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Artist: Marcelo Bastos
Publisher: Morning
Year Published: 2018
No. of Players: 2-4
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Find more info on BoardGameGeek.com
Review:
HOPE
is humanity’s last hope. With the universe regressing, pioneers of HOPE must
terraform planets in order to stabilize galaxies, which in turn will help
counter the ongoing Regression. Travel through various dimensions to save the
universe. But beware, a traitor may be in your midst, trying to speed up the
universe’s decay and ultimate oblivion. Will you survive the universal
apocalypse, or lead it to ultimate destruction? Read on for my thoughts on
HOPE, the board game of interdimensional exploration and decimation.
Rules and Setup:
Setup:
Although
the game may look a tad complicated upon first glance, the rules themselves
aren’t too difficult, and setup is pretty easy. To set up, simply unfold the
board and place the Earth tile in the center. Then, place all galaxy tiles on
the board to create the universe. Everyone takes a cockpit, a character, their
color ship, pioneers, and levers (the levers are placed in the cockpit, which
then show which movement actions are available on your turn).
The
technology cards are placed on the technology board, and three cards are laid
out on the top row (the three empty spaces below act as the discard piles). The
Regression marker goes on the first space of the regression track, and you’re
ready to play.
Rules
The
rules are simple. On each player’s turn, they move, place pioneers on planets
(if able/desired), discard/draw cards, and move the regression marker along its
track. Once the regression marker reaches the end of the track, everybody
loses.
The
amount of spaces the regression marker moves is determined by the number of
regression icons visible on the technology board. So, if there were four
regression symbols visible, the regression marker would move four spaces on its
track. If it crosses the pioneer track (and, likewise, a visible regression
icon on that track), then the monolith on the board moves four spaces (the same
as the regression marker) clockwise along the outer edge of the universe,
removing from play the galaxy on which it resided before moving. In this manner
the monolith may reach the Earth tile, and if the Earth tile is removed from
the game, the players all lose.
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| The technology board. The bottom row of cards shows one regression symbol, and the top row shows one as well. Because the first pile of bonus tokens is depleted, another regression symbol is visible. With 3 symbols visible, the regression marker would move three spaces. |
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| In this 2-player game, the regression token was very close to reaching the end. But, Yellow and Black pulled off a victory! |
The
game ends as a victory to all players (yay!) if the pioneer track reaches the
end before the regression marker. To fill up the pioneer track, as soon as a
galaxy is stabilized (i.e. all planets have a pioneer on them), that galaxy is
flipped over (using the handy-dandy suction cup flag for tiles in the middle of
the board that require thin, dagger-like fingernails to get under and flip) and
all pioneers on that galaxy are placed along the pioneer track. To find the
winner of all winners, count the number of each players’ pioneers on the
pioneer track, plus the level of your character and technology track (found on
your cockpit board). The player with the highest total emerges victorious and
should be doted upon (at least until the next Regression).
Gameplay:
The
gameplay itself is surprisingly simple. At first glance at the board, I thought
I was in for a doozy of a time, what will all the dimensions, tokens, cards,
and whatnot. But it actually doesn’t take long to grasp. The difficulty (so to
speak) comes in wrapping your mind around the directions you can travel on a
certain dimension, then jumping to a new dimension and crossing your eyes to
see your new path all over again. But, like any game, play it a time or two and
it will become second nature.
The
first phase of a turn is the movement phase. Movement consists of either
travelling away from or towards the center of gravity of that color’s dimension
(as indicated by its corresponding colored icon on the board), left/right along
a connected series of your current dimension’s color, or polarizing, which
allows you to place your ship on a different dimension in your current galaxy,
thus letting you travel in different parts of the universe.
Once
you move, you must move the lever down on your cockpit board to show that
particular movement has been used. As such, that movement may not be used again
until the movement levers are reset. This is done by adjusting polarization (as
a move action). So, instead of moving to a new tile, your ship will simple move
to a new dimension on your current tile. Then, reset your movement levers, and
on your next turn, the universe is yours to explore!
