OUR REVIEW

Deck building to save Vigil

Ascension

Chroniken des Gottbezwingers 

Since Donald X. Vaccarino has begun the era of family-friendly deck building games  with "Dominion", many players have tried their hand at the new game mechanic to grab a piece of the cake. And so the team of Stoneblade Entertainment, comprising the "Magic: The Gathering" Pro Tour Champions Justin Gary, Rob Dougherty and Brian Kibler, seems to have come up with the idea to join the bandwagon and have created their own variation of the genre with „Ascension – Chroniken des Gottbezwingers“ - Chronicles of the Godslayer.

Contrary to the "Game of the Year 2009" ascension takes two to four players, ages 13+, into a fantasy world called Vigil, which has been isolated and protected from other worlds since millennia by a barrier between dimensions.

But now Samuel, the Fallen God, has returned with an army of Monsters and only we players can face the threat and defend Vigil against evil.

For this we summon mighty warriors and constructs of four different mythical fractions with different powers and advantages, who not only support players in their fight against the fallen god, but also help to get nearer to their personal goal which is to accumulate the highest honor and to claim the title of Godslayer for themselves.

For that purpose, each player receives an identical starting deck of ten cards at the start of the game, and draws five cards from it. In his turn he can then play cards from his hand to use their abilities and thus collects valuable runes to acquire new cards from the display, much-needed strength to defeat Samuel's monsters, and honor in the guise of victory point stones. The cards played for those purposes and newly acquired cards are placed on a player's personal discard pile.

If a player cannot or doesn't want to play additional cards or use abilities, his remaining cards in hand are discarded and he draws five new cards from his deck. With this drawing his turn ends and passes to the next player. When a player cannot draw five cards his discard pile is shuffled and forms the new draw pile.

In this manner the game continues until the prepared stock of victory point stones is used up. Then each player adds the victory points from constructs and hero cards he acquired in the course of the game to the amount of victory point stones and wins with most points, and is given the glorious title of Godslayer.

Featuring more than 100 cards, of which only a part is displayed randomly for each game, Ascension provides enough variation. Despite the fact that some cards are available more often than others, you never know when or if certain cards come into play. This provides a high replay value and demonstrates the strong tactical character of the game, which distinguishes it from its predecessors, "Dominion" and "Thunderstone".

While in those two games all possibilities are revealed with the start of the game and players choose their winning strategies, the card display in Ascension features six randomly chosen cards. When a player acquires one or several of those cards, the free places are instantly filled with new cards which allows somewhat restricted planning and control in accumulating a deck, but results in very different games.

The chance element at the core of the game is felt clearly, but results in little interaction between players and in continuing new decisions which, combined with new cards from expansions, provide the long-term replay value.

More reasons for good replay value are, on the one hand, the very simple rules, which can be explained in about five minutes and therefore can be taught easily to new players of all age groups, and, on the other hand, the very short time necessary to prepare the game.

I know very few other "games in a big box" with a fantasy topic that can be set up as quickly and non-complicatedly and still prove an interesting gameplay for different kinds of players. Due to this quick access and an average playing time of 30-60 minutes, depending on the number of players, the game is equally suitable for a "filler" in between games for expert player and for a very good choice for a spontaneous evening among casual players and families, provided they are not opposed to fantasy topics.

So, should you be able to accept the card design and graphics and the background story behind those cards, or should they be, as is the case with me, be exactly what you like, Ascension will offer you a felicitous variation, not least due to a design that provides flair to the background story, geared to friends of deck building games and card games in general.

Dennis Rappel

Players: 2-4

Age: 13+

Time: 30+

Designer: Justin Gary, Robert Dougherty, John Fiorillo, Brian M. Kibler

Artist: Eric Sabee  

Price: ca. 35 Euro

Publisher: Stone Blade Entertainment 2010

Web: www.stoneblade.com

Genre: Deck building, Hand Management

Users: With friends

Version: de

Rules: cn de en fr it jp

In-game text:

Comments:

Fast access

Attractive topic and design

High chance element

Little planning possible

Very little interaction

Compares to:

Tactical deck building games: DC Comics Deck building Game, Legendary, Thunderstone

Other editions:

Marabunta, Italien, Asmodee Deutschland

My rating: 5

Dennis Rappel:               

Ascension: Chroniken des Gottesbezwingers offers fans of deck building games an amusing and entertaining fantasy adventure with lots of tactical considerations, despite simple rules. The marked chance element allows for a quick and fluent play, which unfortunately lacks possibilities for interaction among players.

Chance (pink): 3

Tactic (turquoise): 3

Strategy (blue): 0

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 0

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0