Wildwoods

By

	Sjoerd van der Linde

Description

Go on a solo adventure as a forest child and her bear companion in this narrative, card-driven game with tough resource management. Lift the ancient curse that lies upon the forest and heal its creatures, before the shadow hunts you down!

Presentation

In Wildwoods, you play as a forest child and her bear companion who set out to heal the forest and its creatures from an ancient curse of despair. You win the game by exploring several fantastical locations and lifting the curse – before you are hunted down by the shadow.

Wildwoods provides a challenging, immersive solo experience and comes with narrative art design and a modular dashboard with large, interchangeable location sheets. At the core of the game is a rotating card mechanic in which you roll dice to perform actions such as Explore, Heal, Focus, Interact and Connect. Activated cards are placed at the end of your rotating river of cards, where they will become more difficult to perform – so choose your actions wisely!

As you play, your river of cards will also be clogged up with creatures and traps, which will block your action slots and take away your spiritual health if you leave them unchallenged. So which actions do you play, in what order do you play them, and how many dice do you spend? And how do you keep your river of cards clean and efficient?

One way to do this, is by performing the Cure action, which lets you discard creatures and claim their rewards. But in order to advance, you need to engage with your surroundings. Use your Interact action to perform one of many location-specific abilities, your Explore action to look for boons, and your Connect action to ask the help of allied wood critters. Also, make sure to keep your spirit up and to illuminate your path with the Light action, before you are forced to draw a fateful Shadow card…

Your goal is to make it to the final location and to banish the ancient curse. If you achieve this before you run out of shadow cards, you will have saved the forest - and you win the game.

Wildwoods is for you, if you like narrative, card-driven adventures such as Arkham Horror LCG and Aftermath, if you enjoy an interplay between strategic card management and the balancing of resources and luck, and if you appreciate a mythological fantasy setting.

Time: 75-90 min (+15 min rules)
Players: 1
Language: English

Played at

Fastaval: Otto for folket (2023)

Awards

Fastaval: Otto for folket (2023)

Nominated, Bedst Formidlede Brætspil

Skoven er forhekset og alt liv er drænet ud af dens ellers så frodige natur. Der er ingen lyd af skovens smådyr, de er for længst flygtet og du står nu tilbage i kampen om skovens overlevelse. Spillet nomineres for regler, ikonografi og artwork, der er både velformulerede, veldesignet og fantastisk flotte! De sorte silhuetter går igen hele vejen kun brudt af få, men klare farver. Spillet er komplekst og har flere processer der er sammenflettede, og som ene spiller skal man holde tungen lige i munden. Det til trods, holdes man godt i hånden af reglerne hele vejen.

The forest is cursed and all life has been drained from its once lush nature. There is no sound from the small creatures of the forest and you are left in the battle for the forest's survival. The game is nominated for its rules, iconography, and artwork, which are all well-formulated, well-designed, and stunningly beautiful! The black silhouettes are consistent throughout, only challenged by a few but clear colours. The game is complex and has several intertwined processes, and as a single player, one must keep a clear head. Despite this, the rules guide the player through the game very well.

Nominated, Bedste Brætspil

Wildwoods har alt dét et godt brætspil skal have. En medrivende fortælling, en fængende æstetik og en mekanik, der alle er bundet så fint sammen, at det skaber en lille smuk perle af en fortælling, hvor man fanges ind af eventyret og stemningen. Uanset om man spiller Lune eller Mae, så føres man gennem en både storladen og nærværende fortælling om lysets kamp mod mørket, en pige og hende bjørn der skal hjælpe skoven tilbage. Alt mens mørkets kræfter kæmper imod og hver gang du har fået overhånden, er det igen mørkets tur til at kæmpe imod. Spillets elementer arbejder problemfrit sammen og er gennemarbejdet fra ende til anden.

Wildwoods has everything a good board game should have. An immersive story, a captivating aesthetic, and mechanics that are all tied together so beautifully that it creates a little beautiful gem of a tale where you are caught up in the adventure and the mood. Whether you play as Lune or Mae, you are led through a both grand and intimate story about the battle of light against darkness, a girl and her bear helping the forest come back to life. While the forces of darkness fight against you and every time you gain the upper hand, it's the turn of darkness to fight back. The game elements work seamlessly together and are thoroughly thought out from beginning to end.

Nominated, Deltagernes Pris, Brætspil (Tredjeplads )

Trivia

Udgives af Open Owl Studios. Kommer på Kickstarter i efteråret 2024.

Links

Send corrections for this page