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| Mr. Prodigy has all levers in the top (active) position, so he can take any movement he wants. He has yet to upgrade (by spending medals), so he is still level 1 on both technology and rank. |
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| The tile on the left shows a water drop (or Yoshi egg, as I like to call it), so a card with the same icon must be discarded in order to play a pioneer on one of the planets. The tile on the right shows what a tile might look like after it is stabilized. |
When
you move, you may place a settler on a planet (or planets, if you have enough
cards) of your dimension by discarding a technology card (or a joker or two of
the same cards to act as a joker) that matches the galaxy you’re in. Placing
pioneers on galaxies on the edge of the universe or on other galaxies already
hosting one or more pioneers of other players will award you medals, which can
be used for upgrades. When all planets of a galaxy have a pioneer on them, that
galaxy is flipped over and a bonus token from the first pile of tokens on the
technology board is placed face-up on the center of that newly flipped
(stabilized) galaxy. All pioneers from that galaxy are transferred to the
pioneer track (the center row; not the one that looks like a waveform—that one
is for the regression marker).
When
playing cards to place pioneers, you must choose one of the discard piles to
discard to. Once the discards happen, you add the card above that discard pile
to your hand. If you choose not to place a pioneer on your turn, simply draw
technology cards up to your hand limit.
After
your turn, count the amount of regression markers visible on the technology
board (on all cards, even in the discard pile, and visible icons revealed from
bonus token piles being used up). This number is how many spaces you will move
the regression marker on its track. (I have already gone over the in’s and
out’s of this in the Rules and Setup
section, so please browse that section for more information.)
Theme and Mechanics:
The
theme of a universe on the brink of collapse is incorporated well into the
mechanics. After each turn, the regression marker moves forward, and every now
and again the monolith on the universe board will move accordingly and remove a
galaxy from play, bringing the game that much closer to ending.
When
discarding cards (i.e. playing cards to place pioneers), the discard pile you
choose to use determines which card you will receive at the end of your turn
(as mentioned in the above section). That adds a neat twist to the game, as you
may want a particular card, but you don’t want to cover up a technology card
without a regression icon with one that does (because that will speed up the
Regression). It’s a neat mechanic, and I’m glad it exists in this game.
The
way movement on the three dimensions works is something I’ve never seen in a
game before, and I love it. It’s like Q-Bert on steroids. (Which game,
ironically, I just played at the nickel arcade the other day.) The balance
between regression marker moving towards the end and the pioneer track doing
the same is strong, as each game I played has been stressfully close. Because
the pioneer track is so much shorter than the regression track, I thought for
sure the players wouldn’t be worried about the regression track at all. In the
words of old Ben Kenobi, “I was wrong.” It’s a close race, and those trying to
wrack up more points (via pioneers on the pioneer track) before ending the game
could put the whole human population at risk of becoming extinct!
Artwork and Components:
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| So much for my go-to color... |
The first visual that I remember from this game’s Kickstarter campaign was the board. The psychedelic pattern of the universe’s three dimensions is mesmerizing. Playing on that board is even more intense, but in a good way. I think the movement among dimensions is a lot of fun, and really, it doesn’t take too long to get a good grip on it.
The
components probably could have been made better. Don’t get me wrong, the tiles
are good quality, and the cards are what you’d expect them to be, but the
plastic ships and pioneers just feel cheap. This was evidenced by the base of
the green ship (my go-to player color of all colors!) having snapped off before
I even opened the bag it came in. (I may have shed a tear or two…)
Likewise,
the pioneers, while valiant and brave, came to me having looked like they had
already participated in a few too many missions. Some were bowed, like they’d
spent their entire lives hunch-backed in their garden. Most were fine, but
there were some anomalies.
