams and Madeleine Adams. Here’s an overview of Philosophia: Floating World, which will be Kickstarted in late 2020 for a planned release in 2021:

Set in feudal Japan, Philosophia: Floating World is a fully simultaneous deck-builder in which you can build majestic pagodas and Shinto shrines, learn ancient eastern wisdom, explore the world, or fight ancient monsters — or all of the above. This is a sandbox-style game, and how you play is up to you!

In the game, you play as one of six unique characters from Edo Japan, each with a unique power and a mysterious secret. The game plays simultaneously over three phases that repeat until one player has gained a victory condition. All phases occur simultaneously, and they are:

—The Draw Phase: Draw six cards from your deck, then pass them to another player. They take these cards, discard one of their choice, then separate the remaining five cards into two piles, one containing two cards and one containing three. You do the same for another player, then take your two piles, discarding one of them and playing the other.

—The Collect Phase: Collect items and bonuses indicated on the cards in your hand. You may also pay time tokens to perform extra actions in the next phase.

—The Action Phase: Simultaneously take actions based on your cards in hand and those that you chose in the collect phase. Disputes caused by the simultaneous nature of these actions are resolved using the influence track, where the player at the top of the track chooses the outcome; choosing in your own interest, however, drops you to the bottom of the track.

Prototype components

Rounds continue in this way until a player gains any of the seven victory conditions available, such as collecting all four ganbaru tokens or discovering another player’s secret location and achieving any two of the ganbaru tokens.

• French publisher Ankama has announced a upcoming title for 2021 from designers Matthew Dunstan and Brett J. Gilbert, who have previously worked together on Raids, Fairy Tile, and The Great City of Rome, among other creations.

Here’s an overview of the 2-4 player game Nile Artifacts:

Welcome, traveler, to the ancient waters of the Nile! As many new temples are built on the shores, you begin your spiritual journey to earn the favors of the Gods. Pick up precious artifacts while you sail up and down the Nile river, offer them to the monuments currently being built, and the Gods shall bless your travel!

Each turn in Nile Artifacts, you move your ship forward, stopping at one of the nine ports and picking up one of the artifact cards available there. You may also pick up gold, which can be used to obtain more artifacts or to turn your ship around and sail the Nile in the opposite direction. Once every ship has arrived at one end of the Nile, players can make their offerings to the monuments currently in construction, each of them requiring a different type or combination of artifacts. Whenever a monument is completed, players receive victory points depending on the amount of donations they have made towards this particular monument.

When offerings are done, the ships go back on the Nile to travel in the other direction and pick up more artifacts. Once the monument deck is empty, the player with the most victory points wins!

The one-trip-out-one-trip-back nature of the game seems similar to Reiner Knizia’s Whale Riders that I previewed in July 2020. Curious to see how the details differ on these two titles — or maybe we can combine them for a Whale Artifacts game down the road.

• During the 2018 GAMA Trade Show, IDW Games gave BGG an advanced look at Daniel Alves‘ Galaxy Hunters, a new version of the Portuguese release Caçadores da Galáxia from HISTERIA GAMES in 2015. IDW initially planned to crowdfund that title for release in Q3 2018, but things changed, and the title has now hit Kickstarter in late August 2020 (link). Here’s an overview of the setting and gameplay, followed by our overview video:

In Galaxy Hunters, 2 to 4 players take on the role of mercenaries hired by the Megacorps to hunt and harvest the rampant mutations. Featuring an inventive pilot and mech combination system, pairing different pilots with different mechs unlocks new powers and special abilities. Using money earned for harvesting DNA from the creatures, players upgrade their mechs with new weapons and items. Galaxy Hunters seamlessly blends the excitement of crafting a unique character with the deep strategy of Eurogame-style worker placement.

Youtube Video

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