Company: Nova Game Designs; Type: Ameristyle; Players: up to 365; Time: 2+ hours; Genre: Mythology, Recruitment; Rating:
💥💥💥 meh.
Let me get this out of the way first:
While the publishers claim you can play up to 365, I'd peg it more realistically at somewhere between 3-12 players. (We only played 3-6 ourselves, but I could reasonably see twice as many playing.) I also feel that a playing time of 2 hours seems a little optimistic to me.
With that out of the way, what is the game like? Well, the ultimate goal is to reach and win Ragnarok. And that's pretty much where all the fun of the game is. But when you do reach it, it's a blast!
Unfortunately, the rest of the game, while necessary for recruiting your forces for Ragnarok is repetitive and tedious. First, there are up to three teams involved: Good, Neutral, and Evil. Each player spends their time wandering a constellation map, which is meant to represent the Nine Realms. You run into random encounters based on where you are and interact: negotiate with them, seduce them (if possible), fight them or recruit them. Each choice you make is countered by the choice of a player selected to play your opponent. The movement and encounter resolution mechanics are really much more complicated than they need to be.
As far as the components are concerned, it was an ugly poster map, hundreds of cards that you had to cut out and sort, and some cheap chits used to mark where your players are at. (I've seen re-designs of the game that are very handsome and may indeed improve your playing experience.)
As a Norse mythos fan, I really want this game to work. But in truth it doesn't. It's a few hours of relatively dull play, finished up with a half-hour of excitement. The player on the winning side of the battle with the most reputation earned wins the game.
Having said that, it is the kind of game I might play in the rare case when the mood arises. However, your mileage may vary.
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