Two board games of recent note from publisher Asmodee Editions are Elysium and Witness. Elysium has gained quite a bit of popularity lately because of its inclusion as one of the 2015 nominees for the coveted German Kennerspiel award. The game Witness is so unique there isn’t anything like it on the game market. Think mystery, player cooperation and solving crime cases.
The theme of Elysium is Greek mythology. Players represent demigods trying to earn the attention of Hades, Zeus, Apollo and other Greek gods to become a legend. To achieve that goal, players collect sets of cards from various gods such as artifacts, heroes, magical weapons or allies. The cards represent the core of the game and the artwork on the cards is fantastic.
In addition to collecting sets of cards, players fight for turn order to get first dibs on the collection of cards available. Each card has a power that can alter the rules of the game and some are quite powerful. Cards are drafted over the period of four turns from a central pool, but in one of those turns a player must draft a player order board that determines income, ability to transfer cards for scoring and turn order.
Transferring cards to the scoring area (the Elysium) costs an amount of gold equal to the level of the card (one to three). Each one of the cards corresponds to one of eight Olympian gods, and once a card is transferred its power typically goes away. Players must balance between scoring cards and using their powers.
Elysium is a moderately complex game as players learn what the various card powers can do and which ones are best to collect in order to score. It was nominated for the Kennerspiel of the year, a prestigious award given in Germany every year for heavier, more complex games. For strategy gamers this is a great game worthy of collecting for about $60.
The game Witness is a mystery-solving game for four players and only four players. No more and no less. It has some fascinating components and gameplay that cannot be found in any other board game on the market. It retails for about $40.
Taking on the roles of some of Edgar P. Jacob’s famous characters from the Blake and Mortimer detective comics, players work together to solve mysterious cases such as the Night Watch or the Bomb Scare. The game is fully cooperative and requires everyone to do his or her best to bring about a team mystery-solving victory.
Playing the game is simple. Each player is given a character and an accompanying personal clue booklet. Background is read about a particular mystery case to all players and then each player individually reads his or her own clue book to find out what piece of evidence they have about the case and commit it to memory. Every player gets a unique piece of evidence.
Next, players whisper their own clues to each other at the table trying to remember exact details from any clues they have received over the course of four game rounds. When the rounds are complete, players consult a questions booklet and separately record the answers to the three questions about the case without consulting each other.
When a player’s answers are recorded, a separate solutions book is consulted to discover the truth about the case. Each team member scores points for correct answers to case questions. A rating is given to the team based on the points earned by the group. Cases are based on four difficulty levels and a few are devilishly hard to complete.
To play this game, each player must possess the skills of a true gumshoe. Players must be able to listen carefully, pay attention to detail, analyze clues and avoid potential pitfalls and red herrings. The game is reminiscent of the old two-minute mystery paperbacks for armchair sleuths but has been translated to the board game world very well. The game is fun to play and challenging. It offers something truly unique in board gaming. If it sounds interesting, definitely check this one out.