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• In yet another sign of how badly production and shipping woes are hitting the game industry, I'll note that U.S. publisher Elf Creek Games had hoped to debut Brian Suhre's Merchants of the Dark Road at Gen Con 2021 in September, but the cost to airship each copy of a game to that event would been more than its retail price, so Elf Creek had to be content to show off the lone copy it had, with the game finally reaching retail outlets in March 2022.
Atlantis Rising: Monstrosities is expected to be available Q2/Q3 2022, with Honey Buzz: Fall Flavors hitting in Q4 2022. Sandwiching both of those titles is Suhre's The Paradox Initiative, a reworking of 2016's Paradox that hits crowdfunding in April 2022 and will likely be available in 2023. Here's a pitch for the game:
Quote:
In The Paradox Initiative, players are mad scientists competing to claim strands of spacetime from worlds all across the multiverse. Who can most efficiently operate their particle-matching "Paradox Engine" to collect strands from the different worlds? Be careful! Every captured strand of spacetime sends ripples throughout existence, collapsing the wormholes that future generations will need to reap the benefits of your reckless experiments.
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The Paradox Initiative takes the familiar board game elements of card drafting, set collection, and resource management, then adds a Bejewelled-like grid of discs for each player to manipulate. As a result, the game is simple to learn, yet challenging to master, with players navigating three interlocking systems to grab as much spacetime as they can to be hailed the greatest scientist in the universe!
Mock-up at GAMA Expo 2022
The Paradox Initiative takes the familiar board game elements of card drafting, set collection, and resource management, then adds a Bejewelled-like grid of discs for each player to manipulate. As a result, the game is simple to learn, yet challenging to master, with players navigating three interlocking systems to grab as much spacetime as they can to be hailed the greatest scientist in the universe!
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For example, MicroMacro: Crime City – Full House has already been released and Klaus-Jürgen Wrede's worker-placement game Fire & Stone, which debuted in Germany in January 2022, should see release in North America in April 2022.
First Rat from designers Gabriele Ausiello and Virginio Gigli should see release in North America in May/June 2022. In this 1-5 player game, you control a bunch of rats who have high aspirations and are determined to use various objects in the junkyard to help them board a spaceship bound for the moon. For a more detailed description, head to that earlier preview post.
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Alexander Pfister's Port Royal: Big Box should also be out in May/June 2022, and Q3 2022 will see the release in North America of:
— Bonfire: Trees & Creatures, from Stefan Feld
— Framework, from Uwe Rosenberg
— The Dwarves Big Box, from Michael Palm and Lukas Zach
— Raccoon Robbers, from Klaus-Jürgen Wrede
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• Ascension: 10 Year Anniversary Edition from designers Justin Gary, John Fiorillo, and Brian M. Kibler and publisher Stone Blade Entertainment hit the retail market in February 2022. This edition of the game somewhat reworks the material from the original Ascension: Deckbuilding Game — which debuted in 2010 — with new art and modifications to some card costs and effects.
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A second printing of Ascension Tactics: Miniatures Deckbuilding Game is imminent, but Stone Blade did not have a release date.
In 2012, SBE crowdfunded the digital card game SolForge from designers Richard Garfield and Justin Gary, with the concept of this fighting game being that cards transform up in levels over time, becoming better versions of themselves.
The free-to-play digital game lasted only a short while, then in September 2021 SBE crowdfunded SolForge: Fusion, an analog version of SolForge that retains the lane-based combat of that earlier game and the concept of cards leveling up during play, although this is now done by literally removing a card from your deck and replacing it with one of a higher level. (You can see the level 3 and level 2 cards in the lower left of the image below.)
The publisher expects to fulfill the SolForge: Fusion Kickstarter in April 2022, with the game then hitting retail in the U.S. in Q2 2022.
SolForge: Fusion on display at GAMA Expo 2022 with playmats
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