Meeple on Board Rating
Be the first to review this product.Board Game Geek Reviews
Be the first to review “Sheol (Kickstarter – Scout Pledge)”
You must be logged in to post a review.
You must be logged in to post a review.
The shadows arrived on the moon. From that day on, a mass of shadows (called Sheol) similar to a black tide began to form until it shrouded the moon completely and the moon "cried" the shadows down to Earth. Although technologically advanced, people had no means to stop the shadows, which slowly filled the Earth and exterminated almost all of mankind. The planet was fully enveloped in layer of clouds so dark that sunlight could not filter through and the survivors took refuge on the Isle of Light, also called the Citadel, the last outpost of mankind. In fact, Lux, a type of light radiation capable of destroying shadows, was discovered too late.
Enclosed between the immense walls that surround the many square kilometers in which the intricate levels of the citadel arise, humans have slowly forgotten the external world shrouded in darkness and exhausted themselves in a series of internal political, cultural and economic struggles. In fact, over the decades, the citadel has become a collection of decadent people, mixing nanotechnology with superstition, millenary beliefs with cyber-empowerments, chaos and the emergence of new castes.
Only the Scouts, explorers of the unknown and raiders of the outside world, have not forgotten that the world belongs to mankind and that mankind shall reclaim it one day. In this game, you are one of them.is set in a not-too-distant future. After the Moon’s Weeping, Earth has turned from being the realm of man to a place reigned by shadows. The only bastion of salvation is the Citadel, where the last survivors of humanity found shelter to survive. It is from here that the Scouts head out to explore the desolate lands of Sheol in search of resources.
Sheol is a cooperative game, playable solo or up to 4 people, with an emphasis on storytelling and strategy. Sheol is set in a coherent universe where game mechanics and setting are deeply interconnected. It is organized in campaigns, in turn, subdivided into missions. In each mission, players will have to coordinate their efforts tactically to complete the objectives and defend the central game area (the Citadel) from the enemy invasion. The story will progress, mission after mission, allowing characters to discover the secrets of the Sheol’s world and unlock more items and skills.
—description from the publisher
Ages | 12+ |
---|---|
Players | Solo, 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players |
Play Time | 90m – 120m |
Designer | Gabriele Porro |
Mechanics | Action Points, Cooperative Game, Narrative Choice / Paragraph, Grid Movement |
Theme | Miniatures, Science Fiction |
Publisher | (Self-Published) |
Echo_Flair
I got the All in Gameplay Pledge via Kickstarter which is everything minus the play mat to replace the game board and Music. Everything about this game is too tedious for my game group for the reward of outcomes. This game requires a big table to play it. There are many components and tokens to manage during the game. It’s taken me about a total of 10 hours over the course of a week to fully unbox this game, organize all the tokens and cards, learn the rules (reading the entire rule book, watching 3-4 hours of videos (rule overview and gameplay) and setting this game up on the table to learn how to set it up. This is NOT a quick game to setup and tear down. The 5 minute setup time claimed by the campaign page is so misleading if not simply a lie to get you interested. It took me 20 minutes to go from the game being in the box to set up on the table with the first mission being ready to play. It took me 20 minutes to box everything up. There are no save bags for this game either and the storage solution doesn’t allow you to bundle cards together by character. So this means setup of the next mission will take longer for your next gaming session as you look at pictures you took on your phone of the previous mission end state to see what cards you earned and rebuild your player’s light shield deck. The first play through was not very enjoyable for my wife and son. We love Ameritrash games. The theme of this game is clear and very intertwined with the game play, artwork and etc. While we love rolling dice. I really dislike how many different dice there are for everything you need to do each die having very different symbology you have to memorize. There is a die for attacking enemies. There is a die for moving enemies. There are two dice for breaking / repairing your weapons (but you typically only use one). There are two different dice for spawning enemies (alert vs danger). After I learned the game it took me about an hour to explain the rules to them and read the story introduction and first mission log. There are so many edge cases for what happens if this or that element of the game is different (e.g. tokens for barriers, light stream tokens, moving into dark