Kickstart Your Weekend - Aeon's End
Aeon's End
Type: Table Top Co-op Deck BuilderFunding End Date: May 5, 2016Funding Status: FUNDED
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/actionphasegames/aeons-end/[yasr_multiset setid=8]
The Story
Humanity is all but extinct. The Nameless, Abominations from beyond reality, have forced us back into our last City. The City of Gravehold.
All it not lost. Humanity has learned to harness the power of the Breach which The Nameless use to enter our realm.You are a Breach Mage. Wielder of powerful Gems you use to tap the phenomenal power of the Breach to Drive back the hordes of Nameless assulting Gravehold.
You are Humanities last hope. Drive back The Nameless, and protect the remnants of a long faded civilization.
The Gameplay
In Aeon's End you will build up your deck to fight off a single Nemesis. Similar to games like Arkham Horror or Sentinels of the Multiverse, you reveal a Nemesis that you and your team will fight back.
Each turn you will play whatever cards you can or want to play, then discard your hand in any order and refresh your hand. The key part of that sentence is in any order. Unlike most deck builder games, you do not shuffle your discard pile once you run out of cards. Instead, you simply flip your discard over. This gives you a tactical advantage as you can start optimizing your deck every refresh.Your objective is to defeat the Nemesis before Gravehold is destroyed.
The Aesthetic
Aeon's End features artwork from Gong Studios who's portfolio includes Android: Netrunner, Smash up, and many more.If anyone has played Android, you know that Gong Studios know what they're doing. They are a perfect fit for this Steampunk-esque setting. They've blended the post modern with post apocalyptic to create a style for their vision of the future. I've always been a fan of this style, something I take away from other Post modern settings like Mage: The Ascension.
The Pedigree
Aeon's End was created by Kevin Riley in cooperation with Action Phase Games.Kevin is a retired Starcraft 2 Pro better known as Qxc. He brings his extensive knowledge of game balancing to the Table top world with Aeon's End. This is his first Published table top game.
We actually had a chance to chat with Kevin about this project. Take a listen to our interview below:[iframe id="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KA0mlJGrnnw"]Aeon's End will be the 8th game published by Action Phase Games. Other successful titles include Kodama: The Tree Spirits, and Heroes Wanted
The Perks
Stretch Goals Unlocked6 New Spell Sets3 New Characters1 New NemesisLife Counters for Gravehold and the NemesisUpgraded Card StockBacker Levels$5 - You get access to the Kickstarter Updates and their thanks!$48 - You get the game and the stretch goals!$65 - You get the game, the stretch goals, and The Depths Expansion!
The Verdict
Fund!
I love Co-op games. I find them to be the most fun in a group of people. It caters to a wide array of play styles without leading to too much drama like competitive games do. It accommodates the Leader, the Debater, the Attacker, the Defender, or the Passive types. Games like Aeon's End allow you to be all inclusive and have a group experience.With Aeon's End the mechanics are very familiar, if you've played something like Sentinels of the Multiverse, or Heroes of Metro City, you'll be able to pick this up fairly quickly.I like that you have the ability to mold your deck to give yourself more of an advantage, I just hope that the Nemesis' are balanced enough to provide a stable difficulty curve going from early game where you're just building up, to late game when you have your full combos available.
The game only goes up to 4 players, which is unfortunate. As I've said before, I have a larger game group and usually need to accommodate for 5+ people. I would like to see an expansion or rule set that allows for more, but as more players are introduced, the balance of the game can break.I wish there were more options for the Backer status, if there were some exclusive options or upgrades at a higher Pledge level, I probably would have sprung for it; maybe a limited run of higher quality boxes or Foil Nemesis/character Cards. Just something that would make me bid more, they could have easily shattered their stretch goals. As of writing this, 1468 people have backed this at the max level, there could easily be some who would bid more.I'm backing this at the $65 level so I can get the expansion. Can't wait to dive into the Breach!Happy Gaming!