What would it be like to be a child of the 90s? Hanging out with your friends, playing games and just having a good time. But what if the worst thing happened? No, not just losing your favorite walkman or fanny pack-but the appearance of a supernatural monster! Today we will explore a game that looks at that prospect as you and your friends fight to stay alive and stop the attackers!
Out of this World is designed for 3-5 players and plays in 60 mins. It is designed by Koen Hendricks with art by Fran P. Lobato. It is published by Devir Americas.
Overview
In Out of this World, players work together to stop an attack from a supernatural being and survive. You can pick your adventure or do them in an order to see how the storyline plays out.
Each game has different aspects to the play, but for the most part you are trying to equip Item cards of a certain value to execute an event to stop an invasion from happening. Players will be together but at times may need to split up to achieve finding the items you need. During these times players won’t be able to communicate with those they are not with, creating some interesting moments in the game.
Gameplay
First you set up a difficulty level for the game and each player is given a Character card to play. Each character has a unique ability, and each can be represented as male or female cards. The time tracker is placed in the middle of the table with 8 tokens. Once it runs out on tokens the game is lost. The Adventure deck is prepared and players are given the appropriate equipment and dealt 2 cards from the deck.
The Adventure is played over a series of rounds with three phases in each round:
1-Gear Up!
2-Go For it!
3-Taking care of things
In Gear Up! players take the Adventure deck and deal 5 stacks of 4 cards for all players to see. Players continue to deal these cards until the total amount for each pile is reached.
In Go For it!, players take turns going around until all 5 stacks are empty. First you must take a card then you may taken an action. Players will take a card then perform one of the actions available. You can pass, equip, defeat or spend an item. Passing an item allows you to give it to another player, equipping it will need 3 cards of the same to happen. You may also try to defeat a foe with items that are required. Spending allows you to use an item previously equipped by another player in a previous round. You can always run as well if you need to.
Taking care of things is checked for at the end of a turn, and if at the end of any players turn all 5 stacks are empty you move to this last phase. Here players will check for victory to see if the conditions have been met. If you have met the Victory Conditions you have won the game! If you have not won the game, reduce Time Tokens equal to the player with the most Foes still in front of them. Discard down, pass the vocal player and start the Gear Up phase again. Players will continue with rounds until you ether win or lose!
Impressions
Cooperative games can be a favorite or not-so-favorite mechanic for some players. If this is your type of game, then Out of this World may be right for you. This game lends itself to pretty easy setup and play, and the variety of Adventures means you have more than just one experience to beat and finish the game in. I also really like that there is a story saved through the different parts of the Adventures for players to experience.
Another unique aspect is the Vocal player aspect that allows only that player to communicate. No other non-verbals can be used also. This moves the game from an “alpha gamer” problem that a lot of different cooperative games have where one player tries to dictate the gameplay. It means players have to really pay attention throughout for it to go well.
The art style and type for this game really do try and pull you towards the idea of the 90s and the game has a feel of popular shows in the recent past who have tried the same (think Stranger Things). So the theme may be up your alley as well over some other types of cooperative titles.
Overall this game is sure to be an enjoyable cooperative adventure for those who like the mechanic and enjoy this genre. Be sure to check this one out and have fun as you blast to the past as you and your friends seek to save the 90’s!
Be the first to comment