spaces vs light stream, when the enemy moves into a light stream, etc.) Movement is central to the game and it takes a lot to get any where on the game board. To move you need light stream tokens. To get light stream tokens you have to do a plan action to acquire light stream tokens (if you don’t have them from last turn) which costs an action and lux. Then you need to do a reveal action which costs you an action and Lux. Then you have to actually move which costs you movement points. If you want to move additional spaces it costs you additional lux (which is also your life). It takes forever to get some where and there is no turn order so all this is happening between players on a single turn as they dictate who is going next. By the time you are finished you might encounter an enemy or piece of land to take a land action. Events also feel very tacked on as you move over an event token with your miniature you pull one of 12 cards that give you a either a faction token, small perk or negative consequence. Events feel mediocre. There are three basic levels of enemies. The three shadows, the heralds and the outer lords. Shadows and heralds give you rewards (umber, which is the currency in the game), but outer lords give no rewards. Even though they are the most difficult in the game to defeat. I’m not sure of the logic behind this since the game rules tell you that the point of the game is to avoid fighting the shadows and focus on achieving the mission objectives because shadows are essentially there to distract you and become overwhelming if you focus on them. This game has such cool artwork and graphics on the board and components, but just falls short of being “worth the hassle” given the lackluster sense of achievement you feel in the end. The miniatures are some of the best I’ve seen in a game. Very detailed and well done. However, the citadel which is the center game component on the board is a mess to deal with as it is broken down into several pieces you build together over time, In contrast to the 2d version which are two cardboard pieces you slot together. By the time you get all the base components out of the box I don’t even which o deal with reaching for the miniatures with this game, which is a whole ‘nother box to get out and unpack. This is only because the pacing of the game is already so slow. Perhaps this game is just now for our group as I’d hoped or maybe I just got carried away during the Kickstarter campaign hype. Did I mention that we haven’t even got my email to any of the three expansions? Smh. This will likely be the first game I ever sell from Kickstarter. I will give it some thought, but to each there own. This might be a great game fr some, but to us it’s just mediocre. I won’t even begin to discuss the rule book…that needs some work from typos to references made of other rules with no page numbers to not explaining things very well at times. It’s better than many rule books, but this game feels like a chore you have to do rather than something you look forward to playing. I also have just received Oathsworn. So I am going to likely move on to that game and come back to this one at some point in the future to give it another shot, but my hopes are not high unless the story really pulls us in via the upcoming missions.
pk2484
For our German supporters: SHEOL besticht durch seine Optik. Minis & Maxis (die Zitadelle) schauen meiner Meinung nach brilliant aus und laden zur düster- bis grell-farbigen Gestaltung ein. Zudem ist die dystopische Story, die während des Spielens vorangetrieben wird, sehr thematisch und einzigartig. Das präsentierte Gameplay wirkt mit seinen unterschiedlichen Phasen und Möglichkeiten - ich find ja v. a. das Gravity System cool - zudem vielschichtig und schön strategisch, wobei diesbezüglich weitere Entwicklungen vorgenommen werden sollen und dabei jetzt schon die Community in die Weiterentwicklung einbezogen wird. Außerdem gibt es mehrere Factions und es winken epische Bossfights. Was will man da mehr?? Zur aktuellen Kickstarter-Kampagne: Neben neuen Add-ons, einer Menge Social & Daily Goals sowie einem kampagnenbegleitenden Contest stehen die Entwickler der Community täglich Rede & Antwort und adaptieren diesbezüglich ihr Vorgehen. Ich stand die Tage selbst bereits wiederholt mit dem Lunar Oak Studio in Kontakt - eine echt nette Truppe mit spannenden Ideen! Wie ihr merkt, holt mich das Game voll ab! Schaut also gerne selbst, ob es euch zusagt und unterstützt nach Lust & Laune! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lunaroakstudio/sheol-board-game?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=sheol PS: Die Brettspielgeeks haben ebenfalls bereits ihre Ersteindrücke geschildert & verfilmt: https://youtu.be/R1efl4YakfE
Dr_Moreaux
Amazing concept and such a rich back story and lore. The Lunar Oak Studio team has been fantastic on the campaign too, super engaged with the backers and being totally transparent with their strategies. The only reason I can't give it 10 is I haven't been lucky enough to play it yet.