Aeon’s End: War Eternal

Board Game Geek Reviews

1. 9 out of 10

   Azilut

   The first big-box expansion to Aeon's End is every bit as solid as the base game - same core mechanics, but with more variety in bosses, characters and cards. I would recommend either this or the base game equally as a starting point, and the two combine seamlessly into an even bigger and more variable experience.

2. 7 out of 10

   bcnevan

   There's lots of familiarity here and it does feel like an iterative take on other co-op deckbuilders, such as Shadowrun and XenoShyft. Aeon's End is more immediately rewarding than Shadowrun and more player-controlled than XenoShyft. Aeon's End focuses on deck synergies and cross-player synergies comparitively more than, say, Shadowrun and its oppressive hand management (with Shadowrun's original rules). In that way, Aeon's End feels more like your typical deckbuilder. I did expect the non-shuffling to feel a bit more weighty. There are some decisions that result from not shuffling your deck, but it doesn't provide a drastic impact (at least compared to my expectations). The non-shuffling does help the game's pace at lower player counts. Probably the smartest aspect of Aeon's End's design is the turn order. It brings a clever way to balance the game throughout the various player counts. Well, at least in theory. It seems that every retail edition of Aeon's End, including War Eternal, feels pretty bare. One needs the Kickstarter version and/or some retail expansions for a single box to feel adequately fleshed out. As a system, Aeon's End gets a 7, which could rise a bit more if you are willing to buy additional content to make randomized sessions and/or randomized Expeditions (found in later boxes, like Outcasts) have enough content for replays. Aeon's End: Outcasts (2020) Aeon's End: The Void (2017) Aeon's End: The Outer Dark (2017)

3. 9 out of 10

   agentpatman

   Love the no shuffling but then you have to shuffle the turn order cards. Seems like a contradiction to the sales pitch. Someone said they should have been tokens in a bag and I like that idea better. Might have to DIY and option because you do spend a lot of time shuffling 6 cards in a game with no shuffling. Aside from that I loved everything else. The market make for interaction decisions and different paths. The characters all feel different and have different strengths even if you buy the same cards. The bosses are tough and the enemy deck makes everything a surprise with again no shuffling. Love the idea of preparing your spells and then casting them on separate turns. Also the idea of using focus to prepare more spells eventually. Our first game had tense moments where a few bad turn order cards and we could have been done but we got lucky and won. So there is randomness in that aspect which you can somewhat account for but sometimes you get hit hard two times in a row. If you go into it knowing that you can prepare and have a good time. It is deck building after all so there should be randomness somewhere and I am glad it’s not from shuffling. Looking forward to trying out more combinations of cards, enemies, and characters. Seems like a huge amount of content especially if you can get it mid 20s on sale it’s a no brainer.