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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Soul Raiders in Tabletop Games
Jul 5, 2021
Check out that cover art! Amazing! If there is one thing that will certainly help my enjoyment of any game, it is definitely great art and components. Yes, I want the game to play well, but if it also looks great, that merely sends it soaring for me. While Soul Raiders has great art in spades, will I equally love the gameplay? Spoiler: yeah, it’s a pretty good game!
Soul Raiders is a storytelling role-playing game for up to four players. Each player takes the role of an aspiring Soul Raider tasked with saving the realms from the influence of evil. The game is played over several sessions that all affect the overarching plot of the narrative, but this preview version simply allows players to learn the game mechanics through a prologue scenario.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure which final components will be different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup, follow the instructions in the rulebook. There are too many to list here. Once setup, the play area may look similar to the photo below.
As there are 36 pages in the preliminary rulebook, I am unable to detail everything in this preview. However, I can give an overall gameplay feeling.
Players control pawns (standees in this version, but plastic minis in the final) that will adventure on Location tiles that spawn baddies, traps, and other elements. Each round played has no turn structure; players can take their actions however they like in any order, and sometimes players will take actions simultaneously. Once all players have taken their actions, the baddies will attack (though some attack immediately upon spawning in a Location as well).
Combat is resolved through clever chaining card play. The cards drawn to the players’ hand are multi-use and can be combined with others in hand to pull off complex combos. All players will have access to melee combat cards, movement cards, and also magic spell cards. Utilizing the cards efficiently, as well as leveraging each players’ inherent strengths, can make or break combats and skill checks throughout the game.
In addition to the myriad combats players will face, they will also be able to encounter events, special characters, and traps. Many times these will result in skill checks or other card shedding activities in order to progress the story.
Throughout the game a tracker board constantly keeps players aware of the current vitae of the party (collective health), threat level, and active events. Players will also be using personalized player boards to keep track of their deck of cards, active engaged enemies, and status tokens. Each character has special talents different from each other, and the final game will have at least four characters, whereas this version has two.
If the players can navigate the game efficiently and quickly enough to satisfy the win conditions, then victory is to be shared. However, if you, like me, are still trying to figure out how to win, the game ships with an interesting session saving ability so you can pick up where you left off with any combination of players and characters.
Components. Again, this is a preview copy of the game, and not everything is final. That said, I can see the direction this game is going, and if it results in a successful Kickstarter campaign, I foresee me praising the publisher for their excellent components. Most of the art seems complete, and the character art is so amazing. In contrast, I feel the landscape art doesn’t necessarily match the intensity and details given in the character art. It just feels out of place in an otherwise excellently-illustrated game.
The gameplay, however, felt very fresh and familiar at the same time. I have played several games where the players’ card decks offer multi-use cards in much the same fashion, and here in Soul Raiders, the cards can be played for their numeric values or their special abilities. What I like about this is the ability to use the cards in hand to pull off sweeping combos of insane damage, or to really nail the lockpicking difficulty checks. There will be times the heroes will need to be engaged in combat with four or more enemies, and having certain spells that can wipe out most of them with one card is always very satisfying.
Movement has largely been neglected in my plays of Soul Raiders, as I haven’t found a great way to make it sing as a card type. Players will need to use movement to travel from one Location card to others, but there are also mechanics in place for the heroes to flee away from battles. I have yet to feel the need to flee from battle. I also have yet to truly understand the need for a big selling point for the game – character invisibility. Yes, I can see how being invisible would be a great benefit, but I rarely had the ability cards in hand to use it properly or effectively. I am told, though, that the game will ship with both a normal character mini and a transparent mini to indicate when they are invisible. So there’s that.
All in all I really do enjoy the storytelling gameplay of Soul Raiders. I think this intro prologue scenario has piqued my interest and triggered my desire to play more in the story. I hope that some adjustments will be made to make invisibility and fleeing more important aspects of the game, but for now I am ignoring them almost systematically. That said, if you are looking for a new game with a great theme and some pretty good mechanics, I invite you to check out the Kickstarter campaign launching very soon. I think this would be a great one to have in a collection, especially as I can see it being infinitely expandable with new books of scenarios and small expansion packs with new heroes, etc.
