UNDO: Cherry Blossom Festival
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Time heals all wounds, they say, but the sudden death of a loved one sometimes shakes those who are left behind so much that their faith wavers. To prevent this, the gods send fate weavers to change the past and prevent death. In the game series UNDO, players slip into the role of these destiny weavers and do everything in their power to undo sudden deaths — whether murder or suicide. Not only do they travel minutes or hours back in time, but sometimes thousands of years to change events that have laid the foundation for the later stroke of fate. Sometimes a leap into the future can also provide important information.
The UNDO series combines the theme of time travel with emotional, extraordinary stories that players must assemble piece by piece. Each time jump gives them another choice in how they can change the past — and not every change is a turn for the better!
UNDO: Cherry Blossom Festival, one of the first three UNDO titles, is set in Okayama, Japan in March 2000. A man in his sixties lies lifelessly on the floor of his living room, a broken wine glass and the photo of a young woman in a wheelchair next to him. The deceased wears an old-fashioned blue suit and has no visible injuries aside from a barely perceptible scar above the eye. In his jacket a telephone rings with the melody of "Moonlight Sonata" and on the table lie cherry blossom branches…
This title isn’t about solving a crime or catching a murderer. Instead, players must embrace their role as disembodied destiny weavers to go through the past of this man’s travel to prevent his death. Everyone who leaps through time carries a momentous decision that in the end will determine whether he lives or dies?
Ages | 10+ |
---|---|
Players | 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players, 5 Players, 6 Players |
Play Time | 45m – 90m |
Designer | Lukas Zach, Michael Palm |
Mechanics | Cooperative Game, Storytelling |
Theme | Card Game, Deduction, Murder/Mystery, Adventure |
Publisher | dV Giochi, Ediciones MasQueOca, Gigamic, Hobby Japan, Lifestyle Boardgames Ltd, PaperGames (III), Swan Panasia Co., Ltd., White Goblin Games, Pegasus Spiele |
pusboyau
Stimulates: Imaginative Story Building (Structured - to approximate) What piqued my interest about this and the rest of the titles in the series was the time travel element. However, it isn't handled like the typical time travel feature of influencing or avoiding upsetting the timeline. Instead (and as explained in the last side of the set up cards) the influences you make in the narrative happen simultaneously in the timeline. Once you reconfigure your expectations your enjoyment will very much depend on how much you immerse yourself in the narrative of being a time travelling detective. Firstly I like how, much like in Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, you have to really exercise your imagination from reading to get as much information to then speculate and make hopefully informed choices as to where to 'time jump' next. Adding to the tension are the limited resources of time travel and clue gathering, so you really have to evaluate what could be relevant or not, emphasising the need to read and imagine well plus pick up any implications, such as ages and dates, taking care not to jump hastily to conclusions. Thankfully the value of the fate cards provide some kind of feedback loop to put you right if you make a few hiccups. It works well solo, giving you time to savour the details, but I suspect it works best as a 2 player just to bounce off ideas etc. (3 would be a squeeze with the way the cards are laid out, would probably switch to something like the Sherlock Q system).
hiyou
死人が出たので、過去に干渉して未来を変える物語ゲーム。「街」が好きなので、好き。現在の物語を読んで、どの時期に行けばいいか判断してタイムリープ。そこでまた物語を読んで、選択肢を選ぶ。選択肢がどう影響したかはわからないんだけど、未来に良い影響があったかどうかだけはわかる。つまり、ダイバージェンスメーターのようなもの。この抽象化が画期的で、未来をどの程度変えられたかがポイント式で評価されるため、ゲームブックのようにたくさんのパラグラフを用意せずに、低コストでT•Pぼんが楽しめる。システムはソロプレイなので、1.2人がいいと思う。
Fausticus1
An interesting twist on the escape room games. I applaud the designers for trying something different even though it didn't work completely for me. The first few decisions are mostly just stabs in the dark as you have little information. And the game stays a bit ambiguous all the way through.