Exodus – A Z War One Game is more than meets the eye. Thanks to Robb Butler and the good folks at Dice Sports Ltd, we were able to play a preview copy of the game. Because it was in preview form, some of the components are not final. At the time of this writing, the Kickstarter is nearly finished, fully funded, and a large number of stretch goals are unlocked. If you want to jump in, NOW is the perfect time.
In Exodus, players are characters in a post-infection world. I want to stress the world aspect here. The biggest thing that drew me in to the game was the narrative, which is driven between games by storytelling via comic book. Between campaign missions, you will have a page or 2 of comic book narrative to set the stage for the game. From the time I read the first page, I was pulled in. I cared what happened to these characters.
Throughout the game, the players will play turns through the same phases in order. The Hero Move Phase, the Infected Move Phase, the Spawn Phase, and a Cleanup Phase. In general, heroes can only take actions during their phase, so it’s important to plan step by step what will be done by each hero and in what order. Action points are a fixed and precious commodity, and choosing how to spend yours might make the difference between survival and defeat.
As players move across the map to complete objectives, infected units move towards them at varying speeds depending on a couple factors. First, the types of infected units may have different speeds. They move faster if heroes are within line of sight, because they can see their next meal. They also move faster the closer they are to the heroes, even if there is no line of sight – because they can smell their next meal. Heroes can defend themselves using action points during the Hero Move Phase, or they may go on alert by spending 2 of their 4 action points.
Going on alert will allow heroes to use their current weapon to shoot any moving infected unit within line of sight during the Infected Move Phase for each square the infected unit moves through. This powerful response, used at the right time, can save a hero’s bacon. It can also burn through precious ammo very, very quickly. It might be the single coolest action a hero can take. Reading the rulebook, I thought it sounded like a gimmick that might work sometimes. Playing the game I realized it was incredibly powerful and the return on investment for the action points is the highest in the game.
This game’s Spawn Phase functions like a game clock. Because new infected units have the potential to spawn each turn, players must work to accomplish goals quickly, or they will be over-run with infected units. This element of the design I found particularly fantastic.
The primary randomizer in the game is a D8. Variability is further controlled by assigning each potential outcome of the D8 to various game outputs based on the current scenario. For example, when you shoot at an infected unit, you’ll roll a D8, and the outcome correlates to a miss, knockdown, or kill damage. The pistol has unlimited range, but more misses than the shotgun, which has limited range but fewer misses and more kill damage. When it’s time to spawn, you’ll roll a D8 and infected units may spawn at a predetermined location on the board, as roamers (very close to your heroes but out of line of sight), or not at all.
When the infected units reach a hero you’ll need to pass a takedown test. Failing it results in the infected unit knocking down your hero and engaging in a grapple. Once you’re taken down, you need to pass a bite test to avoid being infected (or avoid disease escalation if you’re already infected). Having only one way to determine the random outcomes in the game is a really streamlined approach that I found refreshing.
As you progress, you may earn upgrades or create equipment from items you pick up along the way. You can carry these with you from mission to mission. Resources (action points) are tight, so determining how much to search for items in the middle of trying to complete your objectives can be the difference between success and being overrun.
The game is full of decisions that could be the difference between winning and losing. To me, those meaningful decisions make the game compelling. The way the narrative weaves the scenarios together is the icing on the cake.
The programming for infected movement is clear and easy to learn with some repetition. After the (abbreviated) learn to play scenario and the first half of the second, I no longer had to refer to the rulebook for movements. If the game suffers from anything, it suffers from some of the issues with line of sight miniatures games and determining which hero is closest to a moving infected unit. Once players understand these nuances, they do not hinder gameplay – they’re part of the experience. That’s because they may be used to turn an infected unit at just the right time to save another hero or start a train of infected units to pull them away from a key location on the board.
In my plays, games went one of three ways: the heroes took care of business without injury (but not necessarily easily), the heroes found a way to complete objectives with some injury and infection (there is a way to manufacture a cure), or the heroes got obliterated and overrun without remotely coming close to completing objectives. Sometimes a D8 is as much your enemy as the miniatures you need to eradicate. In every case, I felt like the outcome was up to my decisions. Where the heroes took care of business I should have searched for more items. Where they were overrun, I should have gone straight for the objectives.
In addition to the cooperative gameplay, there is a “Director” mode. This gives one player the task of controlling the infected units with a number of action cards and abilities with which to make things more difficult for the heroes.
Exodus does a great job of putting players in its post-infection world, giving them an experience that makes their choices feel important, and standing out among the genre of zombie games. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Cheers!