Soul Raiders is a storytelling role-playing game for up to four players. Each player takes the role of an aspiring Soul Raider tasked with saving the realms from the influence of evil. The game is played over several sessions that all affect the overarching plot of the narrative, but this preview version simply allows players to learn the game mechanics through a prologue scenario.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure which final components will be different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup, follow the instructions in the rulebook. There are too many to list here. Once setup, the play area may look similar to the photo below.
As there are 36 pages in the preliminary rulebook, I am unable to detail everything in this preview. However, I can give an overall gameplay feeling.
Players control pawns (standees in this version, but plastic minis in the final) that will adventure on Location tiles that spawn baddies, traps, and other elements. Each round played has no turn structure; players can take their actions however they like in any order, and sometimes players will take actions simultaneously. Once all players have taken their actions, the baddies will attack (though some attack immediately upon spawning in a Location as well).
Combat is resolved through clever chaining card play. The cards drawn to the players’ hand are multi-use and can be combined with others in hand to pull off complex combos. All players will have access to melee combat cards, movement cards, and also magic spell cards. Utilizing the cards efficiently, as well as leveraging each players’ inherent strengths, can make or break combats and skill checks throughout the game.
In addition to the myriad combats players will face, they will also be able to encounter events, special characters, and traps. Many times these will result in skill checks or other card shedding activities in order to progress the story.
Throughout the game a tracker board constantly keeps players aware of the current vitae of the party (collective health), threat level, and active events. Players will also be using personalized player boards to keep track of their deck of cards, active engaged enemies, and status tokens. Each character has special talents different from each other, and the final game will have at least four characters, whereas this version has two.
If the players can navigate the game efficiently and quickly enough to satisfy the win conditions, then victory is to be shared. However, if you, like me, are still trying to figure out how to win, the game ships with an interesting session saving ability so you can pick up where you left off with any combination of players and characters.
Components. Again, this is a preview copy of the game, and not everything is final. That said, I can see the direction this game is going, and if it results in a successful Kickstarter campaign, I foresee me praising the publisher for their excellent components. Most of the art seems complete, and the character art is so amazing. In contrast, I feel the landscape art doesn’t necessarily match the intensity and details given in the character art. It just feels out of place in an otherwise excellently-illustrated game.
The gameplay, however, felt very fresh and familiar at the same time. I have played several games where the players’ card decks offer multi-use cards in much the same fashion, and here in Soul Raiders, the cards can be played for their numeric values or their special abilities. What I like about this is the ability to use the cards in hand to pull off sweeping combos of insane damage, or to really nail the lockpicking difficulty checks. There will be times the heroes will need to be engaged in combat with four or more enemies, and having certain spells that can wipe out most of them with one card is always very satisfying.
Movement has largely been neglected in my plays of Soul Raiders, as I haven’t found a great way to make it sing as a card type. Players will need to use movement to travel from one Location card to others, but there are also mechanics in place for the heroes to flee away from battles. I have yet to feel the need to flee from battle. I also have yet to truly understand the need for a big selling point for the game – character invisibility. Yes, I can see how being invisible would be a great benefit, but I rarely had the ability cards in hand to use it properly or effectively. I am told, though, that the game will ship with both a normal character mini and a transparent mini to indicate when they are invisible. So there’s that.
All in all I really do enjoy the storytelling gameplay of Soul Raiders. I think this intro prologue scenario has piqued my interest and triggered my desire to play more in the story. I hope that some adjustments will be made to make invisibility and fleeing more important aspects of the game, but for now I am ignoring them almost systematically. That said, if you are looking for a new game with a great theme and some pretty good mechanics, I invite you to check out the Kickstarter campaign launching very soon. I think this would be a great one to have in a collection, especially as I can see it being infinitely expandable with new books of scenarios and small expansion packs with new heroes, etc.
Jennifer Daniell (108 KP) rated Groupon in Apps
Apr 17, 2018
Groupon is great for getting experiences and food at a nice discount,. and the app is especially nice because you can use it on the go and not need to print your vouchers. I only wish that there were more offerings for smaller areas. I live in Pensacola and only a handful of local businesses participate, but its great for when I am traveling. I also love that you can occasionally catch concert tickets on there at a MAJOR discount. And the travel deals are phenomenal.
Kelly Bentley-Simon (8 KP) rated Funemployed in Tabletop Games
Feb 15, 2019
Funny (1 more)
Easy to play
Fantastic
I absolutely love this game! This was brought to our group by one of our volunteers and it was an instant hit.
I like it because it’s played I similar format to Cards Against Humanity but can be adapted to use with a group of friends with a very dark sense of humour but will also work with a group where the humour is very light. Basically you could play it with your friends or your nan and it would work.
I have recommend this game to all of my friends, it really is that good!
I like it because it’s played I similar format to Cards Against Humanity but can be adapted to use with a group of friends with a very dark sense of humour but will also work with a group where the humour is very light. Basically you could play it with your friends or your nan and it would work.
I have recommend this game to all of my friends, it really is that good!
Lewis Brooks (11 KP) rated Monopoly Deal in Tabletop Games
Mar 8, 2019
Massively under rated
This game is so under rated. It's easy to learn, takes around 4 or 5 games to get the hang of. Each game lasts around 15 mins to 30 mins. All of the cards are nicely made and it's suited to 2 to 5 players. I have played this at the pub with friends as it's easy to carry around. All it needs is a couple of fun expansion packs. There are unofficial fan made ones but I didn't want to try them. All in all a great addictive game to play.
Peter Russell (61 KP) rated 7 Wonders Duel in Tabletop Games
Mar 21, 2019
Great two player adaptation
My wife and I like this game for its smaller table footprint, speedy turn play and the play time is not extensive. This game is about creating your own ancient civilization. There are multiple paths to victory, and it is important that you think out your goal based on the cards laid before you and observing what your opponent is doing. You can achieve victory through military might, having a strong economy to get lots of money, or just building the best buildings and getting your wonders made.
Red Otter (340 KP) rated Mystic Vale in Tabletop Games
May 29, 2019 (Updated May 29, 2019)
A good game made better with expansions (which I'll review later). The base game is a solid deckbuilder with an awesome twist of a set number of cards in your deck, but you can improve them. There is a interesting press your luck mechanic that lets you know your deck inside and out to help. At two players the game feels a little short. The game ends as the engines really start going. It also does need an expansion to keep it fresh as the base game almost feels a bit limited. With expansions though the game really comes into its own.
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Call to Adventure in Tabletop Games
May 30, 2019 (Updated Jun 1, 2019)
Fantastic game with 2-4 player, solo, vs, and co-op capabilities. For a semi-random card picking game, the character you build by the end of the game is almost always a remarkably logical character. Half the fun is deciding who you've built from popular fantasy stories. Both vs and co-op games have very interesting (and very different!) gameplay. Just as fun with 2 players as with 4. I wish there were more hero and anti-hero cards, because we tend to run out of them, but that's really my only negative thing to say about this game. LOVE IT.
The Marinated Meeple (1853 KP) rated Dominion in Tabletop Games
Mar 14, 2018
The first at something isn't usually the best at it.
There are much better versions out there now. This was the first of it's kind, he invented the genre, and it's a great genre. But I would bet if he attempted this again he'd change a lot of things. The theme is barely there, as far as deck builders go, I much prefer Lewis and Clark which has an amazing theme and multi use cards which is amazing as well. Clank is also a much better version. My wife likes this game much better than I do.
Jessica Erdas (463 KP) rated Making Bad Situations Worse in Tabletop Games
Jan 2, 2019
Hilarious
Before New Years, I had never heard of this game. While at a friend's house, they brought it out and absolute hilarity ensued. The content is original and definitely adult oriented. The judge draws a card, rolls the dice and selects the scenario on the card that goes with the coinciding number. You choose from the cards in your hand to make the situation worse and the person who drew the card picks the winner. The judge changes each turn. I would definitely play this game again with a group of friends.
Gitchegumi (28 KP) rated Cards Against Humanity in Tabletop Games
Jul 21, 2019
The original edgy humor game.
Cards Against Humanity is the original game of edgy humor. You need to be with the right group of friends for this one though, as it can get pretty offensive. If you have ever been asked to remove yourself from a game of Apples to Apples, this is your kind of game. CAH is definitely NOT kid friendly, but it is a great game to enjoy someone laughs with a group of like minded (read depraved) friends.