The Basics: Players: 1-4 (Solo rules included) Playtime: 45mins- 1 hour Learning Curve: 1 Playthrough Relatively Easy to get going. Space: Coffee Table Game Tags: Dungeon Crawl, Lovecraftian, Modern, SmartPhone Rulebook Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/178223/techlandia-rules-latest-version
To accompany the dungeon set up there are 5 decks Gear, Encounter, Investigation, location and Enemy. On the side of the table, there will be 4 Qr Codes and a Doomsday Clock accompanied by 6 lore cards. To represent the player you can choose from 4 blogger standees and a dashboard. Enemies are represented by some dudes in suits as well as a Lovecraft boss dude. Cardstock is of a nice quality and the standees are well printed to withstand multiple plays. After Setup, I enjoyed how the art keeps the theme of the red/blue Evil Techpunk vibe. Although the character art and enemy standee art was, for me, a little dated and underwhelming and I didn’t feel attached to my character nor threatened by the enemies. The rulebook is easy to follow and setup is simply selecting a character, dashboard and their ability (more on this later) and you are ready to go. Reading the rulebook I found there were a couple of areas where I was more confused and had to double-check how it worked (namely how to resolve failed investigations and how to win). Overall it was a nice easy read and I appreciate the Quick Reference on the back of the book. Playing the Game:
If you manage to get 4 QR code fragments in time you can attempt to enter the Press Conference through security IF the QR code you choose scans on your real-life smartphone. If it doesn’t scan and you have a Decryption code from the Meme Battles you have with combat-trained security cultists, you can draw another card per code until you get it right. For a light game, there is a lot that is going on under the hood, everything is written with the theme in mind and the mechanics are easy to explain and pick up. We enjoyed the race and the potential skullduggery as well as weighing up the right time to utilise your gear cards. There are occasions where the Theme doesn’t make sense, combat skills, for one thing, Memes/ Disinformation/Spyware as combat abilities are just a little immersion breaking, I visualise Memes flying across a bar in a Harry Potter-inspired battle of magic smartphones. But I can see why it’s done it didn’t hit the right note for me. The Timer mechanic for the game adds some great story and pace to the action. I’d love to see a few extra lore cards to mix up the play a little as after 5 games I remembered what happens in each draw. Adding that countdown and building up the stress to push you to get closer to the end is something that ups the ante and also means that the game doesn’t go on too long. The time limit does prevent some of the skulduggery antics that some people utilise as a slow burn gameplay tactic which I quite like. but it also had us feeling that whilst we were playing a game together there was very little input we had on each other’s turns. The thing that we struggled with was the lack of interaction, without it we felt that we were just playing the same solo game at the same time. I think this stems from the objective of having to achieve 4 successes as well as 4 codes preventing any benefit of that player interaction. The Review Shabang: Art: Some amazing design and colour choices marred slightly by some lacklustre character designs Theme: I could give or take the Lovecraft theme here and a few areas it inhibited the understanding of the rules. Gameplay: Fun and engaging although the lack of player interaction and reliance on random card draws can cause issues when playing against a timer. Overall Feeling: Thumbs Up Techlandia is a dungeon crawler that finds it place in many collections, it is accessible and light enough to pick up with a theme that can be appreciated by everyone at the table. I look forward to adding it to the line up of a warm-up game before we settle in for the night’s main feature. However, Techlandia is holding itself back from greatness with some whiffs on the Theme implementation and some confusing areas for the rules where the theme came first that take a few extra glances to understand it. Once you get over a couple of hiccups there is a fun game which embodies the best aspects of a dungeon crawl and gets you feeling like you can on the evil Techlandia corporation. I think if a quick set up coffee table game with a challenge is missing from your collection there is a definite opportunity for this game to join your shelf of joy. The charm is in the difficulty enticing you back to try again and I enjoy this aspect for Solo Play or for an evening game after the baby has gone to bed. Give it a go yourself with the free PnP version: https://danackerman.com/techlandia |
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