Also,
the rulebook stated that each color had 25 pioneers. Counting mine, each color
only had 24 (and I counted a few times just to make sure). Now, this isn’t a
huge, game-breaking deal, but in a two-player game, the pioneers threaten to
become exhausted from one’s supply. We never did run out, but it did make me
nervous. (Not that one extra pioneer would make a huge difference, but the
comfort of having that option was taken from me.)
The Good:
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| This suction-flag has been voted MVP each and every game. |
Great use of a 2D board using three-dimensional mechanics. The travel on three dimensions is fun and unique.
The flag with the suction base is amazing. If I had to flip a middle tile without its aid, I would probably destroy the entire board trying to get at it (I suffer from Large Fingers and No Nails syndrome). My wife wants to keep it out for other games that require flipping tiles in the middle of the board. It's awesome.
The
rules are simple in that it doesn’t take long to jump into playing, but there
are enough decisions that each action must be fully considered to ensure each
turn is spent in the most productive way possible.
The
theme is fun and works well with the mechanics.
The
box insert is nice.
The Bad:
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| The box was, in theory, a great ideal. Getting it open, in practicality, is a game all of its own. |
As
mentioned above, the quality of the ships and pioneers could be better (RIP
green ship).
The
box looks super cool. The insert slides out, rather than lifting the top of the
box to reveal it. While great in concept and as eye candy (it really is
pleasing to behold), it’s rather difficult to open. Sure, they included a
little hole in the outer box where you can push the insert out, but that has
yet to help me get it out without risking an overly-bent box in the process.
The
rulebook. *sigh* As an editor, a part of my soul died while reading through the
rules. The rulebook was a wee bit confusing, and I had to study it like one of
my old textbooks in order to understand some particular points of the game.
For
instance, one of the paragraphs in the setup section, under step two (page 6),
mentioned putting a total of nine bonus tokens on the technology board. It said
to see page 10 for adjusting difficulty level. That didn’t exist on page 10.
However, on page 18 (under Variants), it says to put on a total of 16 bonus
tokens for a normal game. That’s a big difference, and one that should have
been caught by one of the three (3) proofreaders that went over it. (While I am
aware that proofreaders aren’t necessarily responsible for finding and fixing
inconsistencies—that’s the copyeditor’s job—the designer/publisher should have
recognized something didn’t quite add up. Also, I suspect the proofreaders may
have been tasked with finding such inconsistencies as well.)
Final Thoughts:
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| HOPE is fun without any variations. Add a traitor and you've got yourself a much more competitive experience. |
I
like HOPE. It’s fun, gets my brain thinking in a few more dimensions than I
usually work in, and looks awesome. Despite the component and rulebook issues,
the gameplay itself is streamlined and engaging. The inclusion of Bug Cards for
an expansion, as well as the option to add a traitor among the players, really
gives HOPE that replayability that everyone loves so much. The board looks
awesome and the variable difficulty can help keep things fresh. Overall it’s a
fun, well-designed game.
Players Who Like:
Those who
like cooperative or semi-cooperative games, especially in a sci-fi setting,
would most likely enjoy HOPE. Fans of Q-Bert may like it as well, if for no
other reason than to play on the board that brings back that old school
nostalgia. And, of course, those who enjoy saving the universe and moving
spaceships from A to B (I fall into this category as well) would get a kick out
of HOPE.
About the Author:
Benjamin Kocher hails from Canada but now lives in Utah with his wife and kids. He's a freelance writer and editor, as well as a budding game designer. An avid writer of science fiction and fantasy, it comes as no surprise that his favorite board games are those with a rich, engaging theme. When he’s not writing or playing games, Benjamin loves to play ultimate Frisbee, watch and play rugby, and read the most epic fantasy books available. Follow him on Twitter @BenjaminKocher and read his board game-inspired fiction at BenjaminKocher.com.
HOPE Review
Reviewed by Benjamin Kocher
on
April 12, 2018
Rating:
Reviewed by Benjamin Kocher
on
April 12, 2018
Rating:
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