Cataclysm Arcade: Be The Last Boss Standing (Preview)

Take on the role of a post-apocalyptic boss, as you battle it out to be the last boss standing.

Currently on Kickstarter, Cataclysm Arcade is a trading card game that can be played with just one booster pack per player.

Gameplay

Each player takes a deck. This can be one they have put together themselves, or it can simply be a deck straight out of a booster pack. Each deck has one boss. Each player’s boss will start the game in play.

During set-up, each player draws four cards and shuffles the rest of their deck. The game is divided into levels, starting at level one. At the beginning of each level, each player receives coins equal to the level number and draws one card. Players then take turns taking a single action or choosing to pass. Once a player has passed, he cannot take anymore actions, but he can play reaction cards in response to another player’s action.

Actions include playing a fighter or weapon card. This does not cost any coins. However, each fighter or weapon has a level and may only be played if that level is equal to or lower than the game's current level.

Another action is attack. A player pays the cost to tap a fighter or his boss (turning it on its side to show that it's been used that round) and performs the attack value shown on the card. The target of the attack receives damage equal to the attack value, unless it has any defense. Damage stays between rounds. When a fighter with a weapon attached to it is destroyed, the weapon stays on the battlefield, and the player who owns it must pay the cost to wield it to another of his fighters.

Finally, some cards are ability cards, and a player can use an action to pay the cost of one of these to play it and perform its effect.

There are a few keywords for describing abilities used in the game, such as enforcer, which forces a player to attack that fighter before any other cards on the enforcer’s team, or enhancement, which makes an attack more powerful.

When a boss is destroyed, the player it belongs to is out of the game. The last player with a surviving boss is the winner.

Review

Cataclysm Arcade can definitely appeal to gamers looking for the heavier gameplay of trading card mechanics, as there are a lot of layers to building the perfect deck for each boss. Each boss has its own unique strengths, so in turn, there will be different cards that work better for each one. But it’s also completely playable right out of one booster pack, and this makes it a great fit for a more casual experience.

Decks aren’t too large, so a player can easily read through each card before playing if they want to familiarize themselves without taking too much time. And, while there’s a range of abilities, none of them are too complex, so it’s pretty easy to learn what your cards do and which keywords you actually need to remember.

Another nice aspect is that each booster pack also includes cardboard punchouts to help you track health and effects. So, while it might be easier to use dice to track damage (or the game’s app for the bosses), it’s not required. You really do have everything you need for one player inside one booster pack — except for the rules themselves.

The leveling system is great. It gives the game a fantastic escalation, as rounds get more and more intense and increasingly powerful cards come out on the table. It also ensures that no one gets massively left behind where resources are concerned. You constantly feel like you have options and choices on your turn.

The rules are the one thing that don't feel beginner friendly. They are themselves quite accessible and easy to learn, but the way they are written is not fully taking into account that this may be the first game of this nature someone is playing. For example, they talk about ‘tapping a card’ without actually explaining what it means to tap a card. So much about this game is accessible to new players that the rules themselves should reflect this, keeping in mind that familiar terminology for TCG players might be confusing to someone else. Some examples for the special ability terminology would also have been helpful.

There’s a fun, unique art style to the game. There’s a lot of range in the cards, abilities, and the way they work together. The app for tracking the boss’s health has a nice touch that you can just use the one app, or host a game that everyone just logs onto with their own devices. You do, however, still need to track the health of any fighters you play, without the app.

The ability to add more players also includes a bit more of a chaotic free-for-all vibe, while the two-player games are more tight, intense duels.

There’s definitely a lot of layers to this game in the way you can put the decks together, but it’s also just a fun experience to play this straight out of the pack. In that format, it’s so easy to set up, easy to teach, and perfectly satisfying. Cataclysm Arcade takes a game genre that can feel pretty intimidating and turns it into a much more accessible experience. Check it out on Kickstarter.

Pros: Ability to play it out of one booster pack per player, straightforward rules, fun card interactions, different bosses introduce different strategies

Cons: The rules are not written with casual gamers in mind

Disclosure: This is a paid preview of this game.