Today I want to look at a game that’s a few years old. Because of a little global pandemic that was going on, you might have missed its release in 2020. Set in a futuristic anime world of giant robots, mutant aliens, and teenage girls, we get Core Connection: Rise of Atlantis. Equal parts deck builder and tableau builder, with some situational PVP sprinkled on top, this game is wholly unique.
Core Connection: Rise of Atlantis
Designer: Ken Rose
Publisher: Japanime Games, Keepdry
Theme
The world in this game is completely original while being familiar to fans of sci-fi anime. As I mentioned above, this game follows some typical tropes very closely.
You start the game as an unknown mysterious pilot. Your giant mech, a Resonant, is an undefined prototype. As the game progresses, you will reveal the persona of your pilot and your Resonant claims its own identity as well. You can equip weapons and attachments to your Resonant, as well as play action cards that can make to most impossible odds suddenly within your ability to overcome.
Mutants from Atlantis, called the Vril, are invading. Every turn you’ll have the opportunity to battle an enemy using your choice of melee combat or ranged attacks. Your pilot, Resonant, and upgrades will change these values, allowing you to specialize in a specific type of combat.
Ultimately, you want to be the one to save the world, ending the war with the Vril. There are some cards that allow for player-versus-player battle. Fighting the mutants is all well-and-good. But mech on mech action is welcome addition.
For those familiar with giant robot anime classics such as Mobile Suit Gundam and Evangelion, and newer anime such as Megaton Musashi or SSSS.Dynazenon, the characters, weapons, and effects will all seem like second nature. If you really want to dig deeper, there is some lore within the rulebook to help define some of these characters even more. And I really do suggest this. A lot of lore is packed in to a relatively few amount of words, giving background on the world and each of the pilots.
Gameplay
(Just a reminder, this is not a learn-to-play tutorial. I am glossing over some details, focusing on the big picture mechanics.)
Like any deckbuilder, you have your starting deck of cards. Some of these cards are attachments for your mech. Some are action abilities. But any of them can be used as resources for your turn. So, you can change your gameplay strategy from turn to turn based on what you get in your hand. What really makes this game unique is that your purchased cards can be played on to your mech, effectively taking them out of your deck while still reaping their benefit every turn.
Your mech has 3 attributes: Melee combat, Ranged combat, and Durability. Each attachment you place on you mech will increase these stats in some way, and/or grant additional abilities or effects, like drawing an extra card each turn or gaining an additional resource when purchasing cards. Here’s an example of what your play area might look like:
One more thing about resources: the resources you place face down during your turn count towards both your purchase ability and play cost threshold. So, if I have 3 resources, I can purchase a 3-cost card and also play cards from my hand with a total cost of 3 or less. It seems like using the resources for both playing and purchasing is a simple and uncomplicated way to streamline gameplay, opposed to introducing an additional type of resource.
There are 8 cards available in the market, or HQ in this game, at any time. When a duplicate of a card already existing in the HQ is revealed, it’s simply placed on top of its copy, and a new card revealed. So not only are 8 cards available, but they will be 8 unique cards. This really allows players to have many routes at their fingertips. There are also multiple cards that allow you to instantly refresh the entire HQ. So, it’s not uncommon to cycle through the deck a couple times per game.
So, you have your hand of cards. Determine which are going to be resources. Purchase/play cards in any order. Then you’ll decide if you’re going to fight an enemy card from the deck of Vril invaders. Early in the game, you may shy away from this until you have a few more upgrades on your mech. There are also abilities that let you look at the top card before deciding to engage in combat. If you defeat the enemy, you gain Energy (victory points). I’m not going to go in to the specifics of combat because I feel this article is already getting too long. But, you decide if you’re going to fight the Vril with Melee or Ranged combat, then reveal the card. Compare the chosen attack type to the durability of both combatants, and determine who is victorious.
The game becomes a race to the determined energy value. There are built in catch-up mechanics with some pilots, Resonants, and upgrades specifying effects when you do not have the most energy. This also makes the pvp cards I mentioned earlier very critical.
Gameplay wise, I want to make a comparison that you’re probably not expecting: Munchkin. Yes, there are some very huge differences, but those differences mostly lie in the theme. The humor that Steve Jackson brings with the industry icon and 4th-wall-breaking winks and nods set it apart. And yes, Core Connection introduces the purchasing mechanic. That’s brand new. But you have your character that you’re placing upgrades on. You’re limited in the number of upgrades you can have. At the end of your turn, you choose to face an enemy card or not. And all players are racing to a fixed victory point gained by defeating said enemies. As the game goes on, there are player-versus-player cards to keep your opponents from reaching the goal before you.
No wonder I love this game, it takes a proven commodity like Munchkin, gives it a retheme to something I love, and introduces mechanics that give the player more freedom.
Final Thoughts
I love the theme. It’s what attracted me to the game in the first place. In addition to board games, I have a collection of giant robot and kaiju figures on display in the game room. While I find some games that rely on an anime art style are embarrassing to have out on the table, this one is tastefully done. There’s no over-sexualization of characters, despite them all being teenagers. That is one anime trope that is thankfully avoided here.
The gameplay is smooth. Earlier I praised the simplification of both purchasing and playing relying on the same value. That really helps the teachability. The anatomy of a turn breaks down easily into different phases: ready phase, main phase, battle phase, and discard phase. I learned the game at a convention from an official demo session, and within 10 minutes we were hitting the ground running. Again, teaching the game to friends at my dining room table was a very similar scenario.
This game is a blast, and it has impressed everyone I’ve shown it to. “Oh wow, I’ve never heard of this,” and “Wait, WHO makes this game?” are constant responses. There’s a small expansion currently available, and as of this writing, a larger expansion is currently funding on Gamefound. If this article is a success, maybe I’ll bring you reviews of those as well.
Core Connection from Japanime Games flew under the radar because of global events going on at the time of its release, but I think more and more people will start to realize this hidden gem in the years to come.
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