HAVE YOU PLAYED?

Once again into the breach, with Aeon’s End

not only deck building then, but deck order construction. You can decide that having the two same spells cast at the same time, then dumped into the pile, isn’t as useful as having them spread out, so holding one back a turn to rearrange the pile can be advantageous.

Equally, the breach system offers interesting diversions from the way a lot of battle co-op games play. Players load their spells in breaches, open ones, which can hold and store spells for as long as needed, and closed one, which the spells must be played from next turn. Opening breaches requires rotating them by spending resources. Breaches in slots three and four have additional damage attached to them, which helps when a nemesis might have 70 health to hack your way through.

Not that you’ll be able to focus all of your energy on the nemesis itself. There’s a special enemy deck that is used by the nemesis to throw up roadblocks for your mages. This can be in the form of minions, which will activate at the start of the next nemesis turn for the most part, or powers, which comes with their own little timers. The powers hover like changeable threats. In the first conflict, with a demonic looking Rageborne, players might draw a power that uses Rageborne’s fury tokens to determine damage. Quite reasonably the players might look at the discard cost for the power, compare it to the small number of fury tokens currently in play and decide they can take the hit. But because this power card won’t trigger for a certain number of turns, signified by the number of power chips on the card, the situation is likely to escalate. It’s not uncommon in first games to underestimate powers like this – and even for seasoned player, it’s a tricky choice to make.

Luckily you’re not alone, usually, unless you’re trying the ‘true solo’ mode. There’s usually multiple mages on the table, and the initial solo rules suggest to just play as two. This is commonly a complaint for those who like solitaire games, but here it makes perfect sense – players each have special powers which they can spend cash to charge. These charges then grand powers like ‘heal anyone for four health’ at the simpler end of the spectrum, while others might allow you to cast someone else’s loaded breach spell, twice. This cross play of powers is not only what keeps the game interesting (and you’ll quickly find your preferred player load out) but it’s also nearly always the different between a glorious victory, or being stomped out.

WHY SHOULD YOU TRY IT?

Aeon’s End is worth your time for that feeing of the situation feeling entirely impossible, before a single breaking moment when you get the upper hand. This isn’t to say that the game arcs aren’t varied, but there’s usually going to be a sense when you look at your spells which do one damage, and the beast which needs 70 health knocked off it, where you think ‘I’m not sure we’re going to be able to do this.’ But you can. Working together with the other breach mages

at hand you’ll find your support for one another will allow a prising open of the beast’s armour. The nemesis’ themselves are varied and interesting, which new mechanics introduced each time you play. The Carapace Queen, for example, introduces a concept of a swarming horde of husks that will slowly tick health away from Gravehold. Removing them for the player is simple, but time consuming. Removing more than one at a time costs player health too, making your choices about wading into the fray difficult to say the least.

And there’s an undeniable pleasure in working out a good combo of cards, generating exactly what you need for this boss to refine and improve your deck. As with all deck builders there is a way to remove some of your less useful cards, and the fact that you end up with smaller decks anyway makes for tight, fast deck building that has an impact from the start. And while it might be a complaint for some, the limited number of spells and resources is one of the reasons the game moves so quickly. It’s not about having 20 different spells, it’s about having the right combination to survive. Aeon’s Ends is a game about the sum of what you do, not the parts. It’s also a joy to play solo. Picking up two mages and building their decks around not only their powers, but also the turn order for the fight, is an as interesting puzzle as playing with others. For those looking for longevity, there’s plenty of combinations within the main box to get you started, but you will want to branch out into the many expansions. Each adds new mechanical flourishes, but most importantly adds new nemeses to give you a good kicking. On top of this the most recent Outcasts expansion offers a full campaign to play through, with legacy style enveloped elements within the box to keep the surprises coming. To that end then, let us once more go into the breach.

Aeon’s Ends is a game about the sum of what you do, not the parts