SPALDING WARGAMING CLUB
Back in 2008, Donald X. Vaccarino launched a little game called Dominion which ushered in the Last New Thing In Gaming: the 'deckbuilder' game where you start with a hand of rubbish cards and use them to buy better cards, hopefully getting rid of your earlier cards in the process.
Deckbuilders like Dominion and Star Realms challenge you to build a 'victory engine' as quickly as possible and use it to crush your rivals.
Aeon's End is late to the deckbuilder party, but finesses the conceit with three twists: what if the game were a cooperative experience, trying to build decks before the game's AI murders you? what if your deck was never shuffled, so the only unknown quantities in the game were the cards available to buy and the order of play? and, what if you are all a bunch of cool post-holocaust mages using mystic gems to defend the last remnants of humanity from extra-dimensional demons in an underground refuge?
These are three pretty compelling questions and the answer to them is that Aeon's End is, hands down, the most satisfying, difficult and nail-biting co-op experience AND deckbuilder experience I've come across. Yes, I prefer Mistfall for cooperative relaxation, because you don't often lose and die in Mistfall - and Star Realms is a quicker, tidier competitive deckbuilder experience that can be done with in 20 minutes.
But Aeon's End is DIFFICULT and you have to cooperate earnestly, you have to communicate, you have to share and sacrifice, just to squeak through with a victory. Egotism, complacency or simple tongue-tied reserve will get you all killed. So, do not go gently into that good night...
Each of the mages has their own starting deck and signature powers. Pretty deep strategies emerge when you put the mages together in different combinations. The problem is, you don't know in advance which spells and gems will be available to buy each game, so you have to strategise 'on the fly'. Do you build up charges to power your devastating character abilities? Or buy attack spells to start slaughtering demons? Or invest in gems so that you can afford the more powerful spells sooner? Or purchase items that let you scrap cards from your deck, getting rid of unwanted stuff from your hand?
Then there are your breaches: your personal magical fissures in which you hang spells. Do you prioritise opening these to maximise your potential?
Meanwhile, the Big Bad Demon is tearing down the walls of Gravehold and wounding your allies. Aeon's End delivers an atmospheric apocalyptic experience and even when you lose (and you lose A LOT) you have an intense time raging against the dying of the light.
Then there are your breaches: your personal magical fissures in which you hang spells. Do you prioritise opening these to maximise your potential?
Meanwhile, the Big Bad Demon is tearing down the walls of Gravehold and wounding your allies. Aeon's End delivers an atmospheric apocalyptic experience and even when you lose (and you lose A LOT) you have an intense time raging against the dying